| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.8239 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0592 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 309 s (5 min 9 s) |
| Coordinates | 32°06′S103°42′E / 32.1°S 103.7°E /-32.1; 103.7 |
| Max. width of band | 344 km (214 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 4:48:04 |
| References | |
| Saros | 146 (25 of 76) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9452 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit on Thursday, June 20, 1974,[1] with amagnitude of 1.0592. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the view of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.4 days beforeperigee (on June 21, 1974, at 14:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
The path of totality passed over theIndian Ocean,Amsterdam Island, andWestern Australia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of theMalagasy Republic (today'sMadagascar),Indonesia,Australia, and the southwestern coast ofSouth Island, New Zealand.[3]
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1974 June 20 at 02:33:32.2 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1974 June 20 at 03:47:06.1 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1974 June 20 at 03:49:24.2 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1974 June 20 at 03:51:46.3 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1974 June 20 at 04:47:57.2 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1974 June 20 at 04:48:04.4 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1974 June 20 at 04:55:25.3 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1974 June 20 at 04:56:24.3 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1974 June 20 at 05:44:15.8 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1974 June 20 at 05:46:39.4 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1974 June 20 at 05:48:59.2 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1974 June 20 at 07:02:30.3 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.05919 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.12189 |
| Gamma | −0.82388 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 05h53m26.3s |
| Sun Declination | +23°26'00.3" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'44.3" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 05h53m07.9s |
| Moon Declination | +22°36'22.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'30.9" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'36.8" |
| ΔT | 44.9 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by afortnight.
| June 4 Ascending node (full moon) | June 20 Descending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 120 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 146 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 25, 1971 andAugust 20, 1971 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1971 to 1974 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 116 | July 22, 1971 Partial | 1.513 | 121 | January 16, 1972 Annular | −0.9365 | |
| 126 | July 10, 1972 Total | 0.6872 | 131 | January 4, 1973 Annular | −0.2644 | |
| 136 | June 30, 1973 Total | −0.0785 | 141 | December 24, 1973 Annular | 0.4171 | |
| 146 | June 20, 1974 Total | −0.8239 | 151 | December 13, 1974 Partial | 1.0797 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 146, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 76 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on September 19, 1541. It contains total eclipses fromMay 29, 1938 through October 7, 2154; hybrid eclipses from October 17, 2172 through November 20, 2226; and annular eclipses from November 30, 2244 through August 10, 2659. The series ends at member 76 as a partial eclipse on December 29, 2893. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 26 at 5 minutes, 21 seconds onJune 30, 1992, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 63 at 3 minutes, 30 seconds on August 10, 2659. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[6]
| Series members 16–37 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 17 | 18 |
 March 13, 1812 |  March 24, 1830 |  April 3, 1848 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 |
 April 15, 1866 |  April 25, 1884 |  May 7, 1902 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 |
 May 18, 1920 |  May 29, 1938 |  June 8, 1956 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 |
June 20, 1974 |  June 30, 1992 |  July 11, 2010 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 |
 July 22, 2028 |  August 2, 2046 |  August 12, 2064 |
| 31 | 32 | 33 |
 August 24, 2082 |  September 4, 2100 |  September 15, 2118 |
| 34 | 35 | 36 |
 September 26, 2136 |  October 7, 2154 |  October 17, 2172 |
| 37 | ||
 October 29, 2190 | ||
Themetonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
| 22 eclipse events between April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 7–8 | January 24–25 | November 12 | August 31–September 1 | June 19–20 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
 April 8, 1902 |  August 31, 1913 |  June 19, 1917 | ||
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
 April 8, 1921 |  January 24, 1925 |  November 12, 1928 |  August 31, 1932 |  June 19, 1936 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
 April 7, 1940 |  January 25, 1944 |  November 12, 1947 |  September 1, 1951 |  June 20, 1955 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
 April 8, 1959 |  January 25, 1963 |  November 12, 1966 |  August 31, 1970 | June 20, 1974 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 | |
 April 7, 1978 |  January 25, 1982 |  November 12, 1985 |  August 31, 1989 | |
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipses on December 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
| Series members between 1801 and 2105 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 September 28, 1810 (Saros 131) |  August 27, 1821 (Saros 132) |  July 27, 1832 (Saros 133) |  June 27, 1843 (Saros 134) |  May 26, 1854 (Saros 135) |
 April 25, 1865 (Saros 136) |  March 25, 1876 (Saros 137) |  February 22, 1887 (Saros 138) |  January 22, 1898 (Saros 139) |  December 23, 1908 (Saros 140) |
 November 22, 1919 (Saros 141) |  October 21, 1930 (Saros 142) |  September 21, 1941 (Saros 143) |  August 20, 1952 (Saros 144) |  July 20, 1963 (Saros 145) |
June 20, 1974 (Saros 146) |  May 19, 1985 (Saros 147) |  April 17, 1996 (Saros 148) |  March 19, 2007 (Saros 149) |  February 15, 2018 (Saros 150) |
 January 14, 2029 (Saros 151) |  December 15, 2039 (Saros 152) |  November 14, 2050 (Saros 153) |  October 13, 2061 (Saros 154) |  September 12, 2072 (Saros 155) |
 August 13, 2083 (Saros 156) |  July 12, 2094 (Saros 157) |  June 12, 2105 (Saros 158) | ||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||
|---|---|---|
 September 28, 1829 (Saros 141) |  September 7, 1858 (Saros 142) |  August 19, 1887 (Saros 143) |
 July 30, 1916 (Saros 144) |  July 9, 1945 (Saros 145) | June 20, 1974 (Saros 146) |
 May 31, 2003 (Saros 147) |  May 9, 2032 (Saros 148) |  April 20, 2061 (Saros 149) |
 March 31, 2090 (Saros 150) |  March 11, 2119 (Saros 151) |  February 19, 2148 (Saros 152) |
 January 29, 2177 (Saros 153) | ||
.jpg)
