A total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on June 11, 1983. A

occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent 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 only 48 hours before perigee (Perigee on June 13, 1983), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The path of totality went through

Christmas Islands Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and terminated in Vanuatu. Maximum eclipse occurred off the Indonesian island of Madura. Major Indonesian cities witnessed totality, including Yogyakarta,

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

, and

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

, in addition to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

Restrictions of observation

To avoid blindness, then president of Indonesia Soeharto prohibited local people from observing the eclipse directly through then Information Minister Harmoko, only allowing foreigners to observe from faraway places. Besides the requirements of closing and draping over all windows and airshafts, children were asked to hide themselves in cupboards and below desks as the eclipsing sun's rays were said to be more dangerous to children than to adults. They were allowed to watch a live broadcast of the eclipse occurring over Borobudur Temple in

Magelang Magelang () is one of six cities in Central Java that are administratively independent of the regencies in which they lie geographically. Each of these cities is governed by a mayor rather than a ''bupati''. Magelang city covers an area of 18. ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

, on state-owned TV channel TVRI. Because of the difference in restriction's intensity between regions, some locals did observe it.

Observation

The Chinese Eclipse Observation Team formed by Beijing Astronomical Observatory (now incorporated into the National Astronomical Observatories of China), Purple Mountain Observatory and Nanjing Astronomical Instrument Factory conducted observation in Port Moresby. Observation in Port Moresby was successful due to the cloudless weather during the eclipse, compared with the cloudy weather in Yogyakarta where teams from many countries went. The Chinese team did spectrum observations of the

chromosphere A chromosphere ("sphere of color") is the second layer of a star's atmosphere, located above the photosphere and below the solar transition region and corona. The term usually refers to the Sun's chromosphere, but not exclusively. In the Su ...

and corona, the broadband corona

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a st ...

and

polarization Polarization or polarisation may refer to: Mathematics *Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds *Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by ...

, and the coloured photography of the whole eclipse process.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1983

* A total solar eclipse at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Saturday, June 11th, 1983. * A partial lunar eclipse at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Saturday, June 25th, 1983. * An annular solar eclipse at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Sunday, December 04th, 1983. * A penumbral lunar eclipse at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Tuesday, December 20th, 1983.

Solar eclipses of 1982–1985

Saros 127

Metonic series

Inex series

Notes

References

Photos:
Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of June 11, 1983 1983 06 11 1983 in science 1983 06 11 June 1983 events 1983 in Indonesia 1983 in Papua New Guinea