A partial

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 Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit between Monday, September 1 and Tuesday, September 2, 1997, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 0.8988. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Images

Eclipse details

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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 a

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1997

* A total solar eclipse on March 9. * A partial lunar eclipse on March 24. * A partial solar eclipse on September 2. * A total lunar eclipse on September 16.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 1993 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of October 14, 2004 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Wednesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 14, 2004, with a magnitude of 0.9282. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby tot ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 27, 1988 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2006

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Friday, October 3, 1986, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1. It was a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at th ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008

Solar Saros 125

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1979 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit on Sunday, September 13, 2015, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.7875. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby tota ...

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 22, 1968 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1910 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 3, 2084

Solar eclipses of 1997–2000

Saros 125

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

NASA graphics
Photos:

APOD 9/3/1997, A Partial Eclipse in Southern Skies, partial eclipse from Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, South Australia {{Solar eclipses 1997 9 2 1997 in science 1997 9 2 September 1997