Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
# Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988

A total solar eclipse occurred on March 18, 1988. A solar eclipse 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. Totality was visible in Indonesia and southern Philippines.

## Observation

The General Santos City Tourism Office of the Philippines promoted it as a big tourism event. Hordes of scientists, astronomers, journalists, TV crews and tourists from all over the globe observed the totality from there. Then president of the Philippines and the first female president in Asia, Corazon Aquino also joined the experience.

## Related eclipses

### Eclipses of 1988

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 3.
* A total solar eclipse on March 18.
* A partial lunar eclipse on August 27.
* An annular solar eclipse on September 11.

### Solar eclipses of 1986–1989

There were 8 solar eclipses between April 9, 1986 and August 31, 1989.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1986–1989 :

| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 119 | 1986 April 9 Partial | -1.08215 | 124 | 1986 October 3 Hybrid | 0.99305 |
| 129 | 1987 March 29 Hybrid | -0.30531 | 134 | 1987 September 23 Annular | 0.27869 |
| 139 | 1988 March 18 Total | 0.41879 | 144 | 1988 September 11 Annular | -0.46811 |
| 149 | 1989 March 7 Partial | 1.09815 | 154 | 1989 August 31 Partial | -1.19279 |

### Saros 139

It is a part of saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses on August 11, 1627 through to December 9, 1825 and total eclipses from December 21, 1843 through to March 26, 2601. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. Its eclipses are entabulated in three columns; each one in the same column, every third eclipse, is one exeligmos apart so cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the earth.

The solar eclipse of June 13, 2132 will be the longest total solar eclipse since July 11, 1991 at 6 minutes, 55.02 seconds.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 39 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186. After that date each duration will decrease, until the series end. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and 6000 AD. Saros series eclipses are during the Moon’s ascending node (a term related to our equator and polar-naming conventions).

Series members 24–45 occur between 1901 and 2300 :

| 24 | 25 | 26 |
| - | - | - |
| February 3, 1916 | February 14, 1934 | February 25, 1952 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
| March 7, 1970 | March 18, 1988 | March 29, 2006 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
| April 8, 2024 | April 20, 2042 | April 30, 2060 |
| 33 | 34 | 35 |
| May 11, 2078 | May 22, 2096 | June 3, 2114 |
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
| June 13, 2132 | June 25, 2150 | July 5, 2168 |
| 39 | 40 | 41 |
| July 16, 2186 | July 27, 2204 | August 8, 2222 |
| 42 | 43 | 44 |
| August 18, 2240 | August 29, 2258 | September 9, 2276 |
| 45 |
| September 20, 2294 |

### Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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.

Inex series members between 1901 and 2100: :

| May 18, 1901 (Saros 136) | April 28, 1930 (Saros 137) | April 8, 1959 (Saros 138) |
| - | - | - |
| March 18, 1988 (Saros 139) | February 26, 2017 (Saros 140) | February 5, 2046 (Saros 141) |
| January 16, 2075 (Saros 142) | |

### Metonic series

The metonic 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 ascending node.

22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018 :

| January 4-5 | October 23-24 | August 10-12 | May 30-31 | March 18-19 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
| January 5, 1935 | | August 12, 1942 | May 30, 1946 | March 18, 1950 |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
| January 5, 1954 | October 23, 1957 | August 11, 1961 | May 30, 1965 | March 18, 1969 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
| January 4, 1973 | October 23, 1976 | August 10, 1980 | May 30, 1984 | March 18, 1988 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
| January 4, 1992 | October 24, 1995 | August 11, 1999 | May 31, 2003 | March 19, 2007 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 |
| January 4, 2011 | October 23, 2014 | August 11, 2018 | | |
