Solar eclipse of October 12, 1977
# Solar eclipse of October 12, 1977

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Wednesday, October 12, 1977. 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 the Pacific Ocean, Colombia and Venezuela.

## Related eclipses

### Eclipses in 1977

* A partial lunar eclipse on Monday, 4 April 1977.
* An annular solar eclipse on Monday, 18 April 1977.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on Tuesday, 27 September 1977.
* A total solar eclipse on Wednesday, 12 October 1977.

### Solar eclipses of 1975–1978

There were 8 solar eclipses (at 6 month intervals) between May 11, 1975 and October 2, 1978.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1975–1978 :

| Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 118 | 1975 May 11 Partial | 1.06472 | 123 | 1975 November 3 Partial | -1.02475 |
| 128 | 1976 April 29 Annular | 0.33783 | 133 | 1976 October 23 Total | -0.32699 |
| 138 | 1977 April 18 Annular | -0.39903 | 143 | 1977 October 12 Total | 0.38363 |
| 148 | 1978 April 7 Partial | -1.10812 | 153 | 1978 October 2 Partial | 1.16164 |

### Saros 143

It is a part of Saros cycle 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 7, 1617 and total event from June 24, 1797 through October 24, 1995. It has hybrid eclipses from November 3, 2013 through December 6, 2067, and annular eclipses from December 16, 2085 through September 16, 2536. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on April 23, 2873. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 50 seconds on August 19, 1887. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Series members 17–28 occur between 1741 and 2100 :

| 8 | 9 | 10 |
| - | - | - |
| May 23, 1743 | June 3, 1761 | June 14, 1779 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 |
| June 24, 1797 | July 6, 1815 | July 17, 1833 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 |
| July 28, 1851 | August 7, 1869 | August 19, 1887 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 |
| August 30, 1905 | September 10, 1923 | September 21, 1941 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 |
| October 2, 1959 | October 12, 1977 | October 24, 1995 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 |
| November 3, 2013 | November 14, 2031 | November 25, 2049 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 |
| December 6, 2067 | December 16, 2085 |

### 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: :

| November 22, 1919 (Saros 141) | November 1, 1948 (Saros 142) | October 12, 1977 (Saros 143) |
| - | - | - |
| September 22, 2006 (Saros 144) | September 2, 2035 (Saros 145) | August 12, 2064 (Saros 146) |
| July 23, 2093 (Saros 147) | |

### 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 December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000 :

| December 24–25 | October 12–13 | July 31-Aug 1 | May 18–20 | March 7–8 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 91 | 93 | 95 | 97 | 99 |
| December 23, 1878 | October 12, 1882 | July 31, 1886 | May 18, 1890 | March 7, 1894 |
| 101 | 103 | 105 | 107 | 109 |
| December 23, 1897 | October 12, 1901 | August 1, 1905 | May 19, 1909 | March 8, 1913 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
| December 24, 1916 | October 12, 1920 | July 31, 1924 | May 19, 1928 | March 7, 1932 |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
| December 25, 1935 | October 12, 1939 | August 1, 1943 | May 20, 1947 | March 7, 1951 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
| December 25, 1954 | October 12, 1958 | July 31, 1962 | May 20, 1966 | March 7, 1970 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
| December 24, 1973 | October 12, 1977 | July 31, 1981 | May 19, 1985 | March 7, 1989 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 | 157 | 159 |
| December 24, 1992 | October 12, 1996 | July 31, 2000 | May 19, 2004 | March 7, 2008 |
| 161 | 163 | 165 | 167 | 169 |
| December 24, 2011 | October 13, 2015 | August 1, 2019 | May 19, 2023 | March 8, 2027 |
