Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987

Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Hybrid
Gamma	−0.3053
Magnitude	1.0013
Maximum eclipse
Duration	8 s (0 min 8 s)
Coordinates	12°18′S 2°18′W / 12.3°S 2.3°W / -12.3; -2.3
Max. width of band	5 km (3.1 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	12:49:47
References
Saros	129 (50 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9480

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, March 29, 1987,^[1] with a magnitude of 1.0013. It was a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at the start and end as an annular eclipse. The eclipse lasted a maximum of only 7.57 seconds. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 4.7 days after perigee (on March 24, 1987, at 19:00 UTC) and 7.8 days before apogee (on April 6, 1987, at 7:40 UTC).^[2]

Totality of this eclipse was not visible on any land, while annularity was visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today's South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Africa, and the Middle East.