| Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987 | |
|---|---|
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Hybrid |
| Gamma | −0.3053 |
| Magnitude | 1.0013 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 8 sec (0 m 8 s) |
| Coordinates | 12°18′S 2°18′W / 12.3°S 2.3°W |
| 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 the orbit on March 29, 1987. It was a hybrid eclipse, with only a small portion of the central path as total, lasting 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. 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.
There were 8 solar eclipses between April 9, 1986 and August 31, 1989.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1986–1989 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending 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 | |
It is a part of Saros cycle 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 80 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses on May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969, hybrid eclipses from March 29, 1987 through April 20, 2023 and total eclipses from April 30, 2041 through July 26, 2185. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 21, 2528. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131 . All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.[1]
| Series members 46–56 occur between 1901 and 2100: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
 February 14, 1915 |
 February 24, 1933 |
 March 7, 1951 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
 March 18, 1969 |
March 29, 1987 |
 April 8, 2005 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
 April 20, 2023 |
 April 30, 2041 |
 May 11, 2059 |
| 55 | 56 | |
 May 22, 2077 |
 June 2, 2095 | |
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.
| 21 eclipse events, progressing from south to north between June 10, 1964, and August 21, 2036 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 10–11 | March 27–29 | January 15–16 | November 3 | August 21–22 |
| 117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
 June 10, 1964 |
 March 28, 1968 |
 January 16, 1972 |
 November 3, 1975 |
 August 22, 1979 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
 June 11, 1983 |
March 29, 1987 |
 January 15, 1991 |
 November 3, 1994 |
 August 22, 1998 |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 June 10, 2002 |
 March 29, 2006 |
 January 15, 2010 |
 November 3, 2013 |
 August 21, 2017 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
 June 10, 2021 |
 March 29, 2025 |
 January 14, 2029 |
 November 3, 2032 |
 August 21, 2036 |
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