A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, 1971,[1] with a magnitude of 0.508. 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 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, Oceania, and Antarctica.
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.[2]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1971 August 20 at 20:52:59.2 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1971 August 20 at 22:39:31.5 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1971 August 20 at 22:54:02.4 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1971 August 20 at 23:50:24.9 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1971 August 21 at 00:25:39.4 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.50797 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.39282 | |
| Gamma | −1.26591 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 09h57m48.0s | |
| Sun Declination | +12°25'50.7" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'48.4" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 09h55m45.7s | |
| Moon Declination | +11°23'25.4" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'56.3" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'49.4" | |
| ΔT | 41.8 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.