An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Monday, August 31 and Tuesday, September 1, 1970,[1] with a magnitude of 0.94. 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. Occurring about 20 hours after apogee (on August 31, 1970, at 2:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
Annularity was visible from the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (today's Papua New Guinea), Gilbert and Ellice Islands (the part that belongs to Tuvalu now) on September 1 (Tuesday), West Samoa (name changed to Samoa later) and the whole American Samoa except Swains Island on August 31 (Monday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern 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.[3]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1970 August 31 at 19:00:38.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1970 August 31 at 20:12:19.4 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1970 August 31 at 20:15:18.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1970 August 31 at 20:18:19.6 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1970 August 31 at 21:42:42.2 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1970 August 31 at 21:55:29.9 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1970 August 31 at 22:01:53.6 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1970 August 31 at 22:28:51.4 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1970 August 31 at 23:32:19.4 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1970 August 31 at 23:35:20.4 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1970 August 31 at 23:38:19.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1970 September 1 at 00:50:07.5 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.93997 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.88354 | |
| Gamma | −0.53640 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 10h38m53.2s | |
| Sun Declination | +08°32'52.7" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'50.8" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 10h37m59.0s | |
| Moon Declination | +08°07'17.6" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'42.6" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°53'59.0" | |
| ΔT | 40.8 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.