An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 18, 1969,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9954. 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 5.1 days after perigee (on March 13, 1969, at 2:50 UTC) and 7.7 days before apogee (on March 25, 1969, at 19:30 UTC).[2]
Annularity was visible from part of Indonesia, and two atolls (Faraulep and Gaferut) in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which belongs to the Federated States of Micronesia now. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Madagascar, Antarctica, Australia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and northern Oceania.
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 | 1969 March 18 at 02:07:06.0 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 03:08:38.9 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:54.5 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 04:16:02.5 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1969 March 18 at 04:38:24.3 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1969 March 18 at 04:51:59.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1969 March 18 at 04:54:57.2 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 05:34:13.5 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 06:40:08.1 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1969 March 18 at 06:40:48.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 06:41:29.2 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 07:43:01.1 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99545 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.99092 | |
| Gamma | −0.27037 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 23h50m32.4s | |
| Sun Declination | -01°01'31.8" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'04.0" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 23h51m02.7s | |
| Moon Declination | -01°15'08.8" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'44.8" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'47.6" | |
| ΔT | 39.4 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.