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.
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 | 1987 March 29 at 10:03:29.8 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1987 March 29 at 11:05:14.4 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1987 March 29 at 11:05:40.9 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1987 March 29 at 11:05:40.9 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1987 March 29 at 11:06:07.5 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1987 March 29 at 12:14:03.2 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1987 March 29 at 12:31:19.9 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1987 March 29 at 12:46:28.0 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1987 March 29 at 12:49:47.3 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1987 March 29 at 13:25:55.5 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1987 March 29 at 14:33:36.4 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1987 March 29 at 14:34:05.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1987 March 29 at 14:34:34.9 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1987 March 29 at 15:36:18.1 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.00134 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.00267 | |
| Gamma | −0.30531 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 00h30m29.5s | |
| Sun Declination | +03°17'32.1" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'01.1" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 00h31m03.7s | |
| Moon Declination | +03°02'04.7" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'47.7" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'58.2" | |
| ΔT | 55.4 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.