Table 1. Elements of the Total Solar Eclipse of 2002 December 04


Geocentric Conjunction      07:39:48.73 TDT     J.D. = 2452612.819314
 of Sun & Moon in R.A.:   (=07:38:44.03 UT)

      Instant of            07:32:15.65 TDT     J.D. = 2452612.814070
   Greatest Eclipse:      (=07:31:10.95 UT)


Geocentric Coordinates of Sun & Moon at Greatest Eclipse (DE200/LE200):

Sun:       R.A. = 16h41m50.939s       Moon:      R.A. = 16h41m32.881s
           Dec. =-22°13'29.20"                   Dec. =-22°31'05.17"
  Semi-Diameter =    16'13.60"          Semi-Diameter =    16'21.60"
    Eq.Hor.Par. =       08.92"            Eq.Hor.Par. =  1°00'02.27"
         Æ R.A. =       10.867s/h              Æ R.A. =      154.401s/h
         Æ Dec. =      -20.23"/h               Æ Dec. =     -487.39"/h


Lunar Radius   k1 = 0.2725076 (Penumbra)        Shift in      b =  0.00"
 Constants:    k2 = 0.2722810 (Umbra)       Lunar Position:   l =  0.00"

Geocentric Libration:   l =   3.8°       Brown Lun. No. =  989
(Optical + Physical)    b =   0.5°         Saros Series =  142 (22/72)
                        c =   5.7°            Ephemeris = (DE200/LE200)

Eclipse Magnitude = 1.02437        Gamma =-0.30204        T =    64.7 s


Polynomial Besselian Elements for:   2002 Dec 04   08:00:00.0 TDT  (=t0)

  n        x          y          d          l1         l2          µ

  0   0.1861473 -0.3544635 -22.2264977  0.5441862 -0.0019615 302.485046
  1   0.5532511 -0.1309133  -0.0052963  0.0000834  0.0000830  14.997272
  2   0.0000155  0.0001807   0.0000058 -0.0000125 -0.0000124  -0.000002
  3  -0.0000087  0.0000022   0.0000000  0.0000000  0.0000000   0.000000

tan f1 = 0.0047437

tan f2 = 0.0047201

At time t1 (decimal hours), each Besselian element is evaluated by:

where: a = x, y, d, l1, l2, or µ; t = t1 - t0 (decimal hours), and t0 = 8.000 TDT

The Besselian elements were derived from a least-squares fit to elements calculated at five uniformly spaced times over a six hour period centered at t0. Thus the elements are valid over the period 5.00 < t1 < 11.00 TDT. Note that all times are expressed in Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT).

Saros Series 142: Member 22 of 72 eclipses in series.
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