The year’s first solar eclipse occurred on Wednesday, March 29. This was the 29th eclipse of Saros series 139. The series began with 7 partial eclipses, the first of which was on 1501 May 17. Quite remarkably, the first dozen central eclipses of Saros 139 were all hybrid with the duration of totality steadily increasing during each successive event. The first total eclipse occurred on 1843 Dec 21. The series continues to produce total eclipses which culminates with an extraordinarily long total eclipse of 2186 July 16. The 7 minute 29 second duration falls just 3 seconds short of the theoretical maximum [Meeus, 2005]. The last central eclipse of Saros 139 occurs on 2601 Mar 26 with a 36 second duration. The final nine eclipses are all partial events visible from the Southern Hemisphere. The series ends with the partial eclipse of 2763 Jul 03. Complete details for Saros 139 may be found at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEsaros/SEsaros139.html
