Total eclipse in North America
A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Monday, February 26, 1979, with a magnitude of 1.0391. A solar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon that 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. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 19 hours after perigee (on February 25, 1979, at 22:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The central shadow of the Moon passed through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana (where totality covered almost the entire state), North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, the Northwest Territories of Canada (the portion that is now Nunavut), and Greenland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Western Europe.
Visibility.
United States.
Many visitors traveled to the Pacific Northwest to view the Monday morning eclipse, as it was the last chance to view a total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States for 38 years, 5 months, 26 days. The next opportunity was on August 21, 2017. Several cities, including Lewiston, Idaho, and Goldendale, Washington, organized viewing events amid an expected bump in tourist traffic. Television station KING-TV of Seattle produced a live broadcast of the eclipse from Goldendale and other cities in the Northwest.
Although the path of totality passed through Portland shortly after sunrise (maximum at it was not directly observable due to overcast skies in northwestern Oregon. At the Goldendale Observatory State Park in Washington, an estimated 10,000 people were able to view the eclipse after the overcast skies parted during totality. Over 1,000 aircraft were guided around the path of totality by local air traffic control offices; the volume of flights in the area caused delays to passenger service at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and Portland International Airport. The Seattle-based Pacific Science Center chartered a Boeing 727 with 94 passengers to chase the eclipse.
Canada.
About a half hour later, the path of totality was in Manitoba and passed through cloudless Winnipeg in the late morning, maximum was at 10:48 am CST. The greatest eclipse occurred seven minutes later at 10:55 am CST.
Canada's next total solar eclipse took place on August 1, 2008, after which Canada did not see another total solar eclipse until April 8, 2024.
Observations.
Portland, Oregon was the largest city within the path of totality. However, the thick clouds made observation unsuccessful. Only some areas outside the city could see the sun through the holes in the clouds. There were also charter flights allowing passengers to observe from the air. Clouds covered most areas of the states of Oregon and Washington, and there were some clouds in western Montana. Observations were successful in places including North Dakota. Jay Pasachoff led a team from Williams College in Massachusetts to Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada and successfully observed the total eclipse there.
In literature.
Writer Annie Dillard viewed the eclipse from the Yakima River Valley in central Washington state. She described her impressions of the eclipse in an essay, "Total Eclipse," first published in the magazine "Antaeus" and then in her collection, "Teaching a Stone to Talk" (1982). It was later selected for inclusion in "The Best American Essays of the [20th] Century" (2000). Dillard describes a nearly overwhelming emotional experience, as suggested in this quotation: "I pray you will never see anything more awful in the sky." Describing the reactions of other onlookers, she relates "I heard screams."
The 1979 eclipse was also referenced in the opening pages of Douglas Coupland's novel, "Generation X".
Eclipse details.
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.
Eclipse season.
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.
Related eclipses.
Solar eclipses of 1979–1982.
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The partial solar eclipses on June 21, 1982 and December 15, 1982 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 120.
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 120, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 27, 933 AD. It contains annular eclipses from August 11, 1059 through April 26, 1492; hybrid eclipses from May 8, 1510 through June 8, 1564; and total eclipses from June 20, 1582 through March 30, 2033. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 7, 2195. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth. 
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 11 at 6 minutes, 24 seconds on September 11, 1113, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 60 at 2 minutes, 50 seconds on March 9, 1997. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Metonic series.
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
Tritos series.
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series.
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Notes.
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External links.
Photos/observations:
Narrative Descriptions: