title: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1996
text: # Solar eclipse of April 17, 1996
  
  A partial solar eclipse occurred on April 17, 1996. 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. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
  
  ## Related eclipses
  
  ### Eclipses of 1996
  
  * A total lunar eclipse on April 4.
  * A partial solar eclipse on April 17.
  * A total lunar eclipse on September 27.
  * A partial solar eclipse on October 12.
  
  ### Solar eclipses 1993–1996
  
  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.
  
  Solar eclipse series sets from 1993–1996 :
  
  | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
  | 118 | 1993 May 21 Partial | 1.13720 | 123 | 1993 November 13 Partial | -1.04114 |
  | 128 Partial from Bismarck, ND | 1994 May 10 Annular | 0.40771 | 133 Totality at Bolivia | 1994 November 3 Total | -0.35216 |
  | 138 | 1995 April 29 Annular | -0.33821 | 143 Totality at Dundlod, India | 1995 October 24 Total | 0.35176 |
  | 148 | 1996 April 17 Partial | -1.05796 | 153 | 1996 October 12 Partial | 1.12265 |
  
  ### 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.
  
  22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011. :
  
  | September 11-12 | June 30-July 1 | April 17-19 | February 4-5 | November 22-23 |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 114 | 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 |
  | September 12, 1931 | June 30, 1935 | April 19, 1939 | February 4, 1943 | November 23, 1946 |
  | 124 | 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 |
  | September 12, 1950 | June 30, 1954 | April 19, 1958 | February 5, 1962 | November 23, 1965 |
  | 134 | 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 |
  | September 11, 1969 | June 30, 1973 | April 18, 1977 | February 4, 1981 | November 22, 1984 |
  | 144 | 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 |
  | September 11, 1988 | June 30, 1992 | April 17, 1996 | February 5, 2000 | November 23, 2003 |
  | 154 | 156 |
  | September 11, 2007 | July 1, 2011 |
  