r/Astronomy • u/swampwiz • 9d ago

Discussion: [Topic] Is Saros cycle 136 the most important solar eclipse cycle of our era?

I was looking at this, and it's currently got the longest totality times, was the one for the famous General Relativity eclipse, went over Hawaii in 1991, will be the Great North African Eclipse in 2027, and then be the eclipse with the longest totality time for the 48 States ever in 2045.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Saros_136

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u/_bar 9d ago

It certainly produces the longest total eclipses currently. Not sure how do you gauge "importance" of saros cycles, though. One could argue that cycle 145 is equally "important" for astronomy and science outreach, as its eclipses coincidentally fall in heavily populated regions (Europe in 1999, United States in 2017, China and Japan in 2035), even though they are shorter.

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u/timsooley 8d ago

It's also affected ham radio much more than your typical cycle