# Eclipses 1981

> There are 4 eclipses in 1981: 2 solar and 2 lunar. Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on January 20 in Leo; Annular Solar Eclipse on February 4 in Aquarius; Partial Lunar Eclipse on July 17 in Capricorn; Total Solar Eclipse on July 31 in Leo. They fall on the Leo-Aquarius and Cancer-Capricorn axes. Times are global peak times in UTC.

Canonical page: https://www.selfgazer.com/sky/eclipses/1981

| Peak (UTC) | Eclipse | Position | Nodes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1981-01-20 07:49 UTC | Penumbral Lunar Eclipse | 0°16' Leo | North Node in Leo |
| 1981-02-04 22:08 UTC | Annular Solar Eclipse | 16°01' Aquarius | North Node in Leo |
| 1981-07-17 04:46 UTC | Partial Lunar Eclipse | 24°35' Capricorn | North Node in Leo |
| 1981-07-31 03:45 UTC | Total Solar Eclipse | 7°50' Leo | North Node in Leo |

## Questions

### When Are the Eclipses in 1981?

There are 4 eclipses in 1981: 2 solar and 2 lunar. Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on January 20 in Leo; Annular Solar Eclipse on February 4 in Aquarius; Partial Lunar Eclipse on July 17 in Capricorn; Total Solar Eclipse on July 31 in Leo. They fall on the Leo-Aquarius and Cancer-Capricorn axes. Times are global peak times in UTC.

### When Are the Solar Eclipses in 1981?

Annular Solar Eclipse on February 4, 1981 at 5:08 PM ET (22:08 UTC), in Aquarius; Total Solar Eclipse on July 30, 1981 at 11:45 PM ET (03:45 UTC on July 31), in Leo.

### When Are the Lunar Eclipses in 1981?

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on January 20, 1981 at 2:49 AM ET (07:49 UTC), in Leo; Partial Lunar Eclipse on July 17, 1981 at 12:46 AM ET (04:46 UTC), in Capricorn.

### What Signs Are the Eclipses in During 1981?

The 1981 eclipses fall on the Leo-Aquarius, Cancer-Capricorn axes, following the lunar nodes. Eclipses happen only when a New or Full Moon is close to the North or South Node.

### Where Will the Eclipse Be Visible?

Times on this page are the global peak of each eclipse. Whether you can see it depends on your location: a solar eclipse is visible only along its path, while a lunar eclipse is visible from the whole night side of Earth.

### What Do Eclipses Mean in Astrology?

Astrologers treat eclipses as amplified New and Full Moons that mark turning points, especially for the houses in your birth chart that hold the eclipse signs. Solar eclipses are read as beginnings and lunar eclipses as culminations.

### Why Do Some Sites List a Different Eclipse Date?

Most astrology sites print a single date without a time zone. An ingress at 10:49 PM in New York is already the next day in London and Sydney, so two correct sources can disagree by a day. Selfgazer gives every time in both US Eastern time and UTC, and the tables switch to your own time zone in the browser.

## Method

Positions are geocentric and tropical: apparent longitudes on the true ecliptic and equinox of date, corrected for light time and aberration. They are computed with the open-source Astronomy Engine library (VSOP87 planetary theory) and agree with the Swiss Ephemeris to within about one arcminute. The North Node is the mean node. Times are given in UTC and US Eastern time.

Source: [Selfgazer](https://www.selfgazer.com/sky/eclipses/1981). Free to cite with a link to the source page.