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Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008

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Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.957
Magnitude0.965
Maximum eclipse
Duration132 s (2 min 12 s)
Coordinates67°36′S 150°30′W / 67.6°S 150.5°W / -67.6; -150.5
Max. width of band444 km (276 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse3:56:10
References
Saros121 (60 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9525

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, February 7, 2008,[1][2] with a magnitude of 0.965. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 7 days after apogee (on January 31, 2008, at 4:25 UTC) and 6.9 days before perigee (on February 14, 2008, at 1:00 UTC).[3]

The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.

Visibility

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Centrality was visible from parts of Antarctica. A significant partial eclipse was visible over New Zealand and a minor partial eclipse was seen from southeastern Australia and much of Oceania.

For most solar eclipses the path of centrality moves eastwards. In this case the path moved west round Antarctica and then north.

Observations

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The best land-based visibility outside of Antarctica was from New Zealand. Professional astronomer and eclipse-chaser Jay Pasachoff observed it from Nelson, New Zealand, 60% coverage, under perfect weather.[4][5]

Images

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Animated path

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Eclipse details

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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.[6]

February 7, 2008 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 01:39:34.7 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 2008 February 07 at 03:09:56.4 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 03:20:50.1 UTC
First Central Line 2008 February 07 at 03:25:03.4 UTC
Greatest Duration 2008 February 07 at 03:25:03.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 2008 February 07 at 03:29:52.5 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 2008 February 07 at 03:45:36.0 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 2008 February 07 at 03:56:10.5 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 2008 February 07 at 04:23:01.0 UTC
Last Central Line 2008 February 07 at 04:27:46.7 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 04:31:56.6 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 06:12:58.9 UTC
February 7, 2008 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.96499
Eclipse Obscuration 0.93120
Gamma −0.95701
Sun Right Ascension 21h20m44.7s
Sun Declination -15°30'56.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 21h22m15.3s
Moon Declination -16°21'00.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'35.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'12.3"
ΔT 65.4 s

Eclipse season

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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.

Eclipse season of February 2008
February 7
Ascending node (new moon)
February 21
Descending node (full moon)
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 121
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 133
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Eclipses in 2008

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 121

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 2008–2011

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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.[7]

The partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011 and November 25, 2011 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2008 to 2011
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
121

Partial in Christchurch, New Zealand
February 7, 2008

Annular
−0.95701 126

Totality in Kumul, Xinjiang, China
August 1, 2008

Total
0.83070
131

Annularity in Palangka Raya, Indonesia
January 26, 2009

Annular
−0.28197 136

Totality in Kurigram District, Bangladesh
July 22, 2009

Total
0.06977
141

Annularity in Jinan, Shandong, China
January 15, 2010

Annular
0.40016 146

Totality in Hao, French Polynesia
July 11, 2010

Total
−0.67877
151

Partial in Poland
January 4, 2011

Partial
1.06265 156 July 1, 2011

Partial
−1.49171

Saros 121

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 121, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 25, 944 AD. It contains total eclipses from July 10, 1070 through October 9, 1809; hybrid eclipses on October 20, 1827 and October 30, 1845; and annular eclipses from November 11, 1863 through February 28, 2044. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 7, 2206. 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 totality was produced by member 39 at 6 minutes, 20 seconds on June 21, 1629, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds on February 28, 2044. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[8]

Series members 49–70 occur between 1801 and 2200:
49 50 51

October 9, 1809

October 20, 1827

October 30, 1845
52 53 54

November 11, 1863

November 21, 1881

December 3, 1899
55 56 57

December 14, 1917

December 25, 1935

January 5, 1954
58 59 60

January 16, 1972

January 26, 1990

February 7, 2008
61 62 63

February 17, 2026

February 28, 2044

March 11, 2062
64 65 66

March 21, 2080

April 1, 2098

April 13, 2116
67 68 69

April 24, 2134

May 4, 2152

May 16, 2170
70

May 26, 2188

Metonic series

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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 ascending node.

21 eclipse events between July 1, 2000 and July 1, 2076
July 1–2 April 19–20 February 5–7 November 24–25 September 12–13
117 119 121 123 125

July 1, 2000

April 19, 2004

February 7, 2008

November 25, 2011

September 13, 2015
127 129 131 133 135

July 2, 2019

April 20, 2023

February 6, 2027

November 25, 2030

September 12, 2034
137 139 141 143 145

July 2, 2038

April 20, 2042

February 5, 2046

November 25, 2049

September 12, 2053
147 149 151 153 155

July 1, 2057

April 20, 2061

February 5, 2065

November 24, 2068

September 12, 2072
157

July 1, 2076

Tritos series

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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.

Series members between 1866 and 2200

March 16, 1866
(Saros 108)

December 13, 1898
(Saros 111)

September 12, 1931
(Saros 114)

August 12, 1942
(Saros 115)

July 11, 1953
(Saros 116)

June 10, 1964
(Saros 117)

May 11, 1975
(Saros 118)

April 9, 1986
(Saros 119)

March 9, 1997
(Saros 120)

February 7, 2008
(Saros 121)

January 6, 2019
(Saros 122)

December 5, 2029
(Saros 123)

November 4, 2040
(Saros 124)

October 4, 2051
(Saros 125)

September 3, 2062
(Saros 126)

August 3, 2073
(Saros 127)

July 3, 2084
(Saros 128)

June 2, 2095
(Saros 129)

May 3, 2106
(Saros 130)

April 2, 2117
(Saros 131)

March 1, 2128
(Saros 132)

January 30, 2139
(Saros 133)

December 30, 2149
(Saros 134)

November 27, 2160
(Saros 135)

October 29, 2171
(Saros 136)

September 27, 2182
(Saros 137)

August 26, 2193
(Saros 138)

Inex series

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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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

June 26, 1805
(Saros 114)

June 7, 1834
(Saros 115)

May 17, 1863
(Saros 116)

April 26, 1892
(Saros 117)

April 8, 1921
(Saros 118)

March 18, 1950
(Saros 119)

February 26, 1979
(Saros 120)

February 7, 2008
(Saros 121)

January 16, 2037
(Saros 122)

December 27, 2065
(Saros 123)

December 7, 2094
(Saros 124)

November 18, 2123
(Saros 125)

October 28, 2152
(Saros 126)

October 8, 2181
(Saros 127)

Notes

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  1. ^ "February 7, 2008 Annular Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Shrinking sun throws off astronomic yardstick: loss of mass deems universal ruler inaccurate". The Ottawa Citizen. 2008-02-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  4. ^ Solar Eclipse in New Zealand Archived 2011-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, meade4m.com: Advisor/Partner: Jay Pasachoff
  5. ^ 2008 Annular Eclipse Professor Jay Pasachoff, Williams College--Hopkins Observatory
  6. ^ "Annular Solar Eclipse of 2008 Feb 07". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  7. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  8. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 121". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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