| Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008 | |
|---|---|
) Totality showing corona from Yiwu County, China | |
) Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Total |
| Gamma | 0.8307 |
| Magnitude | 1.0394 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 147 sec (2 m 27 s) |
| Coordinates | 65°42′N 72°18′E / 65.7°N 72.3°E |
| Max. width of band | 237 km (147 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| (P1) Partial begin | 04:06.8 |
| (U1) Total begin | 21:07.3 |
| Greatest eclipse | 10:22:12 |
| (U4) Total end | 21:28.3 |
| (P4) Partial end | 38:27.7 |
| References | |
| Saros | 126 (47 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9526 |
A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on August 1, 2008. 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 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. It had a magnitude of 1.0394[1] that was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China.[2] Occurring north of the arctic circle, it belonged to the so-called midnight sun eclipses. The largest city in the path of the eclipse was Novosibirsk in Russia.[3]
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) larger than the February 7, 2008 annular solar eclipse.
This was the first eclipse this season, with the second being the 16 August 2008 partial lunar eclipse.
The total eclipse lasted for 2 minutes, and covered 0.4% of the Earth's surface in a 10,200 km long path. It was the 47th eclipse of the 126th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on March 10, 1179 and will conclude with a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459.[4]
A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including northeastern North America and most of Europe and Asia.[2]
It was described by observers as "special for its colours around the horizon. There were wonderful oranges and reds all around, the clouds lit up, some dark in silhouette, some golden, glowing yellowy-orange in the distance. You could see the shadow approaching against the clouds and then rushing away as it left."[5]
The moon's apparent diameter was larger because the eclipse was occurring only 58 hours, 56 minutes after perigee.
Start of eclipse: Canada, Greenland and Norway
Animated path 
The eclipse began in the far north of Canada in Nunavut at 09:21 UT, the zone of totality being 206 km wide, and lasting for 1 minute 30 seconds. The path of the eclipse then headed north-east, crossing over northern Greenland and reaching the northernmost latitude of 83° 47′ at 09:38 UT before dipping down into Russia.[4]
The path of totality touched the northeast corner of Kvitøya, an uninhabited Norwegian island in the Svalbard archipelago, at 09:47 UT.
Greatest eclipse: Russia
The eclipse reached the Russian mainland at 10:10 UT,[4] with a path 232 km wide and a duration of 2 minutes 26 seconds. The greatest eclipse occurred shortly after, at 10:21:07 UT at coordinates 65°39′N 72°18′E / 65.650°N 72.300°E (close to Nadym), when the path was 237 km wide, and the duration was 2 minutes 27 seconds. Cities in the path of the total eclipse included Megion, Nizhnevartovsk, Strezhevoy, Novosibirsk and Barnaul.[4] Around 10,000 tourists were present in Novosibirsk, the largest city to experience the eclipse.[3] For Gorno-Altaysk the eclipse was the second consecutive total solar eclipse after the March 2006 eclipse.[6]
Partial eclipse from Moscow, Russia
.jpg)
Partial eclipse from Yekaterinburg
Partial eclipse at Novosibirsk, one minute before totality
Total eclipse from Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok)
Diamond ring effect from Novosibirsk
Maximum phase of partial eclipse in Magnitogorsk
The progression of a solar eclipse in Novosibirsk. All times UTC (local time was UTC+7).
Partial eclipse from Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
)
.jpg'))
)
)
)
)
)
)
Conclusion: China
The path of the eclipse then moved south-east, crossing into Mongolia and just clipping Kazakhstan at around 10:58 UT. The path here was 252 km wide, but the duration was decreased to 2 minutes 10 seconds. The path then ran down the China-Mongolia border, ending in China at 11:18 UT, with an eclipse lasting 1 minute 27 seconds at sunset. The total eclipse finished at 11:21 UT. The total eclipse passed over Yiwu County, Jiuquan and Xi’an.[4] Around 10,000 people were gathered to watch the eclipse in Yiwu.[3]
Total eclipse from Yiwu County, Xinjiang
Total eclipse at Jinta County, Gansu; red prominences are clearly visible on both sides of the sun
Total eclipse from Gansu, China
)
)
)
)
Partial eclipse
A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the north east coast of North America and most of Europe and Asia.[2] In London, England, the partial eclipse began at 09:33 BST, with a maximum eclipse of 12% at 10:18 BST, before concluding at 11:05 BST. At Edinburgh the partial eclipse was 23.5% of the sun, whilst it was 36% in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles.[7]
Partial eclipse from Warsaw, Poland
.jpg)
Partial eclipse from Helsinki, Finland
.jpg)
Partial eclipse from Bergen, Norway
Partial eclipse from Minsk, Belarus
Partial eclipse from Makiivka, Ukraine
Partial eclipse from Chennai, India
)
.jpg'))
.jpg'))
)
)
)
LTU 1111
German charter airline LTU, now trading as Air Berlin, operated a special flight from Düsseldorf to the North Pole to observe the eclipse. Flight number LT 1111 spent over 11 hours in the air, returning to base at 6pm after flying a planeload of eclipse chasers, scientists, journalists and TV crews to watch the celestial event. The route also included a low-level sightseeing tour of Svalbard before the eclipse and the magnetic pole afterwards.
The eclipse over Russia, Norway, and the Arctic Ocean as seen from NASA's Terra satellite.
Partial eclipse from Jodrell Bank Observatory, England
)
)
More details about the Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008.
Eclipse Magnitude: 1.03942
Eclipse Obscuration: 1.08040
Gamma: 0.83070
Greatest Eclipse: 2008 August 01 at 10:22:12.3 TD (10:21:06.7 UTC)
Sun right ascension: 8.8
Sun declination: 17.9
Sun diameter (arcseconds): 1891.0
Moon right ascension: 8.82
Moon declination: 18.6
Moon diameter (arcseconds): 1948.2
Delta T: 1 minute, 5.7 seconds
Saros series: 126th (47 of 72)
Related eclipses
Eclipses of 2008
- An annular solar eclipse on February 7.
- A total lunar eclipse on February 21.
- A total solar eclipse on August 1.
- A partial lunar eclipse on August 16.
Tzolkinex
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001
- Followed: Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015
Half-Saros
- Preceded: Lunar eclipse of July 28, 1999
- Followed: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017
Tritos
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of September 2, 1997
- Followed: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2019
Solar Saros 126
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990
- Followed: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026
Inex
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1979
- Followed: Solar eclipse of July 13, 2037
Solar eclipses 2008–2011
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.[8]
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2008–2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
121) Partial from Christchurch, NZ | 2008 February 07) Annular | -0.9570 | 126) Novosibirsk, Russia | 2008 August 01) Total | 0.8307 | |
131_(cropped).jpg')) Partial from Riversdal | 2009 January 26) Annular | -0.2819 | 136) Kurigram, Bangladesh | 2009 July 22) Total | 0.0698 | |
141_Solar_annular_eclipse_of_January_15,_2010_in_Bangui,_Central_African_Republic.JPG')) Bangui, Central African Republic | 2010 January 15) Annular | 0.4002 | 146) Hao, French Polynesia | 2010 July 11) Total | -0.6787 | |
151) Partial from Vienna, Austria | 2011 January 04) Partial (north) | 1.0626 | 156 | 2011 July 01) Partial (south) | -1.4917 | |
| Partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011, and November 25, 2011, occur on the next lunar year eclipse set. | ||||||
Saros 126
It is a part of Saros cycle 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810, hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864 and total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. The longest duration of central eclipse (annular or total) was 6 minutes, 30 seconds of annularity on June 26, 1359. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.
| Series members 42–52 occur between 1901 and 2100 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 42 | 43 | 44 |
) June 8, 1918 | ) June 19, 1936 | ) June 30, 1954 |
| 45 | 46 | 47 |
) July 10, 1972 | ) July 22, 1990 | August 1, 2008 |
| 48 | 49 | 50 |
) August 12, 2026 | ) August 23, 2044 | ) September 3, 2062 |
| 51 | 52 | |
) September 13, 2080 | ) September 25, 2098 | |
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.[9]
| Octon series with 21 events between May 21, 1993 and August 2, 2065 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20–21 | March 8–9 | December 25–26 | October 13–14 | August 1–2 |
| 98 | 100 | 102 | 104 | 106 |
| May 21, 1955 | March 9, 1959 | December 26, 1962 | October 14, 1966 | August 2, 1970 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
| May 21, 1974 | March 9, 1978 | December 26, 1981 | October 14, 1985 | August 1, 1989 |
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
) May 21, 1993 | ) March 9, 1997 | ) December 25, 2000 | ) October 14, 2004 | August 1, 2008 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
) May 20, 2012 | ) March 9, 2016 | ) December 26, 2019 | ) October 14, 2023 | ) August 2, 2027 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
) May 21, 2031 | ) March 9, 2035 | ) December 26, 2038 | ) October 14, 2042 | ) August 2, 2046 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 | 156 |
) May 20, 2050 | ) March 9, 2054 | ) December 26, 2057 | ) October 13, 2061 | ) August 2, 2065 |
| 158 | 160 | 162 | 164 | 166 |
) May 20, 2069 | March 8, 2073 | December 26, 2076 | October 13, 2080 | August 1, 2084 |
Notes
- ^ Espenak, Fred; Jay Anderson (July 2004). "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01 - Parameters". NASA. Archived from the original on 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ a b c "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01". NASA. August 1, 2008. Archived from the original on March 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ a b c "Total eclipse a dark show for thousands". Herald Sun. August 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ a b c d e Espenak, Fred; Jay Anderson (March 2007). Total Eclipse of 2008 August 01 - NASA Technical Bulletin 2007–214149. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ Dr John Mason describing the eclipse directly after observing it
- ^ Eclipses and Transits Visible in Gorno-Altaysk. timeanddate.com
- ^ Royal Astronomical Society (August 1, 2008). "Solar Eclipse On The Morning Of August 1st". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Freeth, Tony. "Note S1: Eclipses & Predictions". plos.org. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
References
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google Map
Photos:
- Russian solar eclipse
- Russian scientist observed eclipse
- Spaceweather.com solar eclipse gallery
- Total Solar Eclipse, August 1, 2008, from Russia by Jay Pasachoff
- Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Mongolia
- Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Russia
- The 2008 Eclipse in Russia
- Astronomy.com Eclipse trip images from Russia
- Memories, video and images of the eclipse by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society
- The 2008 Eclipse in Russia
- [1] APOD 8/5/2008, A Total Solar Eclipse Over China, wide sky from near Barkol in Xinjiang, China
- [2] APOD 8/7/2008, At the Sun's Edge, Totality from Novosibirsk, Russia
- [3] APOD 8/8/2008, The Crown of the Sun, totality with corona from Kochenevo, Russia
- [4] APOD 9/20/2008,A Darkened Sky, totality with wide corona from Mongolia
- Webcast of the eclipse from northwest China
- University of North Dakota's Live Webcast from China
Video