Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008

Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008
320px 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
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 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 that was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. Occurring north of the arctic circle, it belonged to the so-called midnight sun eclipses. The largest city on the path of the eclipse was Novosibirsk in Russia.

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.

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.

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"

Start of eclipse: Canada, Greenland and Norway

File:SE2008Aug01T.gif

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.

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, 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 (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. Around 10,000 tourists were present in Novosibirsk, the largest city to experience the eclipse.

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  The eclipse over Russia, Norway, and the Arctic Ocean as seen from NASA's Terra satellite.

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  Partial eclipse from Saratov

• Solar eclipse of 2008 August 1.JPG

  Partial eclipse from Moscow

• Zatmenie06.jpg

  Partial eclipse at Novosibirsk, one minute before the total eclipse

• NovosibirskTotalEclipsePhoto.jpg

  Total eclipse at Novosibirsk

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  from Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok) Russia

• Max phase of partial eclipse 01.08.2008 in Magnitogorsk, Ural, Russia..jpg

  Max phase of partial eclipse in Magnitogorsk, Ural, Russia

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, Jiuquan and Xi’an. Around 10,000 people were gathered to watch the eclipse in Yiwu.

• Diamondring.jpg

  Total eclipse from Yiwu County, Xinjiang

• Solar Eclipse Gansu.jpg

  Total eclipse at Jinta County, Gansu; red prominences are clearly visible on both sides of the sun

• Solar Eclipse Overview.jpg

  Overview of the eclipse from Jinta County, Gansu; Venus and Mercury are clearly visible to the upper left of the sun

• Solar Eclipse Gansu 2.JPG

  Total eclipse from Gansu

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. In London, England, the partial eclipse began at 08:33 GMT, with a maximum eclipse of 12% at 09:18 GMT, before concluding at 10:05 GMT. At Edinburgh the partial eclipse was 23.5% of the sun, whilst it was 36% in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles.

• 080801 zacmienie warszawa 11-52.JPG

  Partial eclipse from Warsaw, Poland

• Jonasholmstrom - Solar-eclipse-helsinki-finland-2008 (by).jpg

  Partial eclipse from Helsinki, Finland

• Michaelll - Partial Solar Eclipse (by).jpg

  Partial eclipse from Bergen, Norway

• Partial Solar Eclipse - Miensk.jpg

  Partial eclipse from Minsk, Belarus

• Solar eclipse in Makiivka.jpg

  Partial eclipse from Makiivka, Ukraine

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.

• Compilatie.jpg

  Time lapse images of the eclipse from Targoviste, Romania

• Partial Eclipse Chennai Aug2008.jpg

  Partial eclipse from Chennai, India

• 1 August 2008 partial eclipse from UK.jpg

  Partial eclipse from Jodrell Bank Observatory, England

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 2008-2011

Each member 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 2008–2011

Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
121 Partial from Christchurch, New Zealand	2008 February 7 Annular		126 Novosibirsk, Russia	2008 August 1 Total
131 Bandar Lampung, Indonesia	2009 January 26 Annular		136 Kurigram, Bangladesh	2009 July 22 Total
141 Bangui, Central African Republic	2010 January 15 Annular		146 French Polynesia	2010 July 11 Total
151 Partial from Vienna, Austra	2011 January 4 Partial (north)		156	2011 July 1 Partial (south)
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 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810 and hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864. It contains 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 5 minutes, 46 seconds of annularity on November 22, 1593. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972.

Series members 39-49 occur between 1901 and 2100:

39	40	41
June 8, 1918	June 19, 1936	June 30, 1954
42	43	44
July 10, 1972	July 22, 1990	August 1, 2008
45	46	47
August 12, 2026	150px August 23, 2044	September 3, 2062
48	49
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).

Octon eclipses between May 21, 1993 and August 2, 2065

This octon series has 21 eclipse events between May 21, 1993 and August 2, 2065.

May 20-21	March 9	December 25-26	October 13-14	August 1-2
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	150px August 2, 2046
148	150	152	154	156
May 20, 2050	March 9, 2054	December 26, 2057	October 13, 2061	August 2, 2065
158
May 20, 2069

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• 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

• Video from Altai, featured on CNN