Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008 | |
|---|---|
 Partial from Christchurch, New Zealand | |
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Annular |
| Gamma | −0.957 |
| Magnitude | 0.965 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 132 s (2 min 12 s) |
| Coordinates | 67.6°S 150.5°W |
| Max. width of band | 444 km (276 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 3:56:10 |
| References | |
| Saros | 121 (60 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9525 |
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.
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.
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]
Animated path
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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]
| 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 |
| 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 |
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.
| February 7 Ascending node (new moon) | February 21 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 121 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 133 |
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, 2001 Partial |
−1.49171 | |
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 | ||
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 | ||||
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) | ||||
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) |
|
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