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20th-century partial solar eclipse From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, December 25, 2000 (also known as the "Christmas 2000 Solar Eclipse"),[1] with a magnitude of 0.7228. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth. This was also the last solar eclipse of the 20th century.
| Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000 | |
|---|---|
Projected partial eclipse from Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Partial |
| Gamma | 1.1367 |
| Magnitude | 0.7228 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Coordinates | 66.3°N 74.1°W |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 17:35:57 |
| References | |
| Saros | 122 (57 of 70) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9510 |
This was the first solar eclipse on Christmas Day since the annular solar eclipse of 1954.[2]
This was the last of four partial solar eclipses in 2000, with the others occurring on February 5, July 1, and July 31.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America and the Caribbean.
Animated path
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.[3]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2000 December 25 at 15:27:44.5 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2000 December 25 at 17:22:41.2 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2000 December 25 at 17:27:01.0 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2000 December 25 at 17:35:56.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2000 December 25 at 19:44:16.3 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.72279 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.62922 |
| Gamma | 1.13669 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 18h18m29.8s |
| Sun Declination | -23°22'12.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'15.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 18h18m47.5s |
| Moon Declination | -22°20'41.9" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'49.1" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'22.8" |
| ΔT | 64.1 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.
| December 25 Descending node (new moon) | January 9 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 122 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 134 |
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.[4]
The partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | July 1, 2000 Partial |
−1.28214 | 122 Partial projection in Minneapolis, MN, USA |
December 25, 2000 Partial |
1.13669 | |
127 Totality in Lusaka, Zambia |
June 21, 2001 Total |
−0.57013 | 132 Partial in Minneapolis, MN, USA |
December 14, 2001 Annular |
0.40885 | |
137.jpg) Partial in Los Angeles, CA, USA |
June 10, 2002 Annular |
0.19933 | 142 Totality in Woomera, South Australia |
December 4, 2002 Total |
−0.30204 | |
147 Annularity in Culloden, Scotland |
May 31, 2003 Annular |
0.99598 | 152.jpg) |
November 23, 2003 Total |
−0.96381 | |
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 122, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 17, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from July 12, 1135 through August 3, 1171; hybrid eclipses on August 13, 1189 and August 25, 1207; and annular eclipses from September 4, 1225 through October 10, 1874. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on May 17, 2235. 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 9 at 1 minutes, 25 seconds on July 12, 1135, and the longest duration of annularity was produced by member 50 at 6 minutes, 28 seconds on October 10, 1874. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[5]
| Series members 46–68 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
 August 28, 1802 |
 September 7, 1820 |
 September 18, 1838 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
 September 29, 1856 |
 October 10, 1874 |
 October 20, 1892 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
 November 2, 1910 |
 November 12, 1928 |
 November 23, 1946 |
| 55 | 56 | 57 |
 December 4, 1964 |
 December 15, 1982 |
December 25, 2000 |
| 58 | 59 | 60 |
 January 6, 2019 |
 January 16, 2037 |
 January 27, 2055 |
| 61 | 62 | 63 |
 February 7, 2073 |
 February 18, 2091 |
 March 1, 2109 |
| 64 | 65 | 66 |
 March 13, 2127 |
 March 23, 2145 |
 April 3, 2163 |
| 67 | 68 | |
 April 14, 2181 |
 April 25, 2199 | |
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.
| 21 eclipse events between May 21, 1993 and May 20, 2069 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
 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 | ||||
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 1837 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 April 5, 1837 (Saros 107) |
 March 5, 1848 (Saros 108) |
 February 3, 1859 (Saros 109) |
 December 2, 1880 (Saros 111) | |
 August 31, 1913 (Saros 114) |
 July 31, 1924 (Saros 115) |
 June 30, 1935 (Saros 116) | ||
 May 30, 1946 (Saros 117) |
 April 30, 1957 (Saros 118) |
 March 28, 1968 (Saros 119) |
 February 26, 1979 (Saros 120) |
 January 26, 1990 (Saros 121) |
December 25, 2000 (Saros 122) |
 November 25, 2011 (Saros 123) |
 October 25, 2022 (Saros 124) |
 September 23, 2033 (Saros 125) |
 August 23, 2044 (Saros 126) |
 July 24, 2055 (Saros 127) |
 June 22, 2066 (Saros 128) |
 May 22, 2077 (Saros 129) |
 April 21, 2088 (Saros 130) |
 March 21, 2099 (Saros 131) |
 February 18, 2110 (Saros 132) |
 January 19, 2121 (Saros 133) |
 December 19, 2131 (Saros 134) |
 November 17, 2142 (Saros 135) |
 October 17, 2153 (Saros 136) |
 September 16, 2164 (Saros 137) |
 August 16, 2175 (Saros 138) |
 July 16, 2186 (Saros 139) |
 June 15, 2197 (Saros 140) | |
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 April 26, 1827 (Saros 116) |
 April 5, 1856 (Saros 117) |
 March 16, 1885 (Saros 118) |
 February 25, 1914 (Saros 119) |
 February 4, 1943 (Saros 120) |
 January 16, 1972 (Saros 121) |
December 25, 2000 (Saros 122) |
 December 5, 2029 (Saros 123) |
 November 16, 2058 (Saros 124) |
 October 26, 2087 (Saros 125) |
 October 6, 2116 (Saros 126) |
 September 16, 2145 (Saros 127) |
 August 27, 2174 (Saros 128) |
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