| Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 | |
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Map
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| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Annular |
| Gamma | 0.4828 |
| Magnitude | 0.9439 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 5m 46s |
| Coordinates | 49.1N 176.3E |
| Max. width of band | 237 km |
| Times (UTC) | |
| (P1) Partial begin | 20:56:07 |
| (U1) Total begin | 22:06:17 |
| Greatest eclipse | 23:53:54 |
| (U4) Total end | 1:39:11 |
| (P4) Partial end | 2:49:21 |
| References | |
| Saros | 128 (58 of 73) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9535 |
An annular solar eclipse will take place on May 20, 2012 (May 21, 2012 for local time in Eastern Hemisphere), with a magnitude of 0.9439. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially 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, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide.
The annular phase will be visible from the Chinese coast, the south of Japan, and the western part of the United States and Canada. Guangzhou, Tokyo and Albuquerque will be on the central path. Its maximum will occur in the North Pacific, south of the Aleutian islands for 5 min and 46.3 s, and finish in the western United States.
It will be the first central eclipse of the 21st century in the continental USA, and also the first annular eclipse there since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 which was also the previous eclipse of this series Solar Saros 128.
Contents |
Animation of eclipse path
This set of solar eclipses repeat approximately every 177 days and 4 hours at alternating nodes of the moon's orbit.
Note: Partial solar eclipses on January 4, 2011 and July 1, 2011 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 118 | June 1, 2011 Partial |
123 | November 25, 2011 Partial |
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| 128 | May 20, 2012 Annular |
133 | November 13, 2012 Total |
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| 138 | May 10, 2013 Annular |
143 | November 3, 2013 Hybrid |
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| 148 | April 29, 2014 Annular |
153 | October 23, 2014 Partial |
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It is a part of Saros cycle 128, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 29, 984 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 16, 1417 through June 18, 1471 and hybrid eclipses from June 28, 1489 through July 31, 1543. Then it progresses into annular eclipses from August 11, 1561 through July 25, 2120. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on November 1, 2282. The longest duration of totality was 1 minutes, 45 seconds on June 7, 1453.[1]
Series members 52-62 occur between 1901 and 2100:
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
|---|---|---|
March 17, 1904 |
March 28, 1922 |
April 7, 1940 |
| 55 | 56 | 57 |
April 19, 1958 |
April 29, 1976 |
May 10, 1994 |
| 58 | 59 | 60 |
May 20, 2012 |
June 1, 2030 |
June 11, 2048 |
| 61 | 62 | |
June 22, 2066 |
July 3, 2084 |
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).
This series has 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 |
