Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012
Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 | |
---|---|
From Middlegate, Nevada | |
Map | |
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | 0.4828 |
Magnitude | 0.9439 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 346 sec (5 m 46 s) |
Coordinates | 49°06′N 176°18′E / 49.1°N 176.3°E |
Max. width of band | 237 km (147 mi) |
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 took place on May 20, 2012 (May 21, 2012 in local time in the Eastern Hemisphere), with a magnitude of 0.9439. 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.
Visibility
- North America
It was the first annular eclipse in the continental U.S. since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 which was also the previous eclipse of this series Solar Saros 128.
- Hong Kong
It was predicted that the antumbra will pass over Hong Kong but due to weather it was not observable.
Photo Gallery
- Asia
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Solar eclipse of May 21, 2012 in Keelung City, Taiwan
- North America
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Crescent shadows on an outdoor wall
San Francisco, California. -
Crescent shaped shadows from tree on a wall
San Francisco, California -
Crescent images from solar eclipse, May 2012
San Francisco, California -
Near Phoenix, Arizona
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Arrowhead Park Naperville, Illinois at 0:54:00 UTC
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Photo taken from San Juan Capistrano, California at 1:20 UTC
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East of Ogden, Iowa at 1:25 UTC
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Minneapolis, Minnesota
1:27:53 UTC -
Shawnee Mission Park Shawnee, Kansas
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Eclipse as seen from Flagstaff, Arizona
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Photo taken from San Francisco, California
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80mm refractor, 1:36 UTC, Nevada City, California
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Center line, south shore of Pyramid Lake (Nevada) in Nevada.
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Projection method using 60mm refractor from Medford, Oregon.
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2012-05-20 Eclipse as seen from Wolfforth, Texas.
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Partial Solar Eclipse in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Amateur scientists observing eclipse in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Related eclipses
Solar eclipses 2011–2014
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.
Note: Partial solar eclipses on January 4, 2011, and July 1, 2011, occur in the previous semester series.
Descending node | Ascending node | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Saros | Map | Saros | Map | |
118 | June 1, 2011 Partial |
123 | November 25, 2011 Partial | |
128 Middlegate, Nevada |
May 20, 2012 Annular |
133 Ellis Beach, Queensland |
November 13, 2012 Total | |
138 Renner Springs, Australia |
May 10, 2013 Annular |
143 Partial from Accra, Ghana |
November 3, 2013 Hybrid | |
148 | April 29, 2014 Annular |
153 Partial from Minneapolis, Minnesota |
October 23, 2014 Partial |
Saros 128
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]
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 |
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).
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 |
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 |
Notes
References
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Closeup map of path
- www.eclipser.ca: Jay Anderson 2012 May 20/21 Annular Solar Eclipse
- NightSkyInfo.com: May 20, 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse
- Photo Gallery from Big Spring TX
External links
- Media related to Solar eclipse of 2012 May 20 at Wikimedia Commons
- A Partial Solar Eclipse over Texas, APOD 5/22/2012, from 30 km west of Sundown, Texas, the same picture chosen as APOD again on 9/13/2015
- Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth, APOD 5/30/2012, taken by MTSAT