Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005

Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
	Partial from Naiguatá, Venezuela
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Hybrid
Gamma	−0.3473
Magnitude	1.0074
Maximum eclipse
Duration	42 s (0 min 42 s)
Coordinates	10°36′S 119°00′W / 10.6°S 119°W
Max. width of band	27 km (17 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	20:36:51
References
Saros	129 (51 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9519

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, April 8, 2005, with a magnitude of 1.0074. 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. This eclipse is a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse.^[1]

It was visible within a narrow corridor in the Pacific Ocean. The path of the eclipse started south of New Zealand and crossed the Pacific Ocean in a diagonal path and ended in the extreme northwestern part of South America. The total solar eclipse was not visible on any land, while the annular solar eclipse was visible in the southern tip of Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.^[2] A partial eclipse was photographed from Nicaragua; in Bogota, several hundred schoolchildren watched the eclipse despite cloud cover.^[3] In Cordoba, an expedition from Bogota's National University observed the eclipse.^[3]

In Panama, where the eclipse was visible (and nearly total) from nearly the entire country, it was reported that hundreds of people had booked hotels to view it, including astronomers from the United States, Mexico, France, Belgium, Denmark, Iran and Spain.^[4] While the totality of the eclipse occurred over the Pacific Ocean, it could be seen from some parts of the southern United States; it was reported that the southernmost parts of Florida had the best viewing conditions (with as much as 50% of the sun occluded),^[1]^[5] although rainy conditions in part of the region meant the event was partially obscured.^[3]

Observations[edit]

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Fred Espenak and Williams College professor Jay Pasachoff boarded the cruise ship Galapagos Legend and observed the eclipse from the sea west of the Galápagos Islands. The ship first docked at several islands in the Galapagos Islands from April 1 to 3, and then started sailing westward toward the path of totality on April 4. It was cloudy at first on April 8. The ship encountered relatively large wind and waves while sailing south to look for a location with clear sky. The clouds began to disperse from 2 pm, and the sun could be seen through the thin clouds around 2:40. It cleared up later and during the totality, the weather was excellent and the observation was very successful. After another several days of sailing, the ship arrived at the Galápagos Islands again on April 12 and docked at several islands in the following days.^[6]

In addition, cruise ships including the MV Discovery and MS Paul Gauguin carried passengers around the Pitcairn Islands and French Polynesia.^[7] A team of NASA's did ground-based observations Penonomé, Coclé, Panama.^[8]^[9]

Images[edit]

Animated path

Gallery[edit]

Christchurch (NZ) at sunrise

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses of 2005[edit]

Solar eclipses of 2004–2007[edit]

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.^[10]

Solar eclipse series sets from 2004 to 2007
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
119	April 19, 2004 Partial	−1.13345	124	October 14, 2004 Partial	1.03481
129 Partial in Naiguatá, Venezuela	April 8, 2005 Hybrid	−0.34733	134 Annularity in Madrid, Spain	October 3, 2005 Annular	0.33058
139 Totality in Side, Turkey	March 29, 2006 Total	0.38433	144 Partial in São Paulo, Brazil	September 22, 2006 Annular	−0.40624
149 Partial in Jaipur, India	March 19, 2007 Partial	1.07277	154 Partial in Córdoba, Argentina	September 11, 2007 Partial	−1.12552

Saros 129[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses from May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969; hybrid eclipses from March 29, 1987 through April 20, 2023; and total eclipses from April 30, 2041 through July 26, 2185. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 21, 2528. 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 annularity was produced by member 34 at 5 minutes, 10 seconds on October 4, 1698, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 58 at 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.^[11]

Series members 40–61 occur between 1801 and 2200:
40	41	42
December 10, 1806	December 20, 1824	December 31, 1842
43	44	45
January 11, 1861	January 22, 1879	February 1, 1897
46	47	48
February 14, 1915	February 24, 1933	March 7, 1951
49	50	51
March 18, 1969	March 29, 1987	April 8, 2005
52	53	54
April 20, 2023	April 30, 2041	May 11, 2059
55	56	57
May 22, 2077	June 2, 2095	June 13, 2113
58	59	60
June 25, 2131	July 5, 2149	July 16, 2167
61
July 26, 2185

Metonic series[edit]

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 June 21, 1982, and June 21, 2058
June 21	April 8–9	January 26	November 13–14	September 1–2
107	109	111	113	115
June 21, 1963	April 9, 1967	January 26, 1971	November 14, 1974	September 2, 1978
117	119	121	123	125
June 21, 1982	April 9, 1986	January 26, 1990	November 13, 1993	September 2, 1997
127	129	131	133	135
June 21, 2001	April 8, 2005	January 26, 2009	November 13, 2012	September 1, 2016
137	139	141	143	145
June 21, 2020	April 8, 2024	January 26, 2028	November 14, 2031	September 2, 2035
147	149	151	153	155
June 21, 2039	April 9, 2043	January 26, 2047	November 14, 2050	September 2, 2054
157
June 21, 2058