Travel Articles:
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Eclipses
Eclipse 99:
On Wednesday, August 11th 1999, a total eclipse of the Sun was visible from within a
narrow corridor which traversed the Eastern Hemisphere.
Another
Travel Notes service to bring the countries of the world closer.
These total
solar eclipse routes are only rough outlines to give you an idea of where
to go to catch another total solar eclipse, or find out if one is heading in your
direction between now and the year 2020. We think that's plenty enough forward planning
for most of us.
2003 (Nov 23) Antarctica. This one will be cold and costly, with the greatest eclipse
occurring at 22:49 UT and lasting for 1min 57secs.
2006 (Mar 29)
Starting around northeast Brazil, the eclipse
crosses the Atlantic to make landfall along the Ghana
coast. It then passes up through Nigeria, Niger and Libya,
and crosses the Mediterranean to central Turkey. Saros
139 continues around the north of the Caspian Sea, through Kazakhstan to end near the northern Mongolian border
with Russia. The greatest duration will be 4mins
7secs, in the sensitive Libyan region near the Aozou Strip; that separates Libya from Chad.
2008 (Aug 01)
Leaving the Northwestern Territories of Canada,
Saros 126 continues over northern Greenland,
Siberian Russia, western Mongolia, and east-central China. Maximum duration occurs in northwestern Siberia at
10:21 UT and lasts for 2mins 27secs.
2009 (Jul 22)
Saros 136 will start off the coast of Bombay, cross central India, pass between Nepal,
Bhutan and northern Bangladesh, traverse China,
and cross the central Pacific just south of Japan and Hawaii. The greatest eclipse will last a massive
6mins 39secs, some 300kms east-southeast of Mount Siribachi on the Japanese Volcano
Islands.
2010 (Jul 11)
Starting in the South Pacific, Saros 146 will only
be visible to people on cruise ships, or those who travel to Easter Island and the
sparsely populated area of South America; between southern Chile and Argentina. The greatest eclipse occurs at
19:33 UT, two thirds of the way between Tahiti
and Chile's Easter Island, and lasts for 5mins 20secs.
2012 (Nov 13)
The path of totality of this eclipse won't be passing over much land either, so most
people will need to be in the Darwin/Kakadu area of Northern Australia, and across the stretch of Queensland
between Cooktown and Cairns. The center line of Saros 133 then passes over the Barrier
Reef towards New Caledonia and the northern
waters of New Zealand; reaching its maximum
totality of 4mins 02secs 1,800 km east of North Island, and well to the south of Cook
Islands, at almost 22:12 UT. The winding down leg of the eclipse continues across the
Pacific towards the coast of Peru. No corona
sightings for people in South America this time, although those in the very south may get
to see the fading partial eclipse.
2015 (Mar 20)
The whole of Europe and most of northern Africa will get a partial eclipse again, although
totality is reserved for the north Atlantic, the Faroe
Islands and Svalbard; with the greatest
eclipse of 2mins 47secs occurring north of the Faeroes and east of Iceland, at 09:45 UT.
2016 (Mar 09)
Saros 130 will start east of Indonesia, crossing
the southern parts of Sumatra and Borneo, northern Sulawesi, and off through Micronesia and the northern Pacific; with the
greatest totality duration of 4mins 09secs occurring at 01:57 UT, between the Caroline
Islands and Guam.
2017 (Aug 21)
The total eclipse comes to small-town USA. The umbra of Saros 145 will caress
northern Oregon first, and then head down in a
general southeast direction through parts of Idaho,
Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Nth Carolina, Georgia, to finally leave the continent from South Carolina, between Charleston and
Georgetown, and continue on down towards the south Atlantic. Maximum totality of 2mins
40secs, occurs at 18:25 UT (probably 12:25 local time) near Bainbridge, southwestern
Kentucky; about 17km northwest of Hopkinsville.
2019 (Jul 02)
Another peak eclipse period in the Pacific occurs just before 19:23 UT, midway between
Polynesia and Peru, and lasts for 4mins 33 secs. The line of totality then heads southeast
towards northern Chile and across central Argentina to end the day in the Buenos Aires
region.
2020 (Dec 14)
A wide smiley shaped total eclipse path rounds off our series for the moment, with cruise
ships in the Pacific and south Atlantic getting the most out of totality again. This time
the greatest eclipse will be on dry land though, with southern Chile greeting the umbra first. At 16:13 UT, the
2mins 10secs of totality should occur at a place between the Pampas and Patagonia, some
300km northeast of Bariloche, Argentina.
Special thanks to Fred Espenak -
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
For more information on solar and lunar eclipses,
see Fred Espenak's Eclipse Home Page: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
