Annular Solar Eclipse of February 07, 2008

During the year 2008, two solar and two lunar eclipses occur as follows:

• 2008 Feb 07: Annular Solar Eclipse
• 2008 Feb 21: Total Lunar Eclipse
• 2008 Aug 01: Total Solar Eclipse
• 2008 Aug 16: Partial Lunar Eclipse

Predictions for the eclipses are summarized in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. World maps show the regions of visibility for each eclipse. The lunar eclipse diagrams also include the path of the Moon through Earth's shadows. Contact times for each principal phase are tabulated along with the magnitudes and geocentric coordinates of the Sun and Moon at greatest eclipse.

All times and dates used in this publication are in Universal Time or UT. This astronomically derived time system is colloquially referred to as Greenwich Mean Time or GMT. To learn more about UT and how to convert UT to your own local time, see Time Zones and Universal Time.
The first solar eclipse of 2008 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in Capricornus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a wide track, that traverses Antarctica and southern regions of the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much larger path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the southeastern third of Australia, all of New Zealand and most of Antarctica (Figure 1).

The annular path begins in Antarctica at 03:20 UT when the Moon's antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 581 kilometre wide corridor near the base of the continent's peninsula region. Traveling westward, the shadow quickly crosses Antarctica and turns north as it heads into the Pacific. Greatest eclipse[1] takes place at 03:55:05 UT when the eclipse magnitude[2] will reach 0.9650. At this instant, the annular duration is 2 minutes 12 seconds, the path width is 444 kilometres and the Sun is 16° above the featureless horizon of the open ocean. The central track continues north before gradually curving to the east where it ends at local sunset at 04:31 UT. During its 1 hour 10 minute flight across our planet, the Moon's antumbra travels approximately 5,600 kilometres and covers 0.59% of Earth's surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.

The most unusual characteristic of this eclipse is that it begins and ends along Earth's sunset terminator. Most eclipse paths that travel from west to east. However, the 2008 annular eclipse path begins by running east to west and slowly turns north before curving west to east near its terminus.

Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from eastern Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Local circumstances for a number of cities are listed in Table 2. All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun's altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude and obscuration are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.

This is the 60th eclipse of Saros 121. The series began with the first of six partial eclipses on 0944 Apr 25. The first central eclipse was total in the Northern Hemisphere on 1070 Jul 10. It was followed by 41 more total eclipses before the series produce two hybrid eclipses in 1827 and 1845. The first annular eclipse of the series occurred on 1863 Nov 11. The series will produce 11 annular eclipses the last of which is 2044 Feb 28. This means there are only two more central eclipses after the 2008 eclipse. The series terminates on 2206 Jun 07 after 9 more partial eclipses. Complete details for Saros 121 may be found at:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEsaros/SEsaros121.html
Credits: NASA