An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, August 22, 1998,[1] [2] [3] [4] with a magnitude of 0.9734. 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. Occurring about 5.2 days before apogee (on August 27, 1998, at 7:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[5]
Annularity was visible in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands (Bellona Island and Rennell Island) and Vanuatu. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, and Oceania.
It is usually very dry in Malaysia in August. But due to the El Niño, it rained every day for 2 weeks before the eclipse. On the eclipse day, the sun kept going in and out the gaps of the clouds at first, and later the clouds dispersed near Kota Tinggi District, the observation site of NASA's Johnson Space Center. The whole annular phase was seen. The sky cleared up completely 40 minutes later.[6]
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[7]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1998 August 21 at 23:11:19.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1998 August 22 at 00:15:19.1 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1998 August 22 at 00:16:42.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1998 August 22 at 00:18:05.7 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1998 August 22 at 01:26:40.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1998 August 22 at 01:59:47.4 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1998 August 22 at 02:04:08.9 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1998 August 22 at 02:07:10.5 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1998 August 22 at 02:15:05.3 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1998 August 22 at 02:47:26.3 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1998 August 22 at 03:56:07.6 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1998 August 22 at 03:57:33.7 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1998 August 22 at 03:58:59.8 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1998 August 22 at 05:03:03.8 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.97336 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.94742 | |
| Gamma | −0.26441 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 10h03m45.9s | |
| Sun Declination | +11°53'26.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'48.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 10h03m30.7s | |
| Moon Declination | +11°39'14.3" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'09.7" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°55'38.7" | |
| ΔT | 63.3 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
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