Solar eclipse of July 16, 2186 explained

A total solar eclipse will occur on July 16, 2186. 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 will be the longest total solar eclipse out of 6,326 calculated for 10,000 years between 4000 BCE and 6000 CE. The eclipse will pass over the southern Galápagos Islands (with a total eclipse of 4 minutes occurring over the southern tip of Española Island), the northern tip of Ecuador (with a total eclipse of 3 minutes and 26 seconds on Isla Santa Rosa), central Colombia (4 minutes and 50 seconds over Bogota), central Venezuela, and northern Guyana (7 minutes and 4 seconds just north of Anna Regina).^{[1] [2]}

Extreme duration

This will be the longest total solar eclipse between 4000 BCE and at least CE 6000 (10,000 years), lasting a maximum of 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds. The factors that will make this such a long eclipse are:

• The Earth being very near aphelion (furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible). This occurs around July 6th.
• The Moon being almost exactly at perigee (making its angular diameter as large as possible). The moment of greatest eclipse will be just 50 minutes after perigee.^[3]
• The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to the Earth's equator, where the Earth's rotational velocity is greatest. (The affects the distance the shadow travels on the ground, but not the time duration.)
• The midpoint of the eclipse being near the subsolar point (the part of the Earth closest to the Sun, and therefore also closest to the Moon during an eclipse).
• The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of the Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east). For solar eclipses at the ascending node (odd numbered saros) this occurs approximately 12 days after the summer solstice.^{[4] [5]}

The longest historical total eclipse lasted 7 minutes 27.54 seconds on June 15, 743 BC.^[6] The longest eclipse theoretically possible is 7 minutes and 32 seconds.^[7]

Responses

Michael Zeiler, an eclipse cartographer, told Live Science the 2186 eclipse "will last up to an astonishing 7 minutes and 29 seconds, very close to the theoretical limit of 7 and a half minutes."^[8]

Vice magazine, musing what the "wolves feasting on the bones" of a possibly then-extinct human civilization would think, suggested the longest solar eclipse in 12,000 years would be "worth a howl".^[9]

IFL Science noted that the 22nd century will be a "golden era for eclipse chasers", with the 2186 eclipse overshadowing two other 7+ minute events in 2150 and 2168.^[10] No total solar eclipse of the 21st century will exceed 7 minutes.^[11]

In March 2023, the art and design magazine IGNANT interviewed the Berlin-based photographer Matthias Ledinger about his project AD2186. Using primarily black and white media, Ledinger "depicts the complex awe-sensations and emotions generated by the solar eclipse" similar to that of the Overview effect.^[12]

Related eclipses

Saros 139

External links

• NASA Solar eclipses: 2101 to 2200
• Besselian Elements
• NASA googlemap of eclipse path

Notes and References

1. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=21860716 Total Solar Eclipse of 2186 July 16 - Interactive Eclipse Path Using Google Maps
2. Web site: 2024-03-28 . Total solar eclipse: Here are the answers to 8 common questions . 2024-03-28 . WGAL . en.
3. Web site: Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator..
4. Meeus. J.. The maximum possible duration of a total solar eclipse.. Journal of the British Astronomical Association. December 2003. 113. 6. 343–348. 2003JBAA..113..343M.
5. M. Littman, et al.
6. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcatmax/SEcatmax.html Ten Millennium Catalog of Long Solar Eclipses, -3999 to [phone] BCE to 6000 CE)
7. Book: Totality: Eclipses of the Sun.. 2008. Oxford University Press Inc.. New York. Mark Littman. Fred Espenak. Ken Wilcox. A Quest to Understand. 978-0-19-953209-4. 3rd. "Eclipse expert Jean Meeus calculates the maximum possible eclipse duration of totality in a solar eclipse is currently 7 minutes 32 seconds..
8. Web site: Carter . Jamie . 2024-01-31 . What's the longest solar eclipse in history? (And how does the April 2024 total eclipse compare?) . 2024-03-28 . livescience.com . en.
9. Web site: Byrne . Michael . 2016-02-18 . Astronomers Discover the Universe's Longest Known Stellar Eclipse . 2024-03-28 . Vice . en.
10. Web site: 2024-03-15 . When Was The Longest Recorded Solar Eclipse In History? . 2024-03-29 . IFLScience . en.
11. Book: Mobberley, Martin . 2007 . Total Solar Eclipses and How to Observe Them . New York . Springer . 10 .
12. Web site: Gualandris . Devid . 2023-03-25 . AD2186, Matthias Leidinger's Photographic Exploration Of Awe And Wonder . 2024-03-28 . IGNANT . en-US.