An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Monday, October 3, 2005,[1] [2] [3] with a magnitude of 0.958. 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 4.75 days after apogee (on September 28, 2005, at 16:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[4]
Annularity was visible from a narrow corridor through Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Another solar eclipse in Africa occurred just 6 months later.
The path of the eclipse began in the North Atlantic ocean at 08:41 universal time (UT). The antumbra reached Madrid, Spain at 08:56 UT, lasting four minutes and eleven seconds and 90% of the Sun was covered by the Moon. The antumbra reached Algiers at 09:05 UT, then passed through Tunisia and Libya before heading southeast through Sudan, Kenya and Somalia. The shadow then moved out over the Indian Ocean until it terminated at sunset, 12:22 UT.[5]
The maximum eclipse duration occurred in central Sudan at 10:31:42 UT, where it lasted for 4m 31s when the Sun was 71° above the horizon.
The motion of the shadow was supersonic and it generated gravity waves that were detectable as disturbances in the ionosphere. These gravity waves originate in the thermosphere at an altitude of about 180 km. Because of the obscuration of solar radiation, the ionization level dropped by 70% during the eclipse.[6] [7] The eclipse caused a 1–1.4 K drop in the temperature of the ionosphere.[8]
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.[9]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2005 October 03 at 07:36:39.6 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2005 October 03 at 08:42:04.1 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 2005 October 03 at 08:44:06.1 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2005 October 03 at 08:46:08.3 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 2005 October 03 at 10:00:20.1 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2005 October 03 at 10:11:46.9 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2005 October 03 at 10:28:57.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2005 October 03 at 10:32:47.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 2005 October 03 at 10:38:04.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 2005 October 03 at 11:05:45.4 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2005 October 03 at 12:19:41.4 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 2005 October 03 at 12:21:40.9 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2005 October 03 at 12:23:40.2 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2005 October 03 at 13:28:57.9 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.95759 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.91698 | |
| Gamma | 0.33058 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 12h37m55.0s | |
| Sun Declination | -04°05'04.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'59.1" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 12h38m30.3s | |
| Moon Declination | -03°49'04.7" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'05.2" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°55'22.1" | |
| ΔT | 64.8 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.
Photos: