A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, August 1, 2008,[1] [2] [3] with a magnitude of 1.0394.[4] 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. Occurring about 2.4 days after perigee (on July 30, 2008, at 0:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[5]
The eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China.[6] Visible north of the Arctic Circle, it belonged to the so-called midnight sun eclipses. The largest city in its path was Novosibirsk in Russia.[7] A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including northern Canada, Greenland, and most of Europe and Asia.
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) larger than the annular solar eclipse of February 7, 2008.
It was described by observers as "special for its colours around the horizon. There were wonderful oranges and reds all around, the clouds lit up, some dark in silhouette, some golden, glowing yellowy-orange in the distance. You could see the shadow approaching against the clouds and then rushing away as it left."[8]
Animated path
The eclipse began in the far north of Canada in Nunavut at 09:21 UT, the zone of totality being 206 km wide, and lasting for 1 minute 30 seconds. The path of the eclipse then headed north-east, crossing over northern Greenland and reaching the northernmost latitude of 83° 47′ at 09:38 UT before dipping down into Russia.[9]
The path of totality touched the northeast corner of Kvitøya, an uninhabited Norwegian island in the Svalbard archipelago, at 09:47 UT.
The eclipse reached the Russian mainland at 10:10 UT, with a path 232 km wide and a duration of 2 minutes 26 seconds. The greatest eclipse occurred shortly after, at 10:21:07 UT at coordinates 65.65°N 90°W (close to Nadym), when the path was 237 km wide, and the duration was 2 minutes 27 seconds. Cities in the path of the total eclipse included Megion, Nizhnevartovsk, Strezhevoy, Novosibirsk and Barnaul. Around 10,000 tourists were present in Novosibirsk, the largest city to experience the eclipse. For Gorno-Altaysk the eclipse was the second consecutive total solar eclipse after the March 2006 eclipse.[10]
The path of the eclipse then moved south-east, crossing into Mongolia and just clipping Kazakhstan at around 10:58 UT. The path here was 252 km wide, but the duration decreased to 2 minutes 10 seconds. The path then ran down the China-Mongolia border, ending in China at 11:18 UT, with an eclipse lasting 1 minute 27 seconds at sunset. The total eclipse finished at 11:21 UT. The total eclipse passed over Altay City, Hami and Jiuquan. Around 10,000 people were gathered to watch the eclipse in Hami.
A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the north east coast of North America and most of Europe and Asia. In London, England, the partial eclipse began at 09:33 BST, with a maximum eclipse of 12% at 10:18 BST, before concluding at 11:05 BST. At Edinburgh the partial eclipse was 23.5%, whilst it was 36% in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles.[11]
German charter airline LTU, now trading as Air Berlin, operated a special flight from Düsseldorf to the North Pole to observe the eclipse. Flight number LT 1111 spent over 11 hours in the air, returning to base at 6pm after flying a planeload of eclipse chasers, scientists, journalists and TV crews to watch the celestial event. The route also included a low-level sightseeing tour of Svalbard before the eclipse and the magnetic pole afterwards.
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.[12]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2008 August 01 at 08:05:11.5 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2008 August 01 at 09:22:12.6 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 2008 August 01 at 09:23:43.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2008 August 01 at 09:25:15.6 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2008 August 01 at 09:48:26.9 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2008 August 01 at 10:13:39.0 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 2008 August 01 at 10:20:17.1 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2008 August 01 at 10:22:12.3 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2008 August 01 at 11:19:33.2 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 2008 August 01 at 11:21:03.1 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2008 August 01 at 11:22:31.3 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2008 August 01 at 12:39:31.7 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.03942 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.08040 | |
| Gamma | 0.83070 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 08h47m54.1s | |
| Sun Declination | +17°51'56.4" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'45.5" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 08h49m08.8s | |
| Moon Declination | +18°38'01.6" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'14.1" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°59'34.8" | |
| ΔT | 65.6 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.
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