An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Monday, June 10 and Tuesday, June 11, 2002,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9962. 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 6.4 days after apogee (on June 4, 2002, at 14:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
This was the second annular solar eclipse visible over the Pacific Ocean within 6 months.
Annularity was visible in Indonesia, Palau (Kayangel Atoll), and the Northern Mariana Islands on June 11 (Tuesday), and the western tip of Jalisco, Mexico, on June 10 (Monday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern Asia, northeastern Australia, North America, and Hawaii.
It was partially visible in some areas of the United States; in Ventura, in southern California, some observation stations were set up for public viewing. In Palm Desert, in the Coachella Valley, it was clearly visible, and it "got dark, it got cool, and it got eerie".A "solar eclipse party" in Fresno drew around 400 attendees, and as far north as Napa Valley, dozens of people went outside to watch the eclipse., and it was visible in Utah. Canada's National Post predicted a "substantial crowd" for Vancouver, despite the eclipse there being less than 60%; even in Victoria, where the eclipse was as low as 30%, dozens attended a show at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.
During this eclipse, the apex of the moon's umbral cone was close to the Earth's surface, and the magnitude was large. The edges of the moon and the sun were close to each other as seen from the Earth. Baily's beads on the lunar limb, which are usually only visible during a total solar eclipse, could also be seen. Since the path of annularity was mostly on the sea and covered very little land, and the Maluku sectarian conflict prevented many observers from going to the Maluku Islands, Indonesia, observations were mainly concentrated in Palau, Northern Mariana Islands and Mexico. A Japanese team made a live webcast on Tinian Island.[3] The local weather was clear at sunrise. The sun was completely covered by clouds 20 minutes before the maximum eclipse, but finally came out from the clouds shortly before the maximum.[4] [5] In Mexico，because the annular eclipse occurred shortly before sunrise and the solar zenith angle was extremely low on land, many people observed at sea off the ports including Puerto Vallarta. However, the eclipse was mostly clouded out due to the Tropical Storm Boris, and it even rained in some places. The sun only appeared occasionally.[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 | 2002 June 10 at 20:52:54.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2002 June 10 at 21:54:55.3 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 2002 June 10 at 21:55:34.4 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 2002 June 10 at 21:55:34.4 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2002 June 10 at 21:56:13.5 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 2002 June 10 at 23:00:25.2 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2002 June 10 at 23:45:22.2 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2002 June 10 at 23:47:35.5 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2002 June 10 at 23:49:19.1 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 2002 June 11 at 00:30:14.5 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2002 June 11 at 01:34:30.4 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 2002 June 11 at 01:35:06.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2002 June 11 at 01:35:42.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2002 June 11 at 02:37:41.9 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99623 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.99246 | |
| Gamma | 0.19933 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 05h16m04.1s | |
| Sun Declination | +23°03'18.9" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'45.1" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 05h15m55.6s | |
| Moon Declination | +23°14'25.0" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'27.1" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'42.5" | |
| ΔT | 64.3 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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