Re: Will Solar Eclipses Occur on 8 April 2005 and 3 November 2005?

From: robert bristow-johnson (rbj_at_audioimagination.com)
Date: 03/04/05 

Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 15:15:24 +0000 (UTC)

in article VA.00000584.0f49f72d@mynameplus1.demon.co.uk.invalid, Aidan
Karley at aidan@mynameplus1.demon.co.uk.invalid wrote on 03/02/2005 02:04:

> If you are wanting serious information about past/ present/ future
> eclipses, then the SunEarth site at NASA is a very good start :
> http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
> Following links there, I see that :
>> The path of this event begins as an annular eclipse but it changes to
>> total about 2200 km south of Tahiti. At maximum eclipse (UT), the
>> duration of totality is 45 seconds. Unfortunately, the total portion
>> of the track never crosses land. The path becomes annular again about
>> 800 km west of Costa Rica. By the time the shadow reaches the coast
>> of Costa Rica, the annular phase will already be 12 seconds and
>> growing. After crossing Panama and Colombia, the central path ends
>> in Venezuela where a 33 second annular eclipse will occur at sunset.

how does an annular eclipse only last for 33 seconds. i s'pose there is
only one instant of time when the moon is perfectly smack-dab in front of
the sun (if it is at all), but if you allow any slop in the definition of
the elapsed time of the eclipse, isn't it longer than that?

when i lived in Hanover NH in 1993 and 94, in one of those years (i think it
was 94), i saw a total annular eclipse (i wish it was a total-TOTAL eclipse
of the sun) and it lasted for longer than that as i recall. 

-- 
r b-j                  rbj@audioimagination.com
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Annular Eclipse - October 2005
    ... >>> Have never seen an annular eclipse and there are cheap flights to ... 1984 annular eclipse from Piedmont Park ... but approximately the same brightness as the sky during a total ... > front of the sun. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Will Solar Eclipses Occur on 8 April 2005 and 3 November 2005?
    ... > how does an annular eclipse only last for 33 seconds. ... > of the sun) and it lasted for longer than that as i recall. ... If the sun and moon have exactly the same angular size, ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Annular Eclipse - October 2005
    ... > Paul Schlyter wrote: ... >>>Can anyone say whether it's worth travelling to see this? ... >>>Have never seen an annular eclipse and there are cheap flights to ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Annular Eclipse - October 2005
    ... >travel a long distance to see an event you consider fantastic. ... came prepared with filters and eyepiece projection screen and didn't ... Some of the public viewing the eclipse were disappointed, ... I would think an annular eclipse near sunrise or sunset ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Will Solar Eclipses Occur on 8 April 2005 and 3 November 2005?
    ... > eclipse should be visible from the Pitcairn Islands, ... > in Venezuela where a 33 second annular eclipse will occur at sunset. ... > and stretches across the African continent. ... > Venus across the visible solar disk. ...
    (sci.physics.research)