Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 26, 2019. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring 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.[1] The annularity was visible in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. Population centers in the path of the annularity included Kozhikode, Coimbatore, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Sibolga, Tanjung Pinang, Batam, Singapore, Singkawang and Guam. Cities such as Doha, Malappuram, Madurai, Pekanbaru, Dumai, Johor Bahru and Kuching narrowly missed the annular path.

Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019
Annularity as seen from Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma0.4135
Magnitude0.9701
Maximum eclipse
Duration220 sec (3 m 40 s)
Coordinates1°N 102.3°E / 1; 102.3
Max. width of band118 km (73 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse5:18:53
References
Saros132 (46 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9552

Solar coronal magnetic fields play a key role in driving the space weather conditions. Direct observations of coronal magnetic fields is challenging. Such solar eclipse events present an outstanding opportunity for the scientists to constrain the theoretical models via observations. The magnetic field structure for this annular eclipse is predicted using a combination of data-constrained models.

Details
Eclipse Magnitude0.97010
Eclipse Obscuration0.94110
Gamma0.41351
Saros series132 (46 of 71)
Greatest Eclipse26 Dec 2019 05:17:43.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction26 Dec 2019 05:13:07.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction26 Dec 2019 05:14:34.3 UTC
CoordinateSunMoon
Right Ascension18.318.3
Declination-23.4-23
Diameter (arcseconds)1951.41866.0
Contact EventTime UTC
First Penumbral External Contact02:29:51.3
First Umbral External Contact03:34:32.2
First Central Line03:36:04.1
First Umbral Internal Contact03:37:36.3
First Penumbral Internal Contact05:01:26.1
Greatest Eclipse05:17:43.6
Last Penumbral Internal Contact05:34:04.7
Last Umbral Internal Contact06:57:50.7
Last Central Line06:59:25.9
Last Umbral External Contact07:01:00.9
Last Penumbral External Contact08:05:43.9

Visibility and viewing
Animated path

It was the last solar eclipse of 2019. The central path of the 2019 annular eclipse passed through Saudi Arabian Peninsula, southern India, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines and Guam. A partial eclipse was visible thousands of kilometers wide from the central path. It covered small parts of Eastern Europe, much of Asia, North/West Australia, East in Africa, Pacific and Indian Ocean.[1][2] The eclipse started with an antumbra having a magnitude of .96; it stretched 164 kilometers wide, and traveled towards the east at an average rate of 1.1 kilometer per second. The longest duration of annularity was 3 minutes and 40 seconds, at 5.30 UT1 occurring in the South China Sea (0°45'54.0"N 105°29'06.0"E).[1]

Map showing the visibility of the Annular Solar Eclipse on December 26, 2019 in India.

The eclipse began in Saudi Arabia about 220 kilometers northeast of Riyadh at 03:43 UT1 and ended in Guam at 06:59.4 UT1. It reached India near Kannur, Kerala, at 03:56 UT1. The shadow reached the southeast coast of India at 04:04 UT1. Traveling through northern Sri Lanka, it headed into the Bay of Bengal. The next main visible places were Palau (Malaysia), Sumatra and Singapore. It then passed through the South China Sea, crossed Borneo and the Celebes Sea, the Philippines archipelago and then headed towards the western Pacific. The antumbral shadow encountered Guam at 6:56 UT1 and rose back into space.[1]

The Annular Path

The annular phase of this eclipse was visible from the following cities:[2]

Eclipses of 2019

Astronomers Without Borders collected eclipse glasses for redistribution to Latin America and Asia for their 2019 eclipses from the Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.[4]

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros cycle

Tritos

Solar Saros 132

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses 2018–2021

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 15, 2018, and August 11, 2018, occurred during the previous semester series.

Saros 132

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 13, 1208. It contains annular eclipses from March 17, 1569 through March 12, 2146, hybrid on March 23, 2164 and April 3, 2183 and total eclipses from April 14, 2200 through June 19, 2308. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 25, 2470. The longest duration of annular was 6 minutes, 56 seconds on May 9, 1641, and totality will be 2 minutes, 14 seconds on June 8, 2290. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.

Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.[6]

Notes
  1. "EclipseWise - Eclipses During 2019". eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  2. "Annular Solar Eclipse on December 26, 2019". www.timeanddate.com. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  3. "Annular solar eclipse on December 26: Here are the places in India that can witness it". The Indian Express. 22 October 2019.
  4. Cooper, Gael (2017-08-22). "Wait! Dig those eclipse glasses out of the garbage Here comes the sun. Astronomers Without Borders will be collecting the protective eyewear for use in future eclipses worldwide". Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  5. van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  6. Freeth, Tony. "Note S1: Eclipses & Predictions". plos.org. Retrieved 6 October 2018.

References
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