Annular Solar Eclipses with Durations Exceeding 09m 00s

-0999 to 0000 ( 1000 BCE to 1 BCE )

Introduction

Eclipses of the Sun can only occur during the New Moon phase. It is then possible for the Moon's penumbral, umbral or antumbral shadows to sweep across Earth's surface thereby producing an eclipse. Not all New Moons result in a solar eclipse because the Moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees to Earth's about the Sun. Consequently, the Moon's shadows miss Earth at most New Moon's. Nevertheless, there are 2 to 5 solar eclipses every calendar year. There are four types of solar eclipses: partial, annular, total and hybrid[1]. For more information, see Basic Solar Eclipse Geometry.


Solar Eclipses: -0999 to 0000 ( 1000 BCE to 1 BCE)

During the 10 century period -0999 to 0000 ( 1000 BCE to 1 BCE[2]), Earth experienced 2373 solar eclipses. The following table shows the number of eclipses of each type over this period.

Solar Eclipses: -0999 - 0000
Eclipse Type Symbol Number Percent
All Eclipses - 2373100.0%
PartialP 857 36.1%
AnnularA 764 32.2%
TotalT 622 26.2%
HybridH 130 5.5%

Annular and total eclipses can be further classified as either: 1) Central (two limits), 2) Central (one limit) or 3) Non-Central (one limit). The statistical distribution of these classes during the 1st century BCE appears in the following three tables (no Hybrids are included since all are central with two limits).

Annular and Total Eclipses
Classification Number Percent
All 1386100.0%
Central (two limits) 1352 97.5%
Central (one limit) 14 1.0%
Non-Central (one limit) 20 1.4%
Annular Eclipses
Classification Number Percent
All Annular Eclipses 764100.0%
Central (two limits) 743 97.3%
Central (one limit) 10 1.3%
Non-Central (one limit) 11 1.4%
Total Eclipses
Classification Number Percent
All Total Eclipses 622100.0%
Central (two limits) 609 97.9%
Central (one limit) 4 0.6%
Non-Central (one limit) 9 1.4%

Long Annular Solar Eclipses

The longest central[3] solar eclipses of this period are:

          Longest Total   Solar Eclipse:   -0743 Jun 15      Duration = 07m28s
          Longest Annular Solar Eclipse:   -0177 Dec 22      Duration = 12m08s
          Longest Hybrid  Solar Eclipse:   -0979 Aug 13      Duration = 01m48s

Long Annular Solar Eclipses are relatively rare. The following catalog lists concise details and local circumstances for all Annular Solar Eclipses with durations exceeding 09m 00s. The Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipses contains a detailed description and explanation of each item listed in the catalog. For eclipses from -1999 to +3000, the Catalog Number in the first column serves as a link to a global map of Earth showing the geographic visibility of each eclipse. The date and time of the eclipse are given at the instant of greatest eclipse[4] in Terrestrial Dynamical Time. The Saros Number in the sixth column links to a table listing all eclipses in the Saros series. The Key to Solar Eclipse Maps explains the features plotted on each map.

The data presented here are based in part on the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.



Catalog of Long Annular Solar Eclipses: -0999 to 0000


                      TD of
Catalog  Calendar   Greatest          Luna Saros Ecl.           Ecl.                Sun Sun  Path Central
Number     Date      Eclipse     ΔT    Num  Num  Type  Gamma    Mag.   Lat.   Long. Alt Azm Width   Dur.
                                  s                                      °      °    °    °   km

02440 -0983 Oct 24  16:17:12  24210 -36885   37   A   -0.3478  0.9245  28.4S  27.6E  69  18  303  09m01s
02774 -0834 Oct 27  23:24:23  21701 -35042   49   A    0.2810  0.9270   5.4N  79.0W  74 196  285  09m41s
02815 -0816 Nov 07  07:26:32  21407 -34819   49   A    0.2757  0.9244   1.3N 158.4E  74 193  296  10m21s
02856 -0798 Nov 18  15:30:01  21115 -34596   49   A    0.2717  0.9225   2.2S  35.7E  74 190  304  10m53s
02897 -0780 Nov 28  23:34:55  20825 -34373   49   A    0.2693  0.9212   5.0S  87.1W  74 186  310  11m17s
02938 -0762 Dec 10  07:38:16  20536 -34150   49   A    0.2654  0.9206   7.1S 150.7E  75 182  312  11m29s
02940 -0761 Nov 29  06:36:00  20521 -34138   59   A    0.9364  0.9145  49.0N 174.3E  20 190  940  09m04s
02980 -0744 Dec 20  15:38:37  20250 -33927   49   A    0.2595  0.9207   8.6S  29.4E  75 178  311  11m27s
02982 -0743 Dec 09  14:40:59  20235 -33915   59   A    0.9312  0.9166  46.6N  46.5E  21 183  881  09m04s
03023 -0726 Dec 31  23:33:25  19966 -33704   49   A    0.2491  0.9215   9.5S  90.3W  76 173  306  11m10s

03068 -0707 Jan 11  07:22:27  19684 -33481   49   A    0.2340  0.9229   9.8S 151.5E  77 169  299  10m42s
03112 -0689 Jan 22  15:04:06  19387 -33258   49   A    0.2127  0.9248   9.6S  35.2E  78 164  290  10m05s
03157 -0671 Feb 01  22:36:20  19083 -33035   49   A    0.1837  0.9271   9.0S  78.8W  79 160  278  09m24s
03238 -0639 Oct 31  16:12:24  18544 -32630   52   A   -0.0302  0.9222  13.9S  10.4E  88  25  294  09m12s
03284 -0621 Nov 12  00:12:30  18254 -32407   52   A   -0.0230  0.9202  17.3S 110.5W  89  22  302  09m40s
03331 -0603 Nov 22  08:14:30  17969 -32184   52   Am  -0.0176  0.9188  20.2S 128.4E  89  18  308  10m06s
03378 -0585 Dec 03  16:16:58  17688 -31961   52   A   -0.0131  0.9182  22.3S   7.6E  89  14  311  10m27s
03426 -0567 Dec 14  00:18:30  17411 -31738   52   A   -0.0084  0.9182  23.7S 112.6W  89   9  311  10m42s
03472 -0549 Dec 25  08:15:49  17138 -31515   52   A   -0.0002  0.9189  23.9S 128.3E  90   0  308  10m50s
03517 -0530 Jan 04  16:08:23  16870 -31292   52   A    0.0118  0.9202  22.9S  10.4E  89 182  302  10m50s

03553 -0516 Sep 22  01:47:59  16654 -31110   55   A   -0.1513  0.9305   5.5S 141.4W  81  18  263  09m04s
03562 -0512 Jan 15  23:54:16  16606 -31069   52   A    0.0290  0.9222  20.7S 106.1W  88 177  294  10m41s
03598 -0498 Oct 03  09:23:57  16393 -30887   55   A   -0.1775  0.9266  11.4S 102.3E  80  18  280  09m29s
03607 -0494 Jan 26  07:33:51  16346 -30846   52   A    0.0513  0.9245  17.4S 138.5E  87 173  285  10m24s
03643 -0480 Oct 13  17:07:20  16137 -30664   55   A   -0.1973  0.9234  17.0S  15.6W  79  18  295  09m49s
03651 -0476 Feb 06  15:03:05  16090 -30623   52   A    0.0820  0.9274  12.9S  25.0E  85 169  274  10m00s
03687 -0462 Oct 25  00:57:28  15883 -30441   55   A   -0.2114  0.9206  22.1S 134.7W  78  17  307  10m05s
03695 -0458 Feb 16  22:25:01  15837 -30400   52   A    0.1187  0.9304   7.5S  87.3W  83 167  262  09m30s
03731 -0444 Nov 04  08:52:49  15634 -30218   55   A   -0.2212  0.9185  26.7S 105.5E  77  14  317  10m16s
03775 -0426 Nov 15  16:52:47  15389 -29995   55   A   -0.2269  0.9170  30.6S  14.7W  77  11  324  10m23s

03817 -0408 Nov 26  00:53:19  15147 -29772   55   A   -0.2323  0.9163  33.8S 134.3W  76   7  327  10m22s
03859 -0390 Dec 07  08:55:37  14908 -29549   55   A   -0.2361  0.9162  36.2S 106.3E  76   3  328  10m16s
03901 -0372 Dec 17  16:55:17  14673 -29326   55   A   -0.2424  0.9169  37.7S  11.9W  76 357  326  10m02s
03940 -0354 Dec 29  00:52:27  14441 -29103   55   A   -0.2505  0.9182  38.3S 129.2W  75 352  321  09m42s
03979 -0335 Jan 08  08:42:56  14213 -28880   55   A   -0.2643  0.9200  38.1S 115.2E  74 346  314  09m16s
04095 -0285 Oct 18  09:46:36  13586 -28252   58   A    0.4547  0.9195  15.9N 100.0E  63 209  337  09m27s
04135 -0267 Oct 28  17:36:15  13370 -28029   58   A    0.4695  0.9174  13.1N  19.2W  62 206  350  10m06s
04175 -0249 Nov 09  01:32:18  13156 -27806   58   A    0.4792  0.9158  10.6N 140.1W  61 203  360  10m44s
04216 -0231 Nov 19  09:31:09  12944 -27583   58   A    0.4864  0.9150   8.5N  98.3E  61 199  366  11m19s
04256 -0213 Nov 30  17:32:23  12736 -27360   58   A    0.4916  0.9148   7.0N  23.9W  61 195  370  11m47s

04297 -0195 Dec 11  01:33:19  12530 -27137   58   A    0.4971  0.9153   6.3N 146.0W  60 191  370  12m04s
04339 -0177 Dec 22  09:33:34  12326 -26914   58   A    0.5030  0.9165   6.4N  92.1E  60 186  367  12m08s
04383 -0158 Jan 01  17:29:28  12125 -26691   58   A    0.5128  0.9184   7.4N  28.9W  59 182  361  11m55s
04426 -0140 Jan 13  01:20:54  11926 -26468   58   A    0.5265  0.9208   9.6N 148.8W  58 178  352  11m26s
04469 -0122 Jan 23  09:05:39  11730 -26245   58   A    0.5456  0.9237  12.7N  92.6E  57 173  343  10m42s
04512 -0104 Feb 03  16:44:32  11535 -26022   58   A    0.5696  0.9270  16.8N  24.9W  55 170  332  09m50s


Calendar

The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used. For more information on this topic, see Calendar Dates. The Julian calendar does not include the year 0. Thus the year 1 BCE is followed by the year 1 CE (See: BCE/CE Dating Conventions ). This is awkward for arithmetic calculations. Years in this catalog are numbered astronomically and include the year 0. Historians should note there is a difference of one year between astronomical dates and BCE dates. Thus, the astronomical year 0 corresponds to 1 BCE, and astronomical year -1 corresponds to 2 BCE, etc..


Predictions

The coordinates of the Sun used in these predictions are based on the VSOP87 theory [Bretagnon and Francou, 1988]. The Moon's coordinates are based on the ELP-2000/82 theory [Chapront-Touze and Chapront, 1983]. For more information, see: Solar and Lunar Ephemerides. The revised value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -25.858 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced from the Apollo lunar laser ranging experiment (Chapront, Chapront-Touze, and Francou, 2002).

The largest uncertainty in the eclipse predictions is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to tidal friction of the Moon. The resultant drift in apparent clock time is expressed as ΔT and is determined as follows:

  1. pre-1950's: ΔT calculated from empirical fits to historical records derived by Morrison and Stephenson (2004)
  2. 1955-present: ΔT obtained from published observations
  3. future: ΔT is extrapolated from current values weighted by the long term trend from tidal effects

A series of polynomial expressions have been derived to simplify the evaluation of ΔT for any time from -1999 to +3000. The uncertainty in ΔT over this period can be estimated from scatter in the measurements.


Footnotes

[1] Hybrid eclipses are also known as annular/total eclipses. Such an eclipse is both total and annular along different sections of its umbral path. (See: Five Millennium Catalog of Hybrid Solar Eclipses)

[2] The terms BCE and CE are abbreviations for "Before Common Era" and "Common Era," respectively. They are the secular equivalents to the BC and AD dating conventions. (See: Year Dating Conventions )

[3] Central solar eclipses are eclipses in which the central axis of the Moon's shadow strikes the Earth's surface. All partial (penumbral) eclipses are non-central eclipses since the shadow axis misses Earth. However, umbral eclipses (total, annular and hybrid) may be either central (usually) or non-central (rarely).

[4] Greatest eclipse is defined as the instant when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to the Earth's center. For total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is virtually identical to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration. However, for annular eclipses, the instant of greatest duration may occur at either the time of greatest eclipse or near the sunrise and sunset points of the eclipse path.


Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Dan McGlaun for extracting the individual eclipse maps from the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 for use in this catalog.

The Besselian elements used in the predictions were kindly provided by Jean Meeus. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data originally published in Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000

Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)"


Eclipse Links

Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses

Ten Millennium Catalog of Long Solar Eclipses

Catalog of Solar Eclipse Saros Series

World Atlas of Solar Eclipse Paths

2007 May 11