Solar eclipse of February 15, 2018

Summary

A partial solar eclipse took place on February 15, 2018.[1][2][3] 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.

Solar eclipse of February 15, 2018
From Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Map
Type of eclipse
NaturePartial
Gamma−1.2116
Magnitude0.5991
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates71°00′S 0°36′E / 71°S 0.6°E / -71; 0.6
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse20:52:33
References
Saros150 (17 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9547

The eclipse took place before sunset in the Southern Cone of South America.

Images edit

 
Animated path

Gallery edit

Related eclipses edit

Eclipses of 2018 edit

Solar eclipses descending node 2015-2018 edit

Solar eclipses 2015–2018 edit

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.[4]

Solar eclipse series sets from 2015 to 2018
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
120
 
Longyearbyen, Svalbard
2015 March 20
 
Total
0.94536 125
 
Solar Dynamics Observatory

2015 September 13
 
Partial (south)
−1.10039
130
 
Balikpapan, Indonesia
2016 March 9
 
Total
0.26092 135
 
L'Étang-Salé, Réunion
2016 September 1
 
Annular
−0.33301
140
 
Partial from Buenos Aires
2017 February 26
 
Annular
−0.45780 145
 
Casper, Wyoming
2017 August 21
 
Total
0.43671
150
 
Partial from Olivos, Buenos Aires
2018 February 15
 
Partial (south)
−1.21163 155
 
Partial from Huittinen, Finland
2018 August 11
 
Partial (north)
1.14758

Partial solar eclipses on July 13, 2018, and January 6, 2019, occur during the next semester series.

Saros 150 edit

It is a part of Saros cycle 150, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 24, 1729. It contains annular eclipses from April 22, 2126 through June 22, 2829. There are no total eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 29, 2991. The longest duration of annularity will be 9 minutes, 58 seconds on December 19, 2522.

Metonic series edit

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.

21 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029
July 10–12 April 29–30 February 15–16 December 4–5 September 21–23
116 118 120 122 124
 
July 11, 1953
 
April 30, 1957
 
February 15, 1961
 
December 4, 1964
 
September 22, 1968
126 128 130 132 134
 
July 10, 1972
 
April 29, 1976
 
February 16, 1980
 
December 4, 1983
 
September 23, 1987
136 138 140 142 144
 
July 11, 1991
 
April 29, 1995
 
February 16, 1999
 
December 4, 2002
 
September 22, 2006
146 148 150 152 154
 
July 11, 2010
 
April 29, 2014
 
February 15, 2018  
December 4, 2021
 
September 21, 2025
156 158 160 162 164
 
July 11, 2029
  1. ^ Rao, Joe (February 14, 2018). "Partial Solar Eclipse Occurs Thursday at the Bottom of the World". Space.com.
  2. ^ "Partial Solar Eclipse 2018: All You Need To Know About The Celestial Event". NDTV.com.
  3. ^ "This solar eclipse 2018 was seen by NASA from space!". India Today.
  4. ^ 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.

External links edit

  • NASA chart
  • NASA animation
  • Partial Solar Eclipse of 2018 February 15[dead link]
  • APOD 2/20/2018