Remember how cool the solar eclipse in North America was in 2017? Now South Asia and South America will have their days in the no-sun. On July 2, a total solar eclipse will pass over southern parts of Chile and Argentina, and parts of the South Pacific. Then in December, another eclipse will pass over the Arabian Peninsula and arc over areas of South Asia.
Throughout the year, there will be a total of five eclipses worldwide, so, it sounds like we need some sort of global exchange of eclipse glasses.
Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2019
By: Kelly Beatty | December 26, 2018. Sky and Telescope.
There’ll be something for everybody in 2019, with total, annular, and partial solar eclipses — and total and partial lunar eclipses to look forward to.
Up to seven eclipses of the Sun and Moon can take place in one year, though the last time that happened was 1982, and the fewest possible is four. The mix of five events occurring in 2019 is especially interesting, because no two will be alike! There’ll be three different types of solar eclipse — one each of partial, annular, and total — along with a total and a partial lunar eclipse.
The Five Eclipses in 2019
Below are brief descriptions of this eclipses in 2019 of the Sun and Moon. You’ll find more details Sky & Telescope magazine as the date of each draws near. Times are in Universal Time (UT) except as noted. Adjust these to get those for your time zone: for example. PST = UT – 8, and EST = UT – 5. (But be sure to allow for daylight or “summer” time: PDT = UT – 7, and EDT = UT – 4.)
January 6: Partial Solar Eclipse
The year starts off with a bang, eclipse-wise, with a partial solar eclipse during the first week of January. But to see the Moon take its biggest bite out of Sun — the location of greatest eclipse — you’ll need to venture to the bleak outpost of Srednekolymsk in central Siberia. (Hey, at least it’s got an airport.) There you’ll brave an average daytime high of –28°F to witness 62% of the Sun’s disk tuck behind the Moon. The obscuration and the weather are less dramatic elsewhere in northeastern Asia and the North Pacific Ocean. About 20% of the Sun is covered from Beijing, 30% from Tokyo, and 37% from Vladivostok. More information about this eclipse.
January 20–21: Total Lunar Eclipse
It’s been more than three years since everyone in the U.S. has experienced a total lunar eclipse — the last one was September 27–28, 2015 — and skygazers are hungry for another! As the graphic at right shows, the eclipse will last almost 3½ hours from the beginning of the partial phase at 3:34 UT until it ends at 6:51 UT. Totality lasts 63 minutes, from 4:41 to 5:44 UT.
The timing of this one, with mid-eclipse at 5:12 UT, gives everyone in North America a ringside seat — though it’ll be a late night for anyone on the East Coast. As veteran skywatcher Joe Rao notes in Sky & Telescope‘s January issue, the eclipsed Moon will appear high in a mid-winter sky, and this event occurs on the Sunday night of a 3-day holiday weekend in the U.S. So if it’s clear that night, you’ll have no (good) excuse for skipping this wonderful celestial event.
The diagram at upper right and the table below show you what to look for and when (UT times are all for January 21st; local times are on the 20th if “p.m.” and the 21st if “a.m.”):
Weather permitting, everyone in the U.S. will be able to enjoy this celestial event. As the map below shows, eclipse watchers in the Hawaiian Islands will see the Moon climb out of the Pacific Ocean at sunset on the 20th, with roughly half of it already immersed in shadow. Totality occurs in the hours before bedtime for those on the West Coast, but it happens later for those farther east and after midnight (early on January 21st) for the Eastern Seaboard. Meanwhile, it’s a predawn event on the 21st as seen from westernmost Europe and Africa. More information about this eclipse.
Finally, go here to check out some interesting and scientifically useful observing activities that you can try during various stages of the eclipse.
July 2: Total Solar Eclipse
If you’re one of the estimated 154 million U.S. adults who watched the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 — and that’s most of us! — you know how incredible these dramatic spectacles can be. Since the Sun escaped another total cover-up in 2018, diehard eclipse-chasers have had to wait nearly two years for their next opportunity to stand in the Moon’s shadow.
On paper, the solar eclipse of July 2, 2019, offers up to 4m 33s of totality, nearly double that of August 2017. However, to experience all that daylight darkness you’ll need to be bobbing in a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean some 700 miles north of Easter Island. Instead, most eclipse chaser’s are eyeing locations in the path’s only real landfall: central Chile and Argentina.
It will be late afternoon when the Moon’s umbra crosses these countries at sub-tropical latitudes near 30° south. The bustling coastal town of La Serena, Chile, offers 2m13s of totality with the Sun about 14° above the northwestern horizon. According to eclipse-weather expert Jay Anderson, this positioning “takes the sting out of what might otherwise be a very cloudy environment.” Some of the very best viewing prospects, statistically speaking, occur a little inland from La Serena along Chile’s picturesque Elqui Valley and on the eastward side of the Andes in western Argentina. More information about this eclipse.
July 16: Partial Lunar Eclipse
Two weeks after July’s new Moon (and the solar eclipse it creates), the month’s full Moon will dive about two-thirds of the way into Earth’s umbral shadow. Unfortunately, with mid-eclipse at 21:31 UT, July 16th’s event isn’t visible at all from North America. Instead, it’s timed best for skywatchers in Europe, Africa, and (before dawn on July 17th) southern Asia and Australia. From South America, you’ll see the end of this eclipse before the Moon rises. More information about this eclipse.
December 26: Annular Solar Eclipse
The year comes to a dramatic conclusion with an annular eclipse that traces across the Eastern Hemisphere for some 8,000 miles (13,000 km) over the course of 3.3 hours. The event begins at dawn north of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, with 2m 59s of annularity. Greatest eclipse (with a central duration lasting 3m 39s) comes in eastern Sumatra. Most of Singapore’s 5½ million inhabitants are situated just within the path of annularity. Just before it departs Earth’s surface, the antumbral shadow races over Guam for 3m 10s.
A partial solar eclipse will be observed across much of southern Asia and Australia. More information about this eclipse.
Categories: Signs in the Heavens Update