Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003
| Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003 | |
|---|---|
 Animation of the annular solar eclipse of May 31, 2003 |
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| classification | |
| Type | Ring-shaped |
| area |
Europe , Asia , Northwestern North America Annular: Iceland , Greenland |
| Saros cycle | 147 (22 of 80) |
| Gamma value | 0.9961 |
| Greatest eclipse | |
| Duration | 3 minutes 37 seconds |
| place | North Atlantic near Iceland |
| location | 66 ° 27 ′ N , 24 ° 42 ′ W |
| time | May 31, 2003 4:08:21 UT |
| size | 0.9384 |
On May 31, 2003 , an annular solar eclipse occurred that could be seen in Iceland , Greenland and the northern Atlantic Ocean . The zone of partial visibility extended across Asia , Europe and North America .
The geometry of the darkness was decidedly unusual. The northern hemisphere was turned towards the sun. The axis of the umbra cone ran just past the North Pole , so that a boundary of the shadow path was determined by the day-night boundary . In addition, the area of the annular eclipse moved from east to west across the surface of the earth, rather than the other way around, as is normally the case.
course
The annular phase of the eclipse began at 6:02 a.m. CEST 130 km south of the Icelandic coast and hit land a minute later. The eclipse left Iceland at 6:07 a.m. and peaked at 6:08 a.m. 81.24 km west of the Icelandic coast. After a six-minute train across the sea, the solar eclipse ended at 6:14 a.m. It could be seen for 3.32.7 minutes at the beginning and at the end, the climax lasted 3: 34.1 minutes.
Visibility in Northwest Europe
In Europe, the eclipse was ring-shaped only in Iceland, and in its partial phase it was seen in Great Britain , the Benelux countries , France and Germany .
Here the sun rose partially eclipsed as a narrow sickle. The sickle widened noticeably, and about an hour after sunrise the moon released the solar disk completely again. The photo on the left, taken in southern Germany, shows the crescent of the sun at 5:21 a.m. CEST, a few minutes after rising.
The darkness could be seen very clearly as far as Alsace near Belfort . The coverage of the sun by the moon was particularly strong in north-west Scotland .
literature
- Hans-Ulrich Keller (Ed.): Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2003 . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-440-09094-9
Web links
- solar-eclipse.de: The ring-shaped solar eclipse of May 31, 2003
- NASA: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2003 May 31
- NASA: Solar Eclipses: 2001-2010
- NASA: Solar Eclipses of Saros 147
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Previous solar eclipses:
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Later solar eclipses:
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December 25, 2000 (partial) |
June 21, 2001 (total) |
December 14, 2001 (circular) |
June 10, 2002 (circular) |
December 4, 2002 (total) |
May 31, 2003 (circular) |
November 23, 2003 (total) |
April 19, 2004 (partial) |
October 14, 2004 (partial) |
April 8, 2005 (hybrid) |
October 3, 2005 (ring-shaped) |
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