Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006

Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006
Solar corona during the eclipse, observed near Tokat in Turkey.
classification
Type	Total
area	South America , Atlantic , Africa , Europe , Western Asia Total: Central and North Africa , Asia Minor , Russia
Saros cycle	139 (29 of 71)
Gamma value	0.3843
Greatest eclipse
Duration	4 minutes 7 seconds
place	South libya
location	23 ° 9 '  N , 16 ° 46'  E Coordinates: 23 ° 9 '  N , 16 ° 46'  E
time	March 29, 2006 10:11:18   UT
size	1.0515

During the total solar eclipse on March 29, 2006 , the moon covered the sun for a maximum of a little longer than four minutes. Since 2001 there has not been a solar eclipse with a longer total duration. The umbra of the moon migrated from Brazil across the South Atlantic to Africa, there from Ghana to the border area between Libya and Egypt , then north-east across the Mediterranean via Turkey and Georgia to Russia and Kazakhstan . In Central Europe , this astronomical event could be seen as a partial solar eclipse in the morning hours.

For a long time this solar eclipse offered the most promising prospects for good observation conditions on a trip to the totality zone . The umbra crossed areas that are or were relatively easily accessible, climatically favorable and touristic. In the eastern Mediterranean, the sky was cloudless during the eclipse, which actually provided very good observation conditions in these countries.

Classification of darkness

Since the moon passed its perigee (closest point on the orbit) just one day before the eclipse , its apparent diameter of 33 ′ 10 ″ was relatively large. On the other hand, the solar disk appeared significantly smaller on this day (32 ′ 02 ″), the ratio of the moon's diameter to that of the sun was 1.05151.

The umbra path was about 14,500 km long and a maximum of 189 km wide, the total duration of the eclipse was 3 hours and 12 minutes. The peak was reached in southern Libya at 10:11:18 UT, the total duration there was 4 minutes and 7 seconds, with the sun 67 ° above the southern horizon. The so-called gamma value , which indicates the smallest distance of the axis of the umbra cone from the center of the earth in relation to the equatorial radius , was 0.38433. The positive value means that this axis passed north of the center of the earth.

The eclipse was the 29th of the Saros cycle 139, which includes a total of 71 solar eclipses over a period of 1262 years. The eclipses all take place near the ascending lunar node , of which 16 are partial, 43 are total and 12 are hybrid (ring-total), not a single one is purely ring-shaped. The longest eclipse of this cycle will take place on July 16, 2186 and have a maximum total duration of 7 minutes and 29 seconds.

course

Solar eclipse on March 29, 2006.

Solar eclipse in Lagan , Kalmykia

Global history

With the sunrise in the east of Brazil at 08:36 UT ( Universal Time ), the umbra of the moon hit the earth for the first time. The totality zone had a width of 129 kilometers there at the beginning of the eclipse. The umbra crossed the Atlantic and reached the African continent in Ghana at 09:08 UT. There the total duration on the central line was already 3 minutes and 24 seconds.

The umbra now crossed Africa in a northeastern direction, passed through Togo , Benin , Nigeria , Niger and grazed Chad in the northwest. The height of the eclipse was reached in southern Libya on the border with Chad at 10:11 UT, the duration of the eclipse was over 4 minutes, the width of the umbra was 184 kilometers. The speed at which the shadow moves across the surface of the earth had fallen from 32,000 km / h at the beginning of the eclipse to 2509 km / h.

After the umbra had passed Libya and then Egypt in the extreme northwest, it crossed the Mediterranean Sea between Crete and Cyprus in a northeastern direction and reached the southern coast of Turkey at 10:54 UT. The Turkish cities of Antalya , Konya and Sivas were within the totality zone . In the latter, the shadow path crossed that of the 1999 eclipse , so that the second total solar eclipse could be observed there within less than six years. At 11:10 UT, the umbra reached the southeastern part of the Black Sea , with the width of the totality zone reduced to 165 kilometers and the totality duration to 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

The umbra crossed the Caucasus and Georgia , reached Russia , crossed the northern part of the Caspian Sea, and reached Kazakhstan at 11:40 UT . The shadow speed had meanwhile increased again to 5430 km / h. At 11:48 UT, the umbra left the surface of the earth after crossing the Central Asian steppe on the northern border of Mongolia .

Times of selected locations in the totality zone

The following table gives the contact times and totality duration for different locations in the totality zone. The first contact marks the beginning of the eclipse when the moon first touches the solar disk. Totality occurs between the second and third contact, the fourth contact signifies the end of the subsequent partial phase and thus the end of darkness. All times are in Universal Time . The size is the ratio of the apparent diameter of the moon and the sun.

place	country	location	1. Contact	2. Contact	3. Contact	4. Contact	solar height	size	Duration
natal	Brazil	05 ° 48 ′  S , 035 ° 13 ′  W.	-	08:35:02	08:37:34	09:34:32	2 °	1.036	1 ′ 32 ″
Accra	Ghana	05 ° 33 '  N , 000 ° 13'  W.	08:00:45	09:09:57	09:12:55	10:29:33	47 °	1.048	2 ′ 58 ″
Katsina	Nigeria	12 ° 59 '  N , 007 ° 36'  E	08:20:23	09:34:11	09:38:05	10:58:07	59 °	1,050	3 ′ 54 ″
Bilma	Niger	18 ° 41 '  N , 012 ° 55'  E	08:37:37	09:54:05	09:58:07	11:19:10	66 °	1.051	4 ′ 02 ″
maximum	Libya	23 ° 09 ′  N , 016 ° 46 ′  E	08:52:08	10:09:12	10:13:19	11:34:24	67 °	1.052	4 ′ 07 ″
Jalu oasis	Libya	29 ° 01 ′  N , 021 ° 32 ′  E	09:10:06	10:28:29	10:31:43	11:51:12	64 °	1.051	3 ′ 14 ″
as-Sallum	Egypt	31 ° 35 '  N , 025 ° 08'  E	09:20:10	10:38:09	10:42:04	11:59:59	62 °	1.051	3 ′ 55 ″
Sidi Barrani	Egypt	31 ° 36 '  N , 025 ° 55'  E	09:21:23	10:40:04	10:42:43	12:01:10	61 °	1.051	2 ′ 39 ″
Antalya	Turkey	36 ° 53 '  N , 030 ° 42'  E	09:37:33	10:54:24	10:57:35	12:12:47	54 °	1.049	3 ′ 11 ″
Konya	Turkey	37 ° 53 '  N , 032 ° 29'  E	09:41:44	10:57:58	11:01:11	12:15:46	54 °	1.049	3 ′ 36 ″
Sukhumi	Georgia	43 ° 01 ′  N , 041 ° 00 ′  E	10:00:24	11:13:55	11:16:52	12:27:07	43 °	1.047	2 ′ 57 ″
Nalchik	Russia	43 ° 29 '  N , 043 ° 37'  E	10:04:23	11:17:13	11:20:17	12:29:33	41 °	1.046	3 ′ 04 ″
Astrakhan	Russia	48 ° 20 '  N , 048 ° 01'  E	10:12:19	11:24:08	11:24:58	12:33:02	36 °	1.045	0 ′ 50 ″
Arqalyq	Kazakhstan	50 ° 15 '  N , 066 ° 56'  E	10:33:21	11:38:04	11:40:36	12:41:17	21 °	1.041	2 ′ 32 ″
Rubtsovsk	Russia	51 ° 31 '  N , 081 ° 12'  E	10:43:16	11:43:48	11:45:56	12:42:44	11 °	1.038	2 ′ 08 ″

Course in Central Europe

From Central Europe, the solar eclipse could only be observed in its partial phase. The eclipse took place around noon on March 29, 2006 and lasted about two hours, the degree of coverage increased towards the southeast. In Vienna , a coverage of 45 percent was achieved in Bern , there were 33 and in Berlin 32 percent.

Weather during the eclipse

Maximum coverage of 31 percent in Valencia .

Solar corona observed in Libya

The partial phase could hardly be observed in Central Europe because of the low "Jasmin". In Germany, the best chances were still in the east and in Bavaria. In Switzerland, too, the darkness largely fell out. There were changeable clouds, which only allowed a limited view of the darkness, the best observation possibilities were in Ticino , in the Engadine and in the southern valleys of Graubünden . In Austria the situation was no better, in Vienna it was raining, the conditions only improved a little towards the end of the darkness.

The weather situation in the parts of the totality zone, which had been targeted as the main travel destinations by "Eclipse chasers", was, however, extremely favorable. The best probability of seeing the eclipse was predicted with 60 percent for the border area between Libya and Egypt in the north of the two countries. The forecast for the southern coast of Turkey was 50 percent, further northeast towards Central Anatolia the probability gradually became less favorable. After all, the entire eastern Mediterranean region had extremely good conditions. Even in West Africa, where the prognoses had been rather unfavorable, the darkness could be followed.

Research and Observation

The solar eclipse in 2006 - like many total solar eclipses in the past - was used for numerous researches. For example, the solar corona was studied on the Greek island of Kastelorizo , which was the only area in the totality zone that belonged to the European Union . For comparison, an investigation by the SOHO space probe was also carried out in parallel to this ground-based observation . Other research projects also dealt with the corona; The shape and structure were studied as the innermost part of the corona can only be examined during a solar eclipse. A predictive model was also tested. The corona was classified as being in the middle stage just before a minimum ("intermediate pre-minimal type corona.").

Another example of a research project was the simulation of the light irradiation in the totality zone using a three-dimensional model that took into account multiple scattering of the light rays. An attempt was made to predict the color and brightness of the eclipse sky using a Monte Carlo simulation . The influence of direct radiation from the corona was also examined. The aim of this project is to plan and optimize further experiments to research radiation .

Marginal phenomena of darkness

Solar eclipse as seen from the ISS .

In some of the more remote towns in Central Anatolia , fear had spread that there would be a major earthquake there in the days after the dark . Even a researcher is said to have made such a prediction, and the fact that there was a major earthquake in northwestern Turkey after the last eclipse in 1999 heightened those fears. The authorities tried to counter this fear. Nevertheless, the residents of the village of Yolkonak near Niksar wanted to leave their homes for two months after the dark and live in tents.

When partial darkness was seen in Nigeria in 1989, religious fanatics interpreted this as a divine symbol and there were riots in which 28 people died and churches were set on fire. That is why the Nigerian radio had called for silence before the eclipse in 2006 and explained the natural phenomenon so that a repetition of such incidents could be avoided.

In Australia and New Zealand there was a 13-hour failure of satellite television the day after the eclipse , affecting around half a million viewers. The operator Sky Television claimed that the signal from the Optus B1 satellite could not be restored immediately because the satellite was in the shadow of the solar eclipse before the failure and therefore the energy cells first had to recharge. One astronomer, however, considered this to be a nonsensical excuse, since the satellite had only been in the shadow of the solar eclipse for about four minutes and the alleged power failure had only occurred 21 hours after the actual solar eclipse.

Impressions

• 

  Traffic jam in Cappadocia

• 

  Observation of the partial phase

• 

  During totality

• 

  Prominences

literature

• Hans-Ulrich Keller (Ed.): Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2006. Sun, moon and stars in the course of the year. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10269-6 .

Web links

Commons : Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• solar-eclipse.de: The total solar eclipse of March 29, 2006
• NASA: Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29
• Solar Eclipses of Saros 139

Individual evidence

1. ↑ This and all information not specially marked are taken from Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2006 , see literature
2. ^ ^{A b} Fred Espenak, Jay Anderson: Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29
3. ↑ tagesschau.de: Partial solar eclipse in Germany (tagesschau.de archive)
4. ↑ news.ch: Solar eclipses fascinate hundreds of thousands worldwide
5. ↑ tagesschau.de: Great enthusiasm for four minutes of darkness (tagesschau.de archive)
6. ^ ESA, Observational Astronomy: Total Solar Eclipse 2006
7. ↑ IV Sadovenko, MI Pishkalo: The Solar Corona During the Total Solar Eclipse on March 29, 2006: Shape and Structure
8. ↑ Jon Linker, Zoran Mikic, Roberto Lionello, Pete Riley, Viacheslav Titov: Predicting the Structure of the Solar Corona During the March 29, 2006 Total Solar Eclipse ( Memento from January 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ C. Emde, B. Mayer: Simulation of solar radiation during a total eclipse: a challenge for radiative transfer (PDF; 876 kB)
10. ↑ faz.net: The Eclipse Hunters
11. ↑ krone.at: Nigeria warns of panic due to a solar eclipse
12. ↑ heise.de: Thirteen hours down under without satellite TV

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 7, 2008 .