Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008


An annular solar eclipse occurred on February 7, 2008. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring 7 days after apogee and 6.9 days before perigee, the Moon’s apparent diameter was near the average diameter.
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.

Eclipse Season">Eclipse season">Eclipse Season

This is the first eclipse this season.
Second eclipse this season: 21 February 2008 Total Lunar Eclipse

Visibility

Centrality was visible from parts of Antarctica. A significant partial eclipse was visible over New Zealand and a minor partial eclipse was seen from southeastern Australia.
For most solar eclipses the path of centrality moves eastwards. In this case the path moved west round Antarctica and then north.

Observations

The best land-based visibility outside of Antarctica was from New Zealand. Professional astronomer and eclipse-chaser Jay Pasachoff observed it from Nelson, New Zealand, 60% coverage, under perfect weather.

Images

Animated path

Gallery

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2008

Saros 121

Metonic series