Solar eclipse of January 15, 2010

Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 235: malformed pattern (missing ']'). The solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 was an annular eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 0.9190. 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 (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. It was the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium,^[1] and the longest until December 23, 3043, with a maximum length of 11 minutes, 7.8 seconds. This is about 4 minutes longer than total solar eclipses could ever get. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992, was longer, at 11 minutes, 41 seconds, occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)^[2]

The eclipse was visible as only a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as an annular eclipse within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka and parts of Bangladesh, Burma and China.

Visibility of the eclipse

File:Solar annular eclipse of January 15, 2010 in Bangui, Central African Republic.JPG

January 15, 2010's sunrise in Bangui, Central African Republic

The eclipse started in the Central African Republic, traversed Cameroon, DR Congo and Uganda, passed through Nairobi, Kenya, and passed over the Indian Ocean, where it reached its greatest visibility. It then entered Maldives, where it was the longest on land with 10.8 viewable minutes. The annular eclipse at Malé, the capital city of Maldives, started at 12:20:20 and ended at 12:30:06 Maldives local time (UTC+5). This was also the longest duration of any eclipse with an international airport in its track.^[3]

At approximately 13:20 IST, the annular solar eclipse entered India at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala and exited India at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.

The eclipse was viewable for 10.4 minutes in India. After Rameswaram, it entered Sri Lanka at Delft Island, exited at Jaffna in Sri Lanka, crossed the Bay of Bengal and re-entered India in Mizoram.

Eclipse picture from Thiruvananthapuram, India where the eclipse was 94%

Thiruvananthapuram, which was the entry point of the eclipse in India, was equipped with telescopes and announced facilities for the public to view the eclipse.^[4] Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, situated in Trivandrum, analysed the atmospheric-ionospheric parameters during the eclipse.^[5] Many scientists camped in the city to witness and study the eclipse.^[6]

At Rameswaram, the sunrise was not visible due to thick clouds, but it started getting clear at around 9 AM local time and became almost totally clear by the time the eclipse began. The sky had a thin layer of cirrus clouds till 2:30PM. Among the eclipse-watchers was Sky Watchers' Association of North Bengal (SWAN) from Siliguri at the foothills of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Astronomical Association.

Dhanushkodi, which falls on the central line of the eclipse, was a good place to view the eclipse. The northernmost limit of shadow in India was Cuddalore, Neyveli, Erode, Kodaikanal, and Madurai. Other prime viewing locations in Tamil Nadu include Thoothukudi and Cape Comorin, 22 km north of the center line. The exact location of the line is between the NH end and the Dhanushkodi ruins. Dhanushkodi is about 2 km east of the central line. The degree difference is about 0.2 between the central line – with Kodandaramar Temple and Dhanushkodi ruins vice versa. Dhanushkodi is about 5 km from the Kodandaramar Temple.

After South Asia, annularity passed Myanmar and China before leaving the Earth.

Gallery

15 jan 10 eclipse srilanka jaffna library.jpg

Eclipse taken against the Jaffna Public Library, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka.
15 jan 10 eclipse srilanka jaffna nallur.jpg

Eclipse taken against the Nallur Kandaswamy temple, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka.
15 jan 10 eclipse srilanka jaffna.jpg

Eclipse taken at Jaffna Hindu College, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka.
Solar eclipse 2010Jan15 Moon-Sun-Venus.png

Photographic equipment may allow the planet Venus to be shown about 1.5 degrees west and south of the annular ring of the sun.
SE2010Jan15A.gif

Animation of path
Tvmeclipses.jpg

Stages of solar eclipse in Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Solar Eclipse January 2010.jpg

Photograph of the eclipse seen from Chennai, India
Solar eclipse 2010-01-15 05.41 UT.jpg

The eclipse from Degania A, Israel, 05:41 UT
20100115montage.jpg

Montage of the eclipse from Degania A, Israel, from 05:03 UT to 07:05 UT
15 January 2010 Solar Eclipse from Malaysia.JPG

Photograph of the solar eclipse seen from Bandar Pusat Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia.
Chennai Eclipse.jpg

Photograph of the ending stages of the eclipse as seen from Chennai
Solar Eclipse 15 Jan 2010 view from Pallipalayam Tamilnadu.jpg

Photograph of Partial Stage from Pallipalayam, Tamil Nadu, India.
Solar Eclipse 15 Jan 2010 reflection on floor at pallipalayam.jpg

Reflection of Solar Eclipse on floor due to holes at roof in Palliapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India.
Annular Solar Eclipse over India.jpg

Satellite image of the Moon's shadow falling on India and the Bay of Bengal.
Solar partial eclipse of January 15, 2010 in Taichung ,of Taiwan - 229.jpg

Solar eclipse seen from Taichung, Taiwan
Solar annular eclipse of January 15, 2010 in Jinan,Republic of China.JPG

Solar eclipse as seen from Jinan, China

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 2008-2011

Each member 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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2008–2011
Saros	Map	Saros	Map
Ascending node		Descending node
121 Partial from Christchurch, New Zealand	2008 February 7 Annular	126 Novosibirsk, Russia	2008 August 1 Total
131 Bandar Lampung, Indonesia	2009 January 26 Annular	136 Kurigram, Bangladesh	2009 July 22 Total
141 Bangui, Central African Republic	2010 January 15 Annular	146 French Polynesia	2010 July 11 Total
151 Partial from Vienna, Austra	2011 January 4 Partial (north)	156	2011 July 1 Partial (south)
Partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011, and November 25, 2011, occur on the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 141

Solar Saros 141 repeats every 18 years, 11 days and contains 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2460. There are no total eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857. ^[7]

Series members 17-28 occur between 1901 and 2100:

17	18	19
November 11, 1901	November 22, 1919	December 2, 1937
20	21	22
December 14, 1955	December 24, 1973	January 4, 1992
23	24	25
January 15, 2010	January 26, 2028	February 5, 2046
26	27	28
February 17, 2064	February 27, 2082	March 10, 2100

Metonic series

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).

This series has 20 eclipse events between June 10, 1964 and August 21, 2036.

June 10–11	March 27–29	January 15–16	November 3	August 21–22
117	119	121	123	125
150px June 10, 1964	March 28, 1968	January 16, 1972	November 3, 1975	August 22, 1979
127	129	131	133	135
June 11, 1983	March 29, 1987	January 15, 1991	November 3, 1994	August 22, 1998
137	139	141	143	145
June 10, 2002	March 29, 2006	January 15, 2010	November 3, 2013	August 21, 2017
147	149	151	153	155
June 10, 2021	March 29, 2025	January 14, 2029	November 3, 2032	August 21, 2036