Solar Eclipse Prime Page

Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Fred Espenak

Key to Solar Eclipse Figure (below)

Introduction


The Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 is visible from the following geographic regions:

  • Partial Eclipse: northeast North America, Europe, Asia
  • Total Eclipse: north Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia, China

The map to the right depicts the geographic regions of eclipse visibility. Click on the map to enlarge it. For an explanation of the features appearing in the map, see Key to Solar Eclipse Maps.

The instant of greatest eclipse takes place on 2008 Aug 01 at 10:22:12 TD (10:21:07 UT1). This is 2.5 days after the Moon reaches perigee. During the eclipse, the Sun is in the constellation Cancer. The synodic month in which the eclipse takes place has a Brown Lunation Number of 1059.

The eclipse belongs to Saros 126 and is number 47 of 72 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node. The Moon moves northward with respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series and gamma increases.

The total solar eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 is followed two weeks later by a partial lunar eclipse on 2008 Aug 16.

These eclipses all take place during a single eclipse season.

The eclipse predictions are given in both Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TD) and Universal Time (UT1). The parameter ΔT is used to convert between these two times (i.e., UT1 = TD - ΔT). ΔT has a value of 65.6 seconds for this eclipse.

The following links provide maps and data for the eclipse.

Global Map Animation of Solar Eclipse

Michael Zeiler GreatAmericanEclipse.com and
Fred Espenak EclipseWise.com have created a series of eclipse animations - one for every solar eclipse during the 21st Century.

The animation of the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 shows the path of the Moon's shadows as they sweep across a global map of Earth (an orthographic projection). The vantage point of the animation is as seen from the Moon. The daylight hemisphere of Earth then faces the Moon and the lunar shadows appear perfectly circular with no distorted projection effects as they race across Earth. Another consequence of this viewing geometry is that the Moon's shadows move across the disk of Earth in a straight line.

The Moon's umbral shadow appears as a small black disk and tracks along the path of totality (yellow strip). The much larger penumbral shadow is lightly shaded and is outlined with a solid black edge. A partial eclipse is visible from within the penumbra, while a total eclipse is visible inside the umbra.

The map to the right shows a single frame from the medium size animation for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 . In the upper left corner is the type of eclipse and the eclipse date. To the upper right is the Universal Time. The lower left corner displays the instantaneous duration of totality. To the lower right is the credit for the animation.

Animations for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 are available in three sizes/resolutions: small, medium, and large. They can be viewed through the following links:


Creative Commons License
These animations may be freely used and shared through Creative Commons.
You may use and distribute these eclipse animations as long as they are not modified and you include an attribution.
Solar Eclipse Global Animation by Fred Espenak and Michael Zeiler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on work at EclipseWise.com and GreatAmericanEclipse.com

Attribution: "Global Map Animation of Eclipse courtesy of Michael Zeiler (GreatAmericanEclipse.com) and Fred Espenak (EclipseWise.com)".

Eclipse Data: Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Eclipse Characteristics
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.03942
Eclipse Obscuration 1.08040
Gamma 0.83070
Conjunction Times
Event Calendar Date and Time Julian Date
Greatest Eclipse 2008 Aug 01 at 10:22:12.3 TD (10:21:06.7 UT1) 2454679.931328
Ecliptic Conjunction 2008 Aug 01 at 10:13:39.0 TD (10:12:33.4 UT1) 2454679.925386
Equatorial Conjunction 2008 Aug 01 at 09:48:26.9 TD (09:47:21.3 UT1) 2454679.907886
Geocentric Coordinates of Sun and Moon
2008 Aug 01 at 10:22:12.3 TD (10:21:06.7 UT1)
Coordinate Sun Moon
Right Ascension08h47m54.1s08h49m08.8s
Declination+17°51'56.4"+18°38'01.6"
Semi-Diameter 15'45.5" 16'14.1"
Eq. Hor. Parallax 08.7" 0°59'34.8"
Geocentric Libration of Moon
Angle Value
l 4.2°
b -1.0°
c 14.0°
Prediction Parameters
Paramater Value
Ephemerides JPL DE405
ΔT 65.6 s
k (penumbra) 0.2725076
k (umbra) 0.2722810
Saros Series 126 (47/72)

Explanation of Solar Eclipse Data Tables

Penumbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes: Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Contacts of Penumbral Shadow with Earth
Contact Event Contact Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude
First External ContactP108:05:11.508:04:05.950°12.5'N052°14.6'W
Last External ContactP412:39:31.712:38:26.111°10.0'N085°36.2'E
Extreme Northern and Southern Path Limits of Penumbra
Contact Event Contact Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude
North Extreme Path Limit 1N108:33:37.808:32:32.236°15.9'N050°14.9'W
South Extreme Path Limit 1S112:10:58.612:09:53.003°34.5'S087°56.8'E

Explanation of Penumbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes Tables

Umbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes: Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Contacts of Umbral Shadow with Earth
Contact Event Contact Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude
First External ContactU109:22:12.609:21:07.067°53.9'N101°16.4'W
First Internal ContactU209:25:15.609:24:10.068°39.8'N105°06.6'W
Last Internal ContactU311:19:33.211:18:27.634°07.3'N114°33.9'E
Last External ContactU411:22:31.311:21:25.732°52.7'N113°13.9'E
Extreme Northern and Southern Path Limits of Umbra
Contact Event Contact Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude
North Extreme Path Limit 1N109:25:04.109:23:58.568°44.0'N105°22.2'W
South Extreme Path Limit 1S109:22:24.809:21:19.267°49.1'N101°01.6'W
North Extreme Path Limit 2N211:19:44.411:18:38.834°14.6'N114°34.6'E
South Extreme Path Limit 2S211:22:19.411:21:13.832°45.1'N113°13.3'E

Explanation of Umbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes Tables

Central Line Extremes and Duration: Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Extreme Limits of the Central Line
Contact Event Contact Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude
Extreme Central Line Limit 1C109:23:43.309:22:37.768°16.9'N103°08.2'W
Extreme Central Line Limit 2C211:21:03.111:19:57.533°29.4'N113°53.3'E

Explanation of Central Line Extremes Table

Greatest Eclipse and Greatest Duration
Event Time
TD
Time
UT1
Latitude Longitude Sun
Altitude
Sun
Azimuth
Path Width Central
Duration
Greatest Eclipse10:22:12.310:21:06.765°39.2'N072°17.8'E 33.5° 235.2° 236.9 km02m27.14s
Greatest Duration10:20:17.110:19:11.566°30.6'N071°20.0'E 33.5° 233.2° 236.1 km02m27.18s

Explanation of Greatest Eclipse and Greatest Duration

Polynomial Besselian Elements: Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Polynomial Besselian Elements
2008 Aug 01 at 10:00:00.0 TD (=t0)
n x y d l1 l2 μ
0 0.10176 0.85063 17.8675 0.53825 -0.00787 328.4258
1 0.52858 -0.20252 -0.0101 0.00011 0.00011 15.0020
2 -0.00006 -0.00015 -0.0000 -0.00001 -0.00001 0.0000
3 -0.00001 0.00000 - - - -
Tan ƒ1 0.0046065
Tan ƒ2 0.0045836

At time t1 (decimal hours), each besselian element is evaluated by:

x = x0 + x1*t + x2*t2 + x3*t3 (or x = Σ [xn*tn]; n = 0 to 3)

where: t = t1 - t0 (decimal hours) and t0 = 10.000

Explanation of Polynomial Besselian Elements

Eclipse Publications

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For more visit: AstroPixels Publishing

Links for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01

Links to Additional Solar Eclipse Information

  • Home - home page of EclipseWise with predictions for both solar and lunar eclipses

Decade Tables of Solar Eclipses:
| 1901 - 1910 | 1911 - 1919 | 1921 - 1930 | 1931 - 1940 | 1941 - 1950 |
| 1951 - 1960 | 1961 - 1970 | 1971 - 1980 | 1981 - 1990 | 1991 - 2000 |
| 2001 - 2010 | 2011 - 2020 | 2021 - 2030 | 2031 - 2040 | 2041 - 2050 |
| 2051 - 2060 | 2061 - 2070 | 2071 - 2080 | 2081 - 2090 | 2091 - 2100 |

Solar Eclipse Publications

Eclipse Publications

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jpeg jpeg
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For more visit: AstroPixels Publishing

Eclipse Predictions

Predictions for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 Aug 01 were generated using the JPL DE405 solar and lunar ephemerides. The lunar coordinates were calculated with respect to the Moon's Center of Mass. The predictions are given in both Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TD) and Universal Time (UT1). The parameter ΔT is used to convert between these two times (i.e., UT1 = TD - ΔT). ΔT has a value of 65.6 seconds for this eclipse.

Acknowledgments

Some of the content on this website is based on the books 21st Century Canon of Solar Eclipses and Thousand Year Canon of Solar Eclipses 1501 to 2500. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy.

Permission is granted to reproduce eclipse data when accompanied by a link to this page and an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, www.EclipseWise.com"

The use of diagrams and maps is permitted provided that they are NOT altered (except for re-sizing) and the embedded credit line is NOT removed or concealed.