Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003

Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003
Annular from Culloden, Scotland
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma0.996
Magnitude0.9384
Maximum eclipse
Duration217 s (3 min 37 s)
Coordinates66°36′N 24°30′W / 66.6°N 24.5°W / 66.6; -24.5
Max. width of band- km
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse4:09:22
References
Saros147 (22 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)9515

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 31, 2003,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9384. 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. Occurring about 2.6 days after apogee (on May 28, 2003, at 14:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

Annularity was visible across central Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Jan Mayen and northern Scotland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern Europe, North Asia, West Asia, Middle East, Alaska, Greenland, and northwestern Canada.

People from around the world traveled to see the eclipse from the small portion of Britain from which it could be seen, with the Independent saying: "A timely gap in the clouds was all it took to make the arduous journey to the northernmost reaches of Scotland worthwhile". In the village of Durness, the eclipse was observed by Patrick Moore and Brian May.[3] [4] However, viewing parties in Orkney saw "just another grey morning in the far north of Scotland".[5][6] In India, hundreds of thousands of Hindus carried out a tradition of bathing in sacred rivers during the eclipse, with queues as long as 3 mi (4.8 km).[6] A partial eclipse was observed in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including Greece.[7]

Animation
Animation

Images

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Eclipse details

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Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[8]

May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 01:47:21.0 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 03:45:50.6 UTC
First Central Line 2003 May 31 at 04:03:10.1 UTC
Greatest Duration 2003 May 31 at 04:08:58.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 2003 May 31 at 04:09:22.5 UTC
Last Central Line 2003 May 31 at 04:15:15.4 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 2003 May 31 at 04:20:57.2 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 04:32:33.6 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 2003 May 31 at 04:39:20.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 06:31:08.5 UTC
May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.93842
Eclipse Obscuration 0.88064
Gamma 0.99597
Sun Right Ascension 04h30m33.5s
Sun Declination +21°50'57.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'46.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 04h29m35.5s
Moon Declination +22°43'13.1"
Moon Semi-Diameter 14'48.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'19.3"
ΔT 64.5 s

Eclipse season

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See also: Eclipse cycle

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

Eclipse season of May 2003
May 16
Descending node (full moon)
 May 31
Ascending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 121		 Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 147
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Eclipses in 2003

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 147

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 2000–2003

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This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse 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.[9]

The partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
117 July 1, 2000

Partial 		−1.28214 122

Partial projection in Minneapolis, MN, USA 		December 25, 2000

Partial 		1.13669
127

Totality in Lusaka, Zambia 		June 21, 2001

Total 		−0.57013 132

Partial in Minneapolis, MN, USA 		December 14, 2001

Annular 		0.40885
137

Partial in Los Angeles, CA, USA 		June 10, 2002

Annular 		0.19933 142

Totality in Woomera, South Australia 		December 4, 2002

Total 		−0.30204
147

Annularity in Culloden, Scotland 		May 31, 2003

Annular 		0.99598 152
 November 23, 2003

Total 		−0.96381

Saros 147

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 147, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 12, 1624. It contains annular eclipses from May 31, 2003 through July 31, 2706. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 24, 3049. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 38 at 9 minutes, 41 seconds on November 21, 2291. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[10]

Series members 11–32 occur between 1801 and 2200:
11 12 13

January 30, 1805
February 11, 1823
February 21, 1841
14 15 16

March 4, 1859
March 15, 1877
March 26, 1895
17 18 19

April 6, 1913
April 18, 1931
April 28, 1949
20 21 22

May 9, 1967
May 19, 1985
May 31, 2003
23 24 25

June 10, 2021
June 21, 2039
July 1, 2057
26 27 28

July 13, 2075
July 23, 2093
August 4, 2111
29 30 31

August 15, 2129
August 26, 2147
September 5, 2165
32

September 16, 2183

Metonic series

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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). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.

22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018
January 4–5 October 23–24 August 10–12 May 30–31 March 18–19
111 113 115 117 119

January 5, 1935
August 12, 1942
May 30, 1946
March 18, 1950
121 123 125 127 129

January 5, 1954
October 23, 1957
August 11, 1961
May 30, 1965
March 18, 1969
131 133 135 137 139

January 4, 1973
October 23, 1976
August 10, 1980
May 30, 1984
March 18, 1988
141 143 145 147 149

January 4, 1992
October 24, 1995
August 11, 1999
May 31, 2003
March 19, 2007
151 153 155

January 4, 2011
October 23, 2014
August 11, 2018

Tritos series

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This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

The partial solar eclipses on December 18, 2188 (part of Saros 164) and November 18, 2199 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2134

December 10, 1806
(Saros 129)
November 9, 1817
(Saros 130)
October 9, 1828
(Saros 131)
September 7, 1839
(Saros 132)
August 7, 1850
(Saros 133)

July 8, 1861
(Saros 134)
June 6, 1872
(Saros 135)
May 6, 1883
(Saros 136)
April 6, 1894
(Saros 137)
March 6, 1905
(Saros 138)

February 3, 1916
(Saros 139)
January 3, 1927
(Saros 140)
December 2, 1937
(Saros 141)
November 1, 1948
(Saros 142)
October 2, 1959
(Saros 143)

August 31, 1970
(Saros 144)
July 31, 1981
(Saros 145)
June 30, 1992
(Saros 146)
May 31, 2003
(Saros 147)
April 29, 2014
(Saros 148)

March 29, 2025
(Saros 149)
February 27, 2036
(Saros 150)
January 26, 2047
(Saros 151)
December 26, 2057
(Saros 152)
November 24, 2068
(Saros 153)

October 24, 2079
(Saros 154)
September 23, 2090
(Saros 155)
August 24, 2101
(Saros 156)
July 23, 2112
(Saros 157)
June 23, 2123
(Saros 158)

May 23, 2134
(Saros 159)

Inex series

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This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

September 28, 1829
(Saros 141)
September 7, 1858
(Saros 142)
August 19, 1887
(Saros 143)

July 30, 1916
(Saros 144)
July 9, 1945
(Saros 145)
June 20, 1974
(Saros 146)

May 31, 2003
(Saros 147)
May 9, 2032
(Saros 148)
April 20, 2061
(Saros 149)

March 31, 2090
(Saros 150)
March 11, 2119
(Saros 151)
February 19, 2148
(Saros 152)

January 29, 2177
(Saros 153)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "May 31, 2003 Annular Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Circle of light that set the cash tills ringing". The Independent. London, Greater London, England. 2003-06-01. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-10-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Moon is a star for one day". The Observer. London, Greater London, England. 2003-06-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-10-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Great party, shame about the eclipse". The Observer. London, Greater London, England. 2003-06-01. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-10-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Eclipse draws watchers in north nations". Florida Today. 2003-06-01. p. 49. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Eclipse is partly sunny". Omaha World-Herald. 2003-06-01. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Annular Solar Eclipse of 2003 May 31". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  9. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  10. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 147". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solar eclipse of 2003 May 31.

Photos:

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