Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009

Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009
Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009
	Totality from Kurigram District, Bangladesh
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.0698
Magnitude	1.0799
Maximum eclipse
Duration	399 s (6 min 39 s)
Coordinates	24°12′N 144°06′E / 24.2°N 144.1°E
Max. width of band	258 km (160 mi)
Times (UTC)
(P1) Partial begin	23:58:18
(U1) Total begin	0:51:16
Greatest eclipse	2:36:25
(U4) Total end	4:19:26
(P4) Partial end	5:12:25
References
Saros	136 (37 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9528

A total solar eclipse occurred on July 22, 2009. It was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century, not to be surpassed until 13 June 2132.^[1] It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia,^[2] causing tourist interest in eastern China, Japan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Visibility

A partial eclipse was seen within the broad path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.

The total eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern Pakistan, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern Philippines, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including northern part of the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati.

Totality was visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Gaya, Dinajpur, Siliguri, Guwahati, Tawang in India and Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, Shanghai, Chapai Nawabganj as well as over the Three Gorges Dam in China. However, in Shanghai, the largest city in the eclipse's path, the view was obscured by heavy clouds.^[5]^[6] According to NASA, the Japanese island Kitaio Jima was predicted to have the best viewing conditions^[7]^[8] featuring both longer viewing time (being the closest point of land to the point of greatest eclipse) and lower cloud cover statistics than all of continental Asia. The Indian city of Varanasi had similar conditions to those in Kitaio Jima; although the eclipse was the longest there than anywhere else.^[9]

The eclipse, and the reaction of thousands of observers at Varanasi was captured by the Science Channel Wonders of the Universe series hosted by Brian Cox.^[10]

Observations

Thousands of pilgrims gathered on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India to experience the eclipse as a religious or spiritual event. Some people expected that there would be a relationship, either positive or negative, between their health and the occurrence of the eclipse.^[11]

Indian scientists observed the solar eclipse from an Indian Air Force plane.^[12]

The Chinese government used the opportunity to provide scientific education and to dispel any superstition. Observers in Japan were excited by the prospect of experiencing the first eclipse in 46 years, but found the experience dampened by cloudy skies obscuring the view.

Thousands of people of Bangladesh witnessed the longest total solar eclipses of the 21st century on Wednesday, 22 July 2009 defying rain and a heavily overcast sky. Before this a "total solar eclipse observation committee" was formed with Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, Liberation War Museum, Chhayanaut's educational initiative Nalanda, Samannito Shikkha-Sangskriti, Bangladesh Nature Study and Conservation Union, and Cosmic Culture to observe the eclipse. Science initiative Discussion Project coordinated the committee, which set up the main observation camp at Madhupara village and another at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in Dhaka. With the help of BRB Cable Industries Ltd, the committee also set up observation camps at Bell's Park in Barisal, Akimuddin Gronthagar in Chapai Nawabganj, science and technology university campuses in Syedpur and Gazipur, Jahangirnagar University and Araj Ali Matubbar library at Dania in Dhaka.^[13]^[14]^[15] Akimudin Gronthagar arranged three camps to observe century's one and only solar eclipse of July 22, 2009. 99.56% totality was observed from main camp at Kamat Maath, Binodpur, Chapai Nawabganj. Totality started at 07:57:41BDT and end 3 minutes 44 seconds later. The other two camps were set up at Poddar Paar in Rajshahi and at railway's Dhar in Uttar, Dhaka. A good report with pictures on TSE 2009 can be found at [1] under the TSE 2009 section.

Duration

These identically scaled photos compare the apparent diameter of the full moon (near apogee) to the nearly new moon (visible by earthshine) on the day before the solar eclipse near lunar perigee.

This solar eclipse was the longest total solar eclipse to occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassed in duration until 13 June 2132. Totality lasted for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island was the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point was Akusekijima, where the eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 26 seconds.^[16]

The cruise ship Costa Classica was chartered specifically to view this eclipse and by viewing the eclipse at the point of maximum duration and cruising along the centerline during the event, duration was extended to 6 minutes, 42 seconds.

The eclipse was part of Saros series 136, as was the solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, which was slightly longer, lasting up to 6 minutes 53 seconds (previous eclipses of the same saros series on June 30, 1973 and June 20, 1955, were longer, lasting 7 min 04 and 7 min 08, respectively). The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027.^[17] The exceptional duration was a result of the Moon being near perigee, with the apparent diameter of the Moon 8% larger than the Sun (magnitude 1.080) and the Earth being near aphelion^[18] where the Sun appeared slightly smaller.

In contrast the annular solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 occurred near lunar apogee and 7% smaller apparent diameter to the sun. And the next solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 was also annular, with the Moon 8.1% smaller than the Sun.

Photos

Partial eclipse

View from space

The Terrain Mapping Camera in the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission was used to image the earth during the eclipse.^[19]

It was also observed by the Japanese geostationary satellite MTSAT:^[20]

File:July 22, 2009 Total Eclipse 8,30 a.m. Taiwan.jpg 12:30 UT (pre-eclipse)	File:July 22, 2009 Total Eclipse 9,30 a.m. Taiwan.jpg 1:30 UT	Close up at 1:30 UT

Related eclipses

This total eclipse the second in the series of three eclipses in a one-month period, with two minor penumbral lunar eclipses, first on July 7 and last on August 6.

Solar eclipses 2008–2011

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.^[21]

Solar eclipse series sets from 2008 to 2011
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
Ascending node			Descending node
121 Partial from Christchurch, NZ	2008 February 07 Annular	−0.95701	126 Novosibirsk, Russia	2008 August 01 Total	0.83070
131 Palangka Raya, Indonesia	2009 January 26 Annular	−0.28197	136 Kurigram, Bangladesh	2009 July 22 Total	0.06977
141 Bangui, Central African Republic	2010 January 15 Annular	0.40016	146 Hao, French Polynesia	2010 July 11 Total	−0.67877
151 Partial from Vienna, Austria	2011 January 04 Partial (north)	1.06265	156	2011 July 01 Partial (south)	−1.49171

Partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011, and November 25, 2011, occur on the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros series

Solar Saros 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on June 14, 1360, and reached a first annular eclipse on September 8, 1504. It was a hybrid event from November 22, 1612, through January 17, 1703, and total eclipses from January 27, 1721, through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622, with the entire series lasting 1262 years. The longest eclipse occurred on June 20, 1955, with a maximum duration of totality at 7 minutes, 7.74 seconds. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon's descending node.^[22]

Series members 29–43 occur between 1865 and 2117
29	30	31
Apr 25, 1865	May 6, 1883	May 18, 1901
32	33	34
May 29, 1919	Jun 8, 1937	Jun 20, 1955
35	36	37
Jun 30, 1973	Jul 11, 1991	Jul 22, 2009
38	39	40
Aug 2, 2027	Aug 12, 2045	Aug 24, 2063
41	42	43
Sep 3, 2081	Sep 14, 2099	Sep 26, 2117

Metonic cycle

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 descending node.

21 events between July 22, 1971 and July 22, 2047
July 21–22	May 9–11	February 26–27	December 14–15	October 2–3
116	118	120	122	124
July 22, 1971	May 11, 1975	February 26, 1979	December 15, 1982	October 3, 1986
126	128	130	132	134
July 22, 1990	May 10, 1994	February 26, 1998	December 14, 2001	October 3, 2005
136	138	140	142	144
July 22, 2009	May 10, 2013	February 26, 2017	December 14, 2020	October 2, 2024
146	148	150	152	154
July 22, 2028	May 9, 2032	February 27, 2036	December 15, 2039	October 3, 2043
156
July 22, 2047