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 at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on July 22, 2009,^[1]^[2]^[3] with a magnitude of 1.07991. It was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century with totality lasting a maximum of 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia,^[4] causing tourist interest in eastern China, Pakistan, Japan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Its greatest magnitude was 1.07991, occurring only 6 hours, 18 minutes after perigee.

Eclipse season

This was the second eclipse for the mid-2009 eclipse season, with the first having been the July 2009 lunar eclipse. The third eclipse of the season was the August 2009 lunar eclipse.^[4]^[5]^[6]

The solar eclipse was the 37th eclipse of the 136th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on June 14, 1360, and is expected to conclude with a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622.^{[citation needed]}

Visibility

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

The total eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the northern part of the Ryukyu Islands, the whole Volcano Islands except South Iwo Jima, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati.

Totality was visible in many large cities, including Dhaka and Dinajpur, and Chapai Nawabganj district in Bangladesh; Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Gaya, Siliguri, Tawang and Guwahati in India; and Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, Shanghai 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.^[7]^[8] According to NASA, the Japanese island Kitaio Jima was predicted to have the best viewing conditions^[9]^[10] 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 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.^[11]

This eclipse may be the most-viewed total solar eclipse in history, with 30 million people in Shanghai and Hangzhou alone.^[12]

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.^[13]

Indian scientists observed the solar eclipse from an Indian Air Force plane.^[14]

The Chinese government used the opportunity to provide scientific education and to dispel any superstition. A flight by China Eastern Airlines from Wuhan to Shanghai took a slight detour and followed the course of the eclipse to allow longer observation time for the scientists on board.

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.

In Bangladesh, where the eclipse lasted approximately 3 minutes and 44 seconds, thousands of people were able to witness the eclipse despite rain and overcast skies.

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 (Saros 139, ascending node) which will last for 6 minutes and 55 seconds. Totality lasted for up to 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds (0.14 seconds shorter than 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.^[15]

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, descending node, as was the solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, which was slightly longer, lasting up to 6 minutes 53.08 seconds (previous eclipses of the same saros series on June 30, 1973, and June 20, 1955, were longer, lasting 7 min 03.55 and 7 min 07.74, respectively). The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027 (6 minutes and 22.64 seconds).^[16] The exceptional duration was a result of the Moon being near perigee, with the apparent diameter of the Moon 7.991% larger than the Sun (magnitude 1.07991) and the Earth being near aphelion^[17] where the Sun appeared slightly smaller.

In contrast the annular solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 (Saros 131, ascending node) occurred 3.3 days after lunar apogee and 7.175% smaller apparent diameter to the sun. And the next solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 (Saros 141, ascending node) was also annular, 1.8 days before lunar apogee, with the Moon 8.097% smaller than the Sun.

Photo gallery

Totality

Totality from Varanasi, India
Diamond ring effect in Kurigram District, Bangladesh
Totality from Panchagarh District, Bangladesh
Totality from Thimphu, Bhutan
Diamond ring effect in Chongqing, China
Totality from Hangzhou, China
Totality from Wuzhen, China
Diamond ring effect in Kikaijima, Japan

Partial

Partial from New Delhi, India
Partial from Kolkata, India
Partial from Kharagpur, India
Eclipse progression from Wuhan, China
Partial from Beijing, China
Partial from Tianjin, China
Partial from Sheung Shui, Hong Kong
Partial from Quezon City, Philippines
Partial from Makati City, Philippines
Partial from Taichung, Taiwan
Partial from Incheon, South Korea
Partial from Miyazaki City, Japan
Partial from Honolulu, HI

View from space

The Terrain Mapping Camera in the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission was used to image the earth during the eclipse.^[18]

It was also observed by the Japanese geostationary satellite MTSAT:^[19]

12:30 UT (pre-eclipse)	1:30 UT	Close up at 1:30 UT

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2009

An annular solar eclipse on January 26.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 9.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 7.
A total solar eclipse on July 22.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 6.
A partial lunar eclipse on December 31.

This total eclipse was 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.^[20]

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.^[21]

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