Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010

Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010
Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010
	Totality from Hao, French Polynesia
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	−0.6788
Magnitude	1.058
Maximum eclipse
Duration	320 s (5 min 20 s)
Coordinates	19°42′S 121°54′W / 19.7°S 121.9°W
Max. width of band	259 km (161 mi)
Times (UTC)
(P1) Partial begin	17:09:41
(U1) Total begin	18:15:15
Greatest eclipse	19:34:38
(U4) Total end	20:51:42
(P4) Partial end	21:57:16
References
Saros	146 (27 of 76)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9530

The total solar eclipse of July 11, 2010 occurred over the southern Pacific Ocean.^[1]^[2]^[3] 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. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.

Visibility[edit]

Animated map of the eclipse's visibility over the southern Pacific Ocean

The eclipse on this day was one of the most remote in recorded history. It was visible over much of the southern Pacific Ocean, touching several atolls in French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Easter Island, and Argentina's Patagonian plains.^[4]

Fred Espenak, a NASA astrophysicist, said:

"One of the most unique things about this particular eclipse is that it crosses a unique and interesting archaeological site: Easter Island. On Easter Island there are these great statues... There's a lot of mystery about these statues, but in any case, this is the first total eclipse to hit the island in about 1,400 years."^[5]

In French Polynesia, the eclipse was seen with 98 percent totality. During that time, the diamond ring effect and the Baily's beads occurred.

It ended at sunset over the southern tips of Argentina and Chile in South America, including the town of El Calafate. The Sun's altitude was only 1° during the 2 minute 47 second total phase, but Argentino Lake offered an adequate line-of-sight to the eclipse hanging just above the rugged Andes skyline.^[1]

A 58% partiality occurred at sunset in Santiago, Chile, but it was not visible due to adverse weather conditions. In other cities such as Valparaíso and Coquimbo, clearer skies permitted the event to be witnessed in continental Chile.

Observations[edit]

Total eclipse began 750 kilometers (470 mi) southeast of Tonga at approximately 18:15 UTC and reached Easter Island by 20:11 UTC.^[6] The global sky photography project The World At Night stationed photographers throughout the eclipse's visibility track. Eclipse chasers photographed the event on board a chartered airplane,^[7] cruise ships, numerous Pacific islands, and in Argentina's Patagonia region. Totality was observed for four minutes and 41 seconds (4:41) on Easter Island,^[4] where it was observed for the first time in 1,400 years.^[8] Approximately 4,000 observers visited Easter Island for this eclipse, including tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists,^[9] prompting an increase in security at its important moai archeological sites. The eclipse occurred at the same time that the final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was being played in South Africa, and many soccer fans in Tahiti watched the match instead of observing the partial eclipse with a high percentage of obscuring the sun by over 98%.^[6]^[10] The path of totality of this eclipse barely missed some significant inhabited islands, including passing just about 20 km north of the northern end of Tahiti.^{[citation needed]}

This eclipse was the first one to happen over French Polynesia in 350 years. An estimated 5,000 tourists visited various islands in the archipelago to observe the event. Nearly 120,000 pairs of special glasses were distributed for observers.^[11] Eclipse chasers were also able to observe the eclipse at El Calafate, near the southern tip of Argentina, before the sun set just two minutes later.^[4]

Several hours after the eclipse was observed in continental Chile, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in the Antofagasta Region. There were no major injuries or damage in the nearby cities of Calama, Chile and San Pedro de Atacama.^[12]

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses of 2010[edit]

Eclipses cycles[edit]

It was preceded two weeks earlier by the partial lunar eclipse on June 26, 2010.
In Saros cycle 146, this eclipse repeats every 18 years 11 days, previously on total solar eclipse of June 30, 1992 and next on total solar eclipse of July 22, 2028.
In a tzolkinex cycle, it repeats every 7 years 1 month 1 days, previous as the annular solar eclipse of May 31, 2003 and followed by the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.
In a tritos cycle, it repeats every 10 years 11 months, previous as the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 and followed by the annular solar eclipse of June 10, 2021.
In an inex cycle, it repeats every 29 years minus 20 days, previous as the total solar eclipse of July 31, 1981 and followed by the annular solar eclipse of June 21, 2039.
The next total solar eclipse will occur on November 13, 2012. The path of totality ends about 500 km west of Chile but the eclipse will be partial on sundown from the coast, and 2000 km east of New Zealand.

Solar eclipses 2008–2011[edit]

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.^[13]

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 146[edit]

It is a part of Saros cycle 146, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 76 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on September 19, 1541. It contains total eclipses from May 29, 1938, through October 7, 2154, hybrid eclipses from October 17, 2172, through November 20, 2226, and annular eclipses from December 1, 2244, through August 10, 2659. The series ends at member 76 as a partial eclipse on December 29, 2893. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 21 seconds on June 30, 1992.

Series members 21-37 occur between 1901 and 2200:
21	22	23
May 7, 1902	May 18, 1920	May 29, 1938
24	25	26
June 8, 1956	June 20, 1974	June 30, 1992
27	28	29
July 11, 2010	July 22, 2028	August 2, 2046
30	31	32
August 12, 2064	August 24, 2082	September 4, 2100
33	34	35
September 15, 2118	September 26, 2136	October 7, 2154
36	37
October 17, 2172	October 29, 2190

Metonic series[edit]

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 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029
July 10–12	April 29–30	February 15–16	December 4–5	September 21–23
116	118	120	122	124
July 11, 1953	April 30, 1957	February 15, 1961	December 4, 1964	September 22, 1968
126	128	130	132	134
July 10, 1972	April 29, 1976	February 16, 1980	December 4, 1983	September 23, 1987
136	138	140	142	144
July 11, 1991	April 29, 1995	February 16, 1999	December 4, 2002	September 22, 2006
146	148	150	152	154
July 11, 2010	April 29, 2014	February 15, 2018	December 4, 2021	September 21, 2025
156	158	160	162	164
July 11, 2029