Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, August 1, 2008, with a magnitude of 1.0394. 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. The eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. Visible north of the Arctic Circle, it belonged to the so-called midnight sun eclipses. The largest city in its path was Novosibirsk in Russia. The eclipse happened only $2 1/2$ days after the perigee that occurred on July 29, 2008, and the Moon's apparent diameter was larger than average.

The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) larger than the annular solar eclipse of February 7, 2008.

This was the first eclipse of the season, the second being the partial lunar eclipse of August 16, 2008.

The total eclipse lasted for 2 minutes 27 seconds, and covered 0.4% of the Earth's surface in a 10,200 km long path. It was the 47th eclipse of the 126th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on March 10, 1179, and will conclude with a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459.

A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including northeastern North America and most of Europe and Asia.

It was described by observers as "special for its colours around the horizon. There were wonderful oranges and reds all around, the clouds lit up, some dark in silhouette, some golden, glowing yellowy-orange in the distance. You could see the shadow approaching against the clouds and then rushing away as it left."

The moon's apparent diameter was larger because the eclipse was occurring only 58 hours, 56 minutes after perigee.

Start of eclipse: Canada and Greenland
Animated path

The eclipse began in the far north of Canada in Nunavut at 09:21 UT, the zone of totality being 206 km wide, and lasting for 1 minute 30 seconds. The path of the eclipse then headed north-east, crossing over northern Greenland and reaching the northernmost latitude of 83° 47′ at 09:38 UT before dipping down into Russia.

The path of totality touched the northeast corner of Kvitøya, an uninhabited Norwegian island in the Svalbard archipelago, at 09:47 UT.

Greatest eclipse: Russia
The eclipse reached the Russian mainland at 10:10 UT, with a path 232 km wide and a duration of 2 minutes 26 seconds. The greatest eclipse occurred shortly after, at 10:21:07 UT at coordinates 65.65°N, 72.3°W (close to Nadym), when the path was 237 km wide, and the duration was 2 minutes 27 seconds. Cities in the path of the total eclipse included Megion, Nizhnevartovsk, Strezhevoy, Novosibirsk and Barnaul. Around 10,000 tourists were present in Novosibirsk, the largest city to experience the eclipse. For Gorno-Altaysk the eclipse was the second consecutive total solar eclipse after the March 2006 eclipse.

Conclusion: Mongolia and China
The path of the eclipse then moved south-east, crossing into Mongolia and just clipping Kazakhstan at around 10:58 UT. The path here was 252 km wide, but the duration decreased to 2 minutes 10 seconds. The path then ran down the China-Mongolia border, ending in China at 11:18 UT, with an eclipse lasting 1 minute 27 seconds at sunset. The total eclipse finished at 11:21 UT. The total eclipse passed over Altay City, Hami and Jiuquan. Around 10,000 people were gathered to watch the eclipse in Hami.

Partial eclipse
A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the north east coast of North America and most of Europe and Asia. In London, England, the partial eclipse began at 09:33 BST, with a maximum eclipse of 12% at 10:18 BST, before concluding at 11:05 BST. At Edinburgh the partial eclipse was 23.5%, whilst it was 36% in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles.

LTU 1111
German charter airline LTU, now trading as Air Berlin, operated a special flight from Düsseldorf to the North Pole to observe the eclipse. Flight number LT 1111 spent over 11 hours in the air, returning to base at 6pm after flying a planeload of eclipse chasers, scientists, journalists and TV crews to watch the celestial event. The route also included a low-level sightseeing tour of Svalbard before the eclipse and the magnetic pole afterwards.

More details about the Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008.
Eclipse Magnitude: 1.03942

Eclipse Obscuration: 1.08040

Gamma: 0.83070

Greatest Eclipse: 2008 August 1 at 10:22:12.3 TD (10:21:06.7 UTC)

Sun right ascension: 8.8

Sun declination: 17.9

Sun diameter (arcseconds): 1891.0

Moon right ascension: 8.82

Moon declination: 18.6

Moon diameter (arcseconds): 1948.2

Delta T: 1 minute, 5.7 seconds

Saros series: 126th (47 of 72)

Eclipses of 2008

 * An annular solar eclipse on February 7.
 * A total lunar eclipse on February 21.
 * A total solar eclipse on August 1.
 * A partial lunar eclipse on August 16.

Metonic

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2004
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012

Tzolkinex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015

Half-Saros

 * Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 28, 1999
 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017

Tritos

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 2, 1997
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2019

Solar Saros 126

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026

Inex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1979
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 13, 2037

Triad

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 1, 1921
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 2, 2095