Solar eclipse of June 10, 2002

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Monday, June 10 and Tuesday, June 11, 2002, with a magnitude of 0.9962. 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. Annularity was visible in Indonesia, Palau (Kayangel Atoll), Northern Mariana on June 11 (Tuesday), and the western tip of Jalisco, Mexico, on June 10 (Monday). This eclipse was during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The closest apogee occurred on June 4, 2002. It was the first annular solar eclipse visible in the Pacific in 6 months.

It was partially visible in some areas of the United States; in Ventura, in southern California, some observation stations were set up for public viewing. In Palm Desert, in the Coachella Valley, it was clearly visible, and it "got dark, it got cool, and it got eerie". A "solar eclipse party" in Fresno drew around 400 attendees, and as far north as Napa Valley, dozens of people went outside to watch the eclipse., and it was visible in Utah. Canada's National Post predicted a "substantial crowd" for Vancouver, despite the eclipse there being less than 60%; even in Victoria, where the eclipse was as low as 30%, dozens attended a show at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.

Observations
During this eclipse, the apex of the moon's umbral cone was close to the Earth's surface, and the magnitude was large. The edges of the moon and the sun were close to each other as seen from the Earth. Baily's beads on the lunar limb, which are usually only visible during a total solar eclipse, could also be seen. Since the path of annularity was mostly on the sea and covered very little land, and the Maluku sectarian conflict prevented many observers from going to the Maluku Islands, Indonesia, observations were mainly concentrated in Palau, Northern Mariana Islands and Mexico. A Japanese team made a live webcast on Tinian Island. The local weather was clear at sunrise. The sun was completely covered by clouds 20 minutes before the maximum eclipse, but finally came out from the clouds shortly before the maximum. In Mexico，because the annular eclipse occurred shortly before sunrise and the solar zenith angle was extremely low on land, many people observed at sea off the ports including Puerto Vallarta. However, the eclipse was mostly clouded out due to the Tropical Storm Boris, and it even rained in some places. The sun only appeared occasionally.

Eclipses of 2002

 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 26.
 * An annular solar eclipse on June 10.
 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 24.
 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 20.
 * A total solar eclipse on December 4.

Metonic

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1998
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006

Tzolkinex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1995
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009

Half-Saros

 * Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 1993
 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 15, 2011

Tritos

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 10, 2013

Solar Saros 137

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1984
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2020

Inex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 21, 2031

Triad

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 10, 1915
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 10, 2089