Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008
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An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on February 7, 2008.[1] 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. Occurring 7 days after apogee (January 31, 2008) and 6.9 days before perigee (February 14, 2008), the Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter.
Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | −0.957 |
Magnitude | 0.965 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 132 s (2 min 12 s) |
Coordinates | 67.6°S 150.5°W / -67.6; -150.5 |
Max. width of band | 444 km (276 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 3:56:10 |
References | |
Saros | 121 (60 of 71) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9525 |
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.
This was the first eclipse of the eclipse season, the second being the February 2008 lunar eclipse.