A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, January 4, 2011, with a magnitude of 0.8576. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
This was the first of four partial solar eclipses in 2011, with the others occurring on June 1, July 1, and November 25.
The greatest eclipse occurred at 08:51 UTC in northern Sweden. At that time, the axis of the Moon's shadow passed a mere 510 km above Earth's surface.
The eclipse was visible near sunrise over most of Europe before moving over central Asia. It ended at sunset over east Asia. It was visible as a minor partial eclipse over north Africa and the Middle East.
Images
Animated path
Eclipse details
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Eclipses in 2011
- A partial solar eclipse on January 4.
- A partial solar eclipse on June 1.
- A total lunar eclipse on June 15.
- A partial solar eclipse on July 1.
- A partial solar eclipse on November 25.
- A total lunar eclipse on December 10.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 23, 2014
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 2003
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 15, 2018
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 2001
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 10, 2020
Tritos
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 2000
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 2021
Solar Saros 151
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1992
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 2029
Inex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1982
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 15, 2039
Triad
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1924
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 4, 2097
Solar eclipses of 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.
The partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011 and November 25, 2011 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 151
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 151, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 14, 1776. It contains annular eclipses from February 28, 2101 through April 23, 2191; a hybrid eclipse on May 4, 2209; and total eclipses from May 16, 2227 through July 5, 2912. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on October 1, 3056. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 19 at 2 minutes, 44 seconds on February 28, 2101, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 60 at 5 minutes, 41 seconds on May 22, 2840. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Metonic series
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 ascending node.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.