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. Occurring about 2.4 days after perigee (on July 30, 2008, at 0:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
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. A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including northern Canada, Greenland, and most of Europe and Asia.
The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) larger than the annular solar eclipse of February 7, 2008.
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."
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°39′N 72°18′E / 65.650°N 72.300°E (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.
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 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
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 126
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810; hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864; and total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. 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 was produced by member 11 at 6 minutes, 30 seconds on June 26, 1359, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 45 at 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending 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 descending 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.