Eclipses

■ There will be six eclipses in 2009, two of the Sun and four of the Moon. Solar eclipses are visible only in certain areas and require eye protection to be viewed safely. Lunar eclipses are technically visible from the entire night side of Earth, but during a penumbral eclipse, the dimming of the Moon’s illumination is slight.

Solar eclipse Lunar eclipse PENUMBRA _PENUMBRA UMBRA

SUN SUN EARTH UMBRA MOON

EARTH

PENUMBRA

MOON’S ORBIT

JANUARY 26: Annular eclipse of the Sun. This eclipse will not be visible from North America. FEBRUARY 9: Penumbral eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse will be fully visible from Alaska and Hawaii. The Moon enters penumbra at 3: 37 A.M. AKST (2: 37 A. M. HAS T) and leaves penumbra at 7: 40 A.M. AKST (6: 40 A.M. HAST). This eclipse will also be seen from western and central parts of North America as the Moon sets. See page 118 for Moon set times. JULY 7: Penumbral eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse will be fully visible from western and central parts of North America as well as Alaska and Hawaii. The Moon enters penumbra at 1: 33 A.M. PDT and leaves penumbra at 3: 44 A.M. PDT. The eclipse will be visible from the East Coast as the Moon sets. See page 128 for Moon set times.

JULY 21–22: Total eclipse of the Sun. This eclipse will not be visible from North America. However, a very small partial eclipse of the Sun will be visible from Hawaii on July 21 at around 5: 49 P.M. HAST. (The total eclipse will be visible from India and China. The maximum duration of totality will be 6. 7 minutes, making this the longest total eclipse that will occur in the 21st century.) AUGUS T 5: Penumbral eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse will be observable from eastern and

l-Moon (Easte me)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Jan. 10 30 19 9 26

Feb. 9 28 18 7 25

Mar. 10 29 19 8 27

Apr. 9 28 17 6 25

May 9 27 17 5 25

June 7 26 15 4 23

July 7 25 15 3 22

Aug. 5 24 13 1& 31 20

Sept. 4 23 12 29 19

Oct. 4 22 11 29 18

Nov. 2 21 10 28 17

Dec. 2& 31 21 10 28 17

central North America during moonrise. The Moon enters penumbra at 7:01 P.M. EDT and leaves it at 10: 17 P.M. EDT.

DECEMBER 31: Partial eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse will be fully observable from northern Alaska. The Moon enters penumbra at 8: 15 A.M. AKST and leaves penumbra at 12: 30 P.M. AKST. (Note: The Moon sets in Anchorage at 10: 38 A.M. AKST.) The eclipse will be partially visible from eastern and western areas of Canada and northeastern United States.

YEAR 2010 2012 2015

July 11 . . . . . . . . . South Pacific Ocean, southern South America November 13 . . . . Northern Australia, South Pacific Ocean March 20 . . . . . . . North Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian Sea