Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox solar eclipse A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 11, 1999,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0286. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the light 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 night. 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 3.5 days after perigee (on August 8, 1999, at 0:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

It was the first total eclipse visible from Europe since July 22, 1990, and the first visible in the United Kingdom since June 29, 1927.

The path of the Moon's shadow began in the Atlantic Ocean and was later traversing the southern United Kingdom and part of the British crown dependency Guernsey, northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, extreme northeastern tip of Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and northern FR Yugoslavia (Vojvodina). The eclipse's maximum was at 11:03 UTC at Template:Coord in Romania[3][4][5] and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, the northeastern tip of Syria, northern Iraq, Iran, southern Pakistan and Srikakulam in India and ended in the Bay of Bengal. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and China.

Observations

File:Film eclipse soleil 1999.jpg
The eclipse as seen from France

<mapframe width=300 height=250 text="Interactive map of the path of the Umbral Shadow"> { 

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} </mapframe> Because of the high population densities in areas of the path, this was one of the most-viewed total solar eclipses in human history;[6] although some areas in the path of totality (mainly in Western Europe) offered impaired visibility due to adverse weather conditions.

Some of the organized eclipse-watching parties along the path of totality set up video projectors on which people could watch the moon's shadow as it raced towards them.[7] There was substantial coverage on international TV stations of the progress of the eclipse shadow. The moon's shadow was also observed from the Russian Mir space station; during the eclipse, video from Mir was broadcast live on television.

  • The BBC concentrated its coverage efforts on the first landfall of the shadow across the western end of Cornwall (from St Ives to Lizard), which was packed with an extraordinary number of visitors, although Cornwall did not have nearly as many spectators as expected leading many organised events to host smaller audiences than anticipated. The veteran amateur astronomer, broadcaster and eclipse-watcher Patrick Moore was brought in to head a live programme, but the eclipse was clouded out. BBC One also produced a special version of their Balloon Idents for the event. The BBC did not have a presence at Goonhilly on the Lizard Peninsula, one of the few places in Cornwall where the clouds parted just in time for the total eclipse to be visible. There was extensive cloud in Perranporth which parted just in time, allowing the very large crowd that had filled the beach and hillsides to witness the event.
  • Some of the best viewing conditions were to be had mid-Channel, where ferries were halted in calm conditions to obtain an excellent view. Hundreds of people who gathered on the island of Alderney also experienced the event.
  • Also at sea, many of the Fastnet fleet contestants encountered totality crossing the Celtic Sea on their way to the Fastnet Rock.[8]
  • A gathering of several thousand people at the airport in Soissons, France, which was on the path of totality, were denied all but a few fleeting glimpses of the eclipse through the overcast sky. The clouds cleared completely just a few minutes after the eclipse.
  • In contrast, the overcast sky in Amiens, France, where thousands had gathered, cleared only minutes before the eclipse began.
  • Further inland, viewing conditions were also perfect at Vouziers, a French country town gridlocked by Belgian cars from day-visitors. The patchy cloud covering cleared a short time before the shadow arrived. Some photos from Vouziers were used on the subsequent BBC Sky at Night programme.
  • The San Francisco Exploratorium featured a live webcast from a crowded town square in Amasya, Turkey.
  • Doordarshan, the national TV channel in India, broadcast live coverage from Srikakulam, hosted by TV personality Mona Bhattacharya.
  • A Bulgarian Air Force MiG-21 two-seater was used by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to study the solar corona. The MiG-21, flying at 1600–1700 km/h (1000 to 1100 mph) (Mach 1.4-1.5) at an altitude of 13,000 metres (43,000 feet), was able to stay in the moon's umbra for 6 minutes. The photographer, an air force pilot, used two film cameras, both fitted with 200 mm lenses and infrared filters, and one Digital8 video camera.
  • Hungary's most popular tourist destination, Lake Balaton and its surrounding area, fell into the path of the eclipse entirely, which made the area even more popular for the day. The motorway leading to the city was so crowded that many people had to watch the eclipse while caught in a traffic jam.
  • One French and two British Concordes briefly followed the eclipse with tourists on board.[9]
  • The BBC was filming one of its episodes for the TV series Airport that day and, during the show, resident press officers Russell Clisby and Steve Meller took photographs of the eclipse at Heathrow Airport, as well as Aeroflot supervisor Jeremy Spake witnessing the eclipse on a special charter flight.
  • RTS, the national public broadcaster of Serbia, urged people to remain inside, citing dangers to public health. This caused the streets of all Serbian cities, towns and villages to be entirely deserted during the eclipse (97% of Serbs stayed inside), with many opting to watch it on TV instead.[10]
  • The BMJ, a month after the eclipse, reported only 14 cases of eye damage from improper viewing of the eclipse - a number lower than initially feared. In one of the most serious cases the patient had looked at the sun without eye protection for twenty minutes, but overall the public health campaign had succeeded.[11]

Gallery

Notable times and coordinates

File:SE1999Aug11T.gif
Animated path
File:ROL 2000 1999 reverse.jpg
Special 2,000 lei note made for the 1999 total eclipse of the Sun, showing the eclipse path over the map of Romania
Event Time (UTC) Coordinates[12]
1st penumbral contact with Earth's surface (P1) 08:26:17
1st external umbral contact (U1) 09:29:55 Template:Coord
2nd internal umbral contact (U2) 09:30:53 Template:Coord
Greatest eclipse 11:03:07 Template:Coord[13]
3rd internal umbral contact (U3) 12:35:33 Template:Coord
4th external umbral contact (U4) 12:36:26 Template:Coord
4th penumbral contact with Earth's surface (P4) 13:40:08

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.[14]

August 11, 1999 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1999 August 11 at 08:27:19.0 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1999 August 11 at 09:30:56.5 UTC
First Central Line 1999 August 11 at 09:31:25.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1999 August 11 at 09:31:54.4 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1999 August 11 at 10:52:16.8 UTC
Greatest Duration 1999 August 11 at 11:00:37.9 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1999 August 11 at 11:04:09.1 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1999 August 11 at 11:09:33.8 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1999 August 11 at 12:36:35.5 UTC
Last Central Line 1999 August 11 at 12:37:01.7 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1999 August 11 at 12:37:27.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1999 August 11 at 13:41:10.3 UTC
August 11, 1999 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.02860
Eclipse Obscuration 1.05802
Gamma 0.50623
Sun Right Ascension 09h23m08.3s
Sun Declination +15°19'39.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'46.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 09h23m34.5s
Moon Declination +15°48'38.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'00.3"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°58'44.3"
ΔT 63.7 s

Eclipse season

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". 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.

Eclipse season of July–August 1999
July 28
Descending node (full moon)
 August 11
Ascending node (new moon)
File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1999Jul28.png File:SE1999Aug11T.png
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 119		 Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 145

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1999

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 145

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1997–2000

Template:Solar eclipse set 1997–2000

Saros 145

Template:Solar Saros series 145

Metonic series

Template:Solar Metonic series 1935–2018

Tritos series

Template:Solar Tritos series 2010 July 11

Inex series

Template:Solar Inex series 2028 July 22

Popular culture

  • Sleeping Sun (1999), by the Finnish band Nightwish
  • Les Terriens (2000), French documentary directed by Ariane Doublet
  • Les Ensoleillés (2002), compilation of around twenty short stories based on the 1999 eclipse, written by Joël Egloff

See also

Notes

Template:Reflist

References

Template:Solar eclipse NASA reference Template:Sister project

Photos

Template:Solar eclipses Template:Portal bar

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Stavinschi, M., National Seminar" The total solar Eclipse of August 11, 1999. Interdisciplinary approach, Bucharest, October 15, 1998 in: Romanian Astron. J., vol.8, N.2, p.146 (1998)
  4. ↑ Scientific session " Eclipsa 99", Romanian Astronomical Journal, vol.9, N.1, p.103 (1999)
  5. ↑ Stavinschi, M., The maximum of the last eclipse of the Millenium was in Romania, Romanian Astronomical Journal, vol.9, N.2, p.109- 114, 1999
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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