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Total Solar Eclipse of 2003 November 23

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On Sunday, 2003 November 23, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses the far Southern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in the Indian Ocean, and quickly sweeps over portions of Antarctica. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of Australia and New Zealand, southernmost South America, and all of Antarctica.
2003 Total Solar Eclipse Global Map

This web site has been established for the purpose of providing detailed predictions, maps, figures and information about this important event. The material here is adapted from the NASA Technical Publication "Annular and Total Solar Eclipses of 2003" (NASA/TP-2002-211618). This publication was published in 2002 November and is now available for distribution. It is part of NASA's official eclipse bulletin publication series. Instructions and a form for ordering a hard copy of this publication can be found at:

Order Form for NASA Eclipse Bulletins

For a brief report on this event, see Eclipses During 2003.

Additional and supplemental material for the 2003 eclipse will be published here in the coming months. 






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Description of Eclipse Maps and Tables



The following links give detailed descriptions and explanations of the 2003 total eclipse maps, tables and predictions.











This information is adapted from NASA Technical Publication 
"Annular and Total Solar Eclipses of 2003" (NASA/TP-2002-211618).













General Maps of the Path of Totality




The following maps show the overall regions of visibility of the partial eclipse as well as the path of the total eclipse through Antarctica. 
They use high resolution coastline data from the World Data Base II (WDB). Each map was chosen to isolate a specific region along the land portion of the eclipse path. Curves of maximum eclipse are included as well as the outline of the umbral shadow. Current Antarctica research stations are plotted to show their positions with respect to the path of totality.


Each map is available in two resolutions: 'Low' (web resolution) and 'High' (300 dpi print resolution). You may need to set your printer to 25% reduction in order to print 'High' resolution figures on a single page.









 Figure 
 Number 		 Title/Description 
 Low 
 Resolution 		 High 
 Resolution



 Figure 2.1 
 Orthographic (Global) Map of 2003 Total Solar Eclipse 
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 High 

 

 Figure 2.2 
 Stereographic Map of 2003 Total Solar Eclipse
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 Figure 2.3 
 2003 Total Eclipse Path Through Antarctica
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These figures are adapted from 
NASA Technical Publication "Annular and Total Eclipses of 2003".












Eclipses Elements, Shadow Contacts and Path of Totality



The following tables give detailed predictions including the Besselian Elements, shadow contacts with Earth, path of the umbral shadow and topocentric data (with path corrections) along the path.
Also included are special extended version tables of path coordinates and graze zones in formats convenient for plotting on maps.









 Figure 
 Number 		 Title/Description 
 Low 
 Resolution 		 High 
 Resolution



 Figure 2.4 
 Lunar Limb Profile for November 23 at 22:40 UT 
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 Figure 2.5 
 Sky During Totality as Seen From Central Line at 22:40 UT 
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Local Circumstances for the Eclipse from Various Cities



The following tables give detailed local circumstances for ~140 cities and locations in Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and South America. These tables give the local circumstances at each contact and at maximum eclipse for every location. The coordinates are listed along with the location's elevation (meters) above sea-level, if known. The Universal Time of each contact is given to a tenth of a second, along with position angles P and V and the altitude of the Sun. The position angles identify the point along the Sun's disk where each contact occurs and are measured counter-clockwise (i.e., eastward) from the north and zenith points, respectively. Locations outside the umbral path miss the umbral eclipse and only witness first and fourth contacts. 




















Weather Prospects for Total Eclipse



The following links give detailed information about the weather prospects for the 2003 total solar eclipse.














 Figure 
 Number 		 Title/Description 
 Low 
 Resolution 		 High 
 Resolution



 Figure 2.6 
 Cloud Satistics for Three Stations 
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This information is adapted from NASA Technical Publication 
"Annular and Total Solar Eclipses of 2003" (NASA/TP-2002-211618).









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Links to other Web Sites for the 2003 Total Eclipse








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Live Web Coverage of the 2003 Total Eclipse





In November 2003, links will appear which will provide live web coverage of the eclipse (if any are available).








Reproduction of Eclipse Data







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Permission is freely granted to reproduce this information and data when accompanied by an acknowledgment of the source:


"Eclipse predictions (maps) courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC"




If you have comments, suggestions, corrections and/or additions, please send them 
(along with the URL address of this page) to   Fred Espenak 


Special thanks to National Space Club summer intern Lauren Williams for her valuable assistance in preparing this web page.  (July 2003)





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NASA logo

Eclipse Predictions & WebMaster: Fred Espenak 

e-mail:  espenak@gsfc.nasa.gov 

Official NASA Representative: Dr. Drake Deming

e-mail:  drake@tecate.gsfc.nasa.gov

Planetary Systems Branch - Code 693

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA



Last revised: 2003 July 17 - F. Espenak