Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29

On Wednesday, 2006 March 29, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia.

2006 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 "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762). The document was published in 2004 November and is now available for distribution in hard copy and as either a low resolution (5 MB) or high resolution (27 MB) PDF file . 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.

NASA Goddard's Solar Data Analysis Center has made the complete 2006 total eclipse bulletin available online as a series of separate web pages, figures and tables. The link to the main page is: Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29 .

Additional and supplemental material for the 2006 eclipse will be published here in the coming months.

SED Eclipse button
NASA Sun-Earth Day 2006 - Eclipse, in a Different Light

General Maps of the Eclipse Path

The following maps show the overall regions of visibility of the partial eclipse as well as the path of the total eclipse through Africa and Asia. 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.

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 1 Orthographic (Global) Map of 2006 Total Solar Eclipse Low High
Figure 2 Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Africa Low High
Figure 3 Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Asia Low High
Figure 4 Detailed Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Africa Low High
Figure 5 Detailed Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Asia Low High

Adapted from NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762).

Detailed Maps of the Path of Totality

The following maps show path of the 2006 total eclipse in greater detail. They use high resolution coastline, city and highway data from the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). 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. Within the umbral path, curves of constant duration have been plotted for 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 7 Ghana and Togo Low High
Figure 8 Benin and Nigeria Low High
Figure 9 Nigeria and Niger Low High
Figure 10 Niger Low High
Figure 11 Niger, Chad and Libya Low High
Figure 12 Libya and Egypt Low High
Figure 13 Southern Turkey Low High
Figure 14 Northern Turkey Low High
Figure 15 Georgia and the Caucasus Low High
Figure 16 Kazakhstan - Caspian Sea Low High
Figure 17 Central Kazakhstan Low High
Figure 18 Eastern Kazakhstan Low High
Figure 19 Russia and Mongolia Low High

Adapted from NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762).

Interactive Map of the Path of Totality

An implementation of Google Map has been created which includes the central path of the 2006 total solar eclipse. This allows the user to sellect any portion of the path and to zoom in using either map data or Earth satellite data.

Eclipse 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.

Local Circumstances

The following tables give the local circumstances of the eclipse from various cities throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. These tables have a lot of columns and, consequently, are quite wide. To print them, set the paper orientation of your printer to "landscape" and set the scale to about 60%. All contact times are given in the tables are in Universal Time.

Additional Tables

Additional Figures

Figure
Number		 Title/Description Low
Resolution		 High
Resolution
Figure 20 Lunar Limb Profile for March 29 at 10:30 UT Low High
Figure 24 Sky During Totality: Central Line at 10:30 UT Low High

Adapted from NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762).

Live Web Coverage of the 2006 Total Eclipse

In February 2006, links will appear which will provide live web coverage of the eclipse (if any are available).

Reproduction of Eclipse Data

All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC"

For more information, see: NASA Copyright Information

2008 Mar 21