Eclipses of the Sun can only occur during the New Moon phase. It is then possible for the Moon's penumbral, umbral or antumbral shadows to sweep across Earth's surface thereby producing an eclipse. Not all New Moons result in a solar eclipse because the Moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees to Earth's about the Sun. Consequently, the Moon's shadows miss Earth at most New Moon's. Nevertheless, there are 2 to 5 solar eclipses every calendar year. There are four types of solar eclipses: partial, annular, total and hybrid[1]. For more information, see Basic Solar Eclipse Geometry.
During the 10 century period -2999 to -2000 ( 3000 BCE to 2001 BCE[2]), Earth experienced 2362 solar eclipses. The following table shows the number of eclipses of each type over this period.
| Solar Eclipses: -2999 - -2000 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 2362 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 841 | 35.6% |
| Annular | A | 806 | 34.1% |
| Total | T | 646 | 27.3% |
| Hybrid | H | 69 | 2.9% |
Annular and total eclipses can be further classified as either: 1) Central (two limits), 2) Central (one limit) or 3) Non-Central (one limit). The statistical distribution of these classes during the 21st century BCE appears in the following three tables (no Hybrids are included since all are central with two limits).
| Annular and Total Eclipses | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All | 1452 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 1409 | 97.0% |
| Central (one limit) | 22 | 1.5% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 21 | 1.4% |
| Annular Eclipses | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Annular Eclipses | 806 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 774 | 96.0% |
| Central (one limit) | 17 | 2.1% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 15 | 1.9% |
| Total Eclipses | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Total Eclipses | 646 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 635 | 98.3% |
| Central (one limit) | 5 | 0.8% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 6 | 0.9% |
The longest central[3] solar eclipses of this period are:
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -2230 May 17 Duration = 07m21s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -2000 Dec 16 Duration = 11m36s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -2954 Oct 06 Duration = 01m42s
Long Hybrid Solar Eclipses are relatively rare. The following catalog lists concise details and local circumstances for all Hybrid Solar Eclipses with durations exceeding 01m 00s. The Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipses contains a detailed description and explanation of each item listed in the catalog. For eclipses from -1999 to +3000, the Catalog Number in the first column serves as a link to a global map of Earth showing the geographic visibility of each eclipse. The date and time of the eclipse are given at the instant of greatest eclipse[4] in Terrestrial Dynamical Time. The Saros Number in the sixth column links to a table listing all eclipses in the Saros series. The Key to Solar Eclipse Maps explains the features plotted on each map.
The data presented here are based in part on the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.
TD of
Catalog Calendar Greatest Luna Saros Ecl. Ecl. Sun Sun Path Central
Number Date Eclipse ΔT Num Num Type Gamma Mag. Lat. Long. Alt Azm Width Dur.
s ° ° ° ° km
----- -2990 Mar 22 17:26:33 71379 -61716 -28 H 0.1473 1.0095 1.2S 142.8W 82 164 33 01m01s
----- -2990 Sep 14 21:06:11 71365 -61710 -23 H -0.1675 1.0160 3.5N 159.6E 80 15 55 01m38s
----- -2972 Sep 25 05:35:09 70830 -61487 -23 H -0.1768 1.0164 1.1S 29.3E 80 17 57 01m39s
----- -2954 Oct 06 14:12:24 70298 -61264 -23 H2 -0.1798 1.0172 5.6S 103.0W 80 18 60 01m42s
----- -2925 Sep 17 03:42:45 69448 -60906 -22 H 0.1852 1.0160 21.5N 60.0E 79 208 56 01m25s
----- -2888 Apr 02 11:06:43 68382 -60454 -17 H 0.3216 1.0118 11.6N 68.3W 71 150 43 01m07s
----- -2766 Aug 30 06:07:36 64870 -58940 -19 H -0.3642 1.0143 3.7S 4.5W 69 11 53 01m31s
----- -2729 Mar 16 15:01:44 63840 -58488 -14 H -0.2306 1.0141 23.8S 131.3W 77 343 50 01m24s
----- -2607 Aug 12 08:54:35 60449 -56974 -16 H 0.5154 1.0129 50.6N 47.5W 59 205 52 01m01s
----- -2570 Feb 26 18:40:24 59454 -56522 -11 H 0.1279 1.0151 9.5S 149.7E 83 157 52 01m29s
----- -2448 Jul 25 12:08:53 56183 -55008 -13 H -0.6537 1.0112 17.4S 128.0W 49 359 51 01m12s
----- -2421 Aug 26 05:18:48 55472 -54673 6 H -0.6532 1.0112 20.4S 42.7W 49 22 50 01m04s
----- -2411 Feb 08 21:57:28 55225 -54556 -8 H 0.0037 1.0154 20.4S 85.6E 90 163 53 01m35s
----- -2262 Aug 08 08:17:56 51389 -52707 9 H 0.5068 1.0130 52.1N 85.8W 59 188 52 01m04s
----- -2252 Jan 23 00:53:41 51151 -52590 -5 H -0.1481 1.0152 31.7S 25.5E 81 347 53 01m26s
----- -2112 Dec 24 19:00:15 47670 -50847 -2 H 0.3125 1.0096 5.4S 97.8E 72 191 35 01m01s
----- -2103 Jul 21 11:42:44 47462 -50741 12 H -0.3919 1.0140 0.8N 162.4W 67 9 52 01m32s
----- -2093 Jan 05 03:24:24 47234 -50624 -2 H 0.3247 1.0150 5.1S 30.3W 71 186 54 01m36s
The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used. For more information on this topic, see Calendar Dates. The Julian calendar does not include the year 0. Thus the year 1 BCE is followed by the year 1 CE (See: BCE/CE Dating Conventions ). This is awkward for arithmetic calculations. Years in this catalog are numbered astronomically and include the year 0. Historians should note there is a difference of one year between astronomical dates and BCE dates. Thus, the astronomical year 0 corresponds to 1 BCE, and astronomical year -1 corresponds to 2 BCE, etc..
The coordinates of the Sun used in these predictions are based on the VSOP87 theory [Bretagnon and Francou, 1988]. The Moon's coordinates are based on the ELP-2000/82 theory [Chapront-Touze and Chapront, 1983]. For more information, see: Solar and Lunar Ephemerides. The revised value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -25.858 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced from the Apollo lunar laser ranging experiment (Chapront, Chapront-Touze, and Francou, 2002).
The largest uncertainty in the eclipse predictions is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to tidal friction of the Moon. The resultant drift in apparent clock time is expressed as ΔT and is determined as follows:
A series of polynomial expressions have been derived to simplify the evaluation of ΔT for any time from -1999 to +3000. The uncertainty in ΔT over this period can be estimated from scatter in the measurements.
[1] Hybrid eclipses are also known as annular/total eclipses. Such an eclipse is both total and annular along different sections of its umbral path. (See: Five Millennium Catalog of Hybrid Solar Eclipses)
[2] The terms BCE and CE are abbreviations for "Before Common Era" and "Common Era," respectively. They are the secular equivalents to the BC and AD dating conventions. (See: Year Dating Conventions )
[3] Central solar eclipses are eclipses in which the central axis of the Moon's shadow strikes the Earth's surface. All partial (penumbral) eclipses are non-central eclipses since the shadow axis misses Earth. However, umbral eclipses (total, annular and hybrid) may be either central (usually) or non-central (rarely).
[4] Greatest eclipse is defined as the instant when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to the Earth's center. For total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is virtually identical to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration. However, for annular eclipses, the instant of greatest duration may occur at either the time of greatest eclipse or near the sunrise and sunset points of the eclipse path.
Special thanks to Dan McGlaun for extracting the individual eclipse maps from the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 for use in this catalog.
The Besselian elements used in the predictions were kindly provided by Jean Meeus. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data originally published in Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000
Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:
"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)"
