Eclipse predictions on this web site are based on j=2 ephemerides for the Sun [Newcomb, 1895] and Moon [Brown, 1919, and Eckert, Jones and Clark, 1954]. The value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -26 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced by Morrison and Ward [1975].

The primary source of uncertainty in position of eclipse paths before 1000 CE is due to variations in Earth's rotation which is expressed through the parameter delta T. The value for delta-T was determined as follows:

1) pre-1600: delta T was derived from historical eclipse and occultation observations analyses by Stephenson [1997]
2) 1600-present: delta T was obtained from published observations
3) future: delta-T was extrapolated from current values

Note that the predictions use a smaller value of k¹ (=0.272281) than the one adopted by the 1982 IAU General Assembly (k=0.2725076). This results in a better approximation of Moon's minimum diameter and a slightly shorter total or longer annular eclipse when compared with calculations using the IAU value for k.

¹k is the radius of the Moon expressed in units of Earth radii.

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:

References

• Brown, Ernest, W., 1919, Tables of the Motion of the Moon, Yale Univiversity Press, New Haven, CT.
• Espenak, F., 1988, Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986-2035, Sky Publishing Corp., Cambridge, MA.
• Espenak, F., 1989, Fifty Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses: 1986-2035, Sky Publishing Corp., Cambridge, MA.
• Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, 1974, Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, London.
• Improved Lunar Ephemeris 1952-1959, 1954, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, DC.
• Littmann, M., K. Wilcox and F. Espenak, 1999, Totality - Eclipses of the Sun, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Meeus, J., C. C. Grosjean, and W. Vanderleen, 1966, Canon of Solar Eclipses, Pergamon Press, New York.
• Meeus, J. and H. Mucke, 1979, Canon of Lunar Eclipses: -2002 to +2526, Astronomisches Buro, Wien.
• Newcomb, S., 1895, "Tables of the Motion of the Earth on its Axis Around the Sun", Astron. Papers Amer. Eph., Vol. 6, Part I.

Additional References

• Additional References Useful to Solar Eclipse Prediction
• General References About Solar Eclipses

Eclipse Predictions & WebMaster: Fred Espenak e-mail: espenak@gsfc.nasa.gov Planetary Systems Branch - Code 693 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA