Total Solar Eclipse July 2 Is Second of Three 2019 Solar Eclipses

Summary: The total solar eclipse July 2 is the second of three 2019 solar eclipses and, as 2019’s only total solar eclipse, favors the Southern Hemisphere.

details of Tuesday, July 2, 2019, total solar eclipse: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, EclipseWise.com, credit required, via EclipseWise

The total solar eclipse July 2 is the second of three 2019 solar eclipses, numbers as the third of the year’s lineup of five eclipses and, as 2019’s only total solar eclipse, favors the Southern Hemisphere.

July’s solar eclipse is a Southern Hemisphere event. The year’s only total solar eclipse particularly favors the South Pacific Ocean and parts of Argentina and Chile in southern South America. On his EclipseWise website, retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak describes the eclipse’s path of totality, in which the moon totally obscures the sun, as confined to “a narrow corridor that traverses the Pacific Ocean and southern South America.”

The path of partiality, in which the moon partially obscures the sun, is much wider than the path of totality. The path of partiality takes in most of South America and expands to southern Central America. The partiality visibility region stretches through the lower latitudes of the South Pacific Ocean, across the equator and into lower latitudes of the North Pacific Ocean.

First contact between Earth’s surface and the lighter, outer region of the moon’s shadow, known as the penumbra, signals the start of the July 2019 total solar eclipse. First contact takes place Tuesday, July 2, at 16:55:13.3 (UT1).

Greatest eclipse defines the instant of closest passage by the axis of the lunar shadow cone to Earth’s center. The July 2, 2019, total solar eclipse’s greatest eclipse happens at 19:22:57.9 UT1. Fred Espenak places the geographic coordinates at the instant of greatest eclipse at 17 degrees 23.3 minutes south latitude, 108 degrees 59.9 minutes west longitude. He identifies the location as about 1,080 kilometers (about 671 miles) north of the Republic of Chile’s Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui; Spanish: Isla de Pascua) in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. The path width measures 200.6 kilometers (124.647 miles).

The July 2 total solar eclipse ends with last contact between Earth’s surface and the lunar penumbra. Last penumbral contact occurs at 21:50:38.5 UT1.

The traversal of the central axis of the lunar shadow cone across Earth’s surface identifies the central line of the eclipse. The eclipse’s central path comprises the central line and the northern and southern limits that span outward from the central line. Total phase visibility is only available within the central path.

The central path begins at 18:02 UT1 in the South Pacific Ocean. EclipseWise places the beginning point about 1,900 kilometers (about 1,180.6 miles) east of New Zealand’s North Island.

First landfall of the moon’s umbra (lunar shadow’s darker, inner region) happens at 18:24 UT1 at the remote coral atoll of Oeno Island in the Pitcairn Islands. The duration is 2 minutes 53 seconds. The solar altitude measures 32 degrees.

EclipseWise notes that, with the exception of Oeno Island, the path of totality tracks across over 9,500 kilometers (over 5,903 miles) of open ocean. Mainland landfall happens over two hours later, at 20:39 UT1. The path of totality makes contact with South America along the coast of Chile, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of La Serena, the capital of Chile’s Coquimbo region.

At landfall, the central line has a duration of 2 minutes 36 seconds. The central path’s width measures 145 kilometers (90 miles). The solar altitude reaches 14 degrees. La Serena’s location within the central path allows for a totality experience of 2 minutes 17 seconds.

The lunar shadow’s southeastern trajectory touches northern Chile’s Elqui Valley and the Andean foothills. The lunar shadow traverses the Andes to reach Argentina. EclipseWise notes the umbra’s rapidly increased speed during the track’s last segment. The solar altitude drops below 10 degrees, and the umbra races across 1,300 kilometers (807.78 miles) in three minutes. The shadow’s speed across Argentina averages 26,000 kilometers per hour (16,000 miles per hour).

Before its end, the central path’s northern edge lies only 30 kilometers south of the center of the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires. The solar altitude dips to one degree above the horizon, and totality lasts for two minutes.

The umbral liftoff from Earth’s surface happens at 20:43 UT1. EclipseWise details the umbra’s 2 hour 41 minute trajectory at an approximate length of 11,200 kilometers (6,959.35 miles), equating to 0.36 percent coverage of Earth’s surface.

The takeaway for the total solar eclipse July 2, 2019, is that the mid-year solar eclipse’s path of totality extensively favors the open South Pacific Ocean and makes continental contact with Chile and Argentina before ending southeast of Buenos Aires.

animation of total solar eclipse July 2, 2019: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

details of Tuesday, July 2, 2019, total solar eclipse: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, EclipseWise.com, credit required, via EclipseWise @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/oh-figures/ec2019-Fig03.pdf

animation of total solar eclipse July 2, 2019: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2019Jul02T.gif

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Glossary of Solar Eclipse Terms.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/SEglossary.html

Espenak, Fred. “Key to Global Maps of Solar Eclipses.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Preview: 2018 Through 2030 > Key to Solar Eclipse Maps.
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEhelp/SEpingkey.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Solar Eclipse of 2019 Jul 02.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Eclipses of the Sun > Decade Solar Eclipse Tables > 2011-2020.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2019Jul02T.GIF

Espenak, Fred. “Total Solar Eclipse of July 02.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Solar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2019.
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2019.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Partial Solar Eclipse Jan. 5-6 Is First of Three 2019 Solar Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, January 2, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/partial-solar-eclipse-jan-5-6-is-first.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Total Lunar Eclipse Jan. 20-21 Is First of Two 2019 Lunar Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/total-lunar-eclipse-jan-20-21-is-first.html