Annular Solar Eclipse Dec. 26 Is Third of Three 2019 Solar Eclipses

Summary: The annular solar eclipse Dec. 26 is the third of three 2019 solar eclipses and traces a central path from Saudi Arabia to Guam.

details of Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019, annular solar eclipse: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The annular solar eclipse Dec. 26 is the third of three 2019 solar eclipses and, as the year’s only annular solar eclipse, has a central path trajectory stretching from the Arabian Peninsula’s Saudi Arabia to Micronesia’s U.S. territory of Guam.

In an annular solar eclipse, the sun’s outer edges ring the lunar disk’s silhouette with an extremely bright annulus (Latin: “little ring”). From Earth’s perspective, the moon’s distance is so far that the lunar disk appears in a sun-rimmed setting.

An annular solar eclipse involves the moon’s antumbra (Latin: ante, “before, in front of” + umbra, “shadow”). The antumbral portion represents the faint, outer area extending lengthwise from the umbra, the shadow’s darkest, innermost part.

December’s annular solar eclipse begins Thursday, Dec. 26, at 02:29:51.0 UT1 (Universal Time), according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak’s EclipseWise website. Local time zones start the solar eclipse at 5:29 a.m. Arabia Standard Time in Saudi Arabia; 9:29 a.m. Western Indonesian Time in Sumatra; 12:29 p.m. Chamorro Standard Time in Guam.

December’s solar eclipse ends Thursday, Dec. 26, at 08:05:43.6 UT1. Local time zones place the end at 11:05 a.m. AST in Saudi Arabia; at 3:05 p.m. WIB in Sumatra; at 6:05 p.m. ChST in Guam.

The eclipse’s central line of entire visibility, known as the path of annularity, begins about 220 kilometers (136.7 miles) northeast of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The eclipse’s annular phase starts at 03:43 UT1 (6:43 a.m. AST; 10:43 a.m. WIB; 1:43 p.m. ChST).

The path width during annularity’s Arabian Peninsula segment is 164 kilometers (101.9 miles). The Arabian Peninsula hosts annularity for 2 minutes 59 seconds. The path of annularity treks southeasterly across the southern United Arab Emirates and enters the Arabian Sea by way of the Sultanate of Oman on the peninsula’s southeastern coast.

The path of annularity arrives at the southwestern state of Kerala on India’s Malabar Coast at 03:56 UT1 (9:16 a.m. India Standard Time). Annularity endures for 3 minutes 12 seconds on the central line near Kannur, administrative headquarters of Kerala’s Kannur District and also a minor port in Kerala’s northwestern region. At this point, the path of annularity has a width of 129 kilometers (80.15 miles). The solar altitude measures 32 degrees.

The antumbral shadow’s ground speed of about 1.1 kilometers per second (0.68 miles per second) allows for an eight-minute diagonal passage from Kerala to the state of Tamil Nadu’s southeastern coasts. The path of annularity enters the Palk Strait at Tamil Nadu’s southeastern coastal Pudukkottai District at 04:04 UT1 (9:34 a.m. IST).

The eclipse’s central line sweeps across the Indian Ocean and successively crosses Lasia Island, Bangkaru Island and Musala Island, located off northwestern Sumatra. The central line’s southeasterly trajectory takes in North Sumatra and then Riau provinces.

Greatest eclipse happens at 05:17:48 UT1 (12:17 p.m. WIB) in Riau province in central eastern Sumatra. The event has an annular duration of 3 minutes 39 seconds.

Greatest eclipse indicates the instant of closest passage to Earth’s center by the axis of the moon’s shadow cone. The greatest eclipse’s geographic coordinates of 1 degree 00.5 minutes north latitude, 102 degrees 14.9 minutes east latitude place the point in the Panjang Strait between eastern Sumatra and Pedang Island.

The antumbral shadow island-hops to Borneo, trekking across Indonesian and Malaysian parts of the world’s third largest island. Located on Borneo’s north coast, the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam) lies outside the eclipse’s path of annularity but within partiality’s visibility regions.

After Borneo, Micronesia’s U.S. territory of Guam claims the central line’s next, and last, landfall. The encounter with Guam takes place at 6:56 UT1 (4:56 p.m. Chamorro Standard Time). Guam’s annularity phase endures for 3 minutes 10 seconds. The sun’s altitude has dipped to 13 degrees.

The eclipse’s path of annularity leaves Guam for liftoff from Earth’s surface in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Liftoff occurs northeast of Saipan, the largest island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and west of the unorganized, unincorporated U.S. territory of Wake Island.

From start to finish, the path of annularity covered 0.34 percent of Earth’s surface. The 3.3-hour trek measured an approximate length of 12,900 kilometers (8,015.68 miles).

animation of annular solar eclipse Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, 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 Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019, annular solar eclipse: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/oh-figures/ec2019-Fig06.pdf

animation of annular solar eclipse Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2019Dec26A.gif

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 2019 Dec 26.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipse Page > Solar Eclipses: Past and Future > Decade Solar Eclipse Tables > Solar Eclipses: 2011-2020.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2019Dec26A.GIF

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 2019 Dec 26: Google Maps and Solar Eclipse Paths.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipse Page > Solar Eclipses: Past and Future > Solar Eclipses on Google Maps: 2001-2020.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2019Dec26Agoogle.html

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of December 26.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Solar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2019.
Available via EclipseWise @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2019.html#SE2019Dec26A

Espenak, Fred. “Glossary of Solar Eclipse Terms.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipses.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ 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 via EclipseWise @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEhelp/SEpingkey.html

Espenak, Fred. “Saros 132.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Solar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2019.
Available via EclipseWise @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEsaros/SEsaros132.html

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of December 26.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Solar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2019.
Available via EclipseWise @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2019.html#SE2019Dec26A

Marriner, Derdriu. “February 2017 Annular Solar Eclipse Favors South Atlantic Ocean.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-2017-annular-solar-eclipse.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. “Sept. 1, 2016, Annular Eclipse Favors Central Africa and Madagascar.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/08/sept-1-2016-annular-eclipse-favors.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