Sunday, June 21, Annular Solar Eclipse Is First 2020 Solar Eclipse

Summary: The Sunday, June 21, annular solar eclipse is the first 2020 solar eclipse and offers visibility of its fiery ring to Africa and Asia.

annular solar eclipse of Sunday, June 21, 2020, details: "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 Sunday, June 21, annular solar eclipse is the first 2020 solar eclipse, offers visibility of its fiery ring to Africa and Asia, and expands its path of partiality to include southeastern Europe and the northernmost parts of Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland.

The path of annularity arches from Central and East Africa, through the southern Arabian Peninsula, to South and East Asia. Oceanically, the annular eclipse favors the northwestern Pacific Ocean and ignores the Atlantic Ocean.

Visibility of the partial eclipse is available to most of Africa, southeastern Europe, most of Asia and northernmost parts of Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland. The western Pacific Ocean, a huge swath of the Indian Ocean and a small part of the Atlantic Ocean (off coastal Central Africa) fall within the path of partiality.

The solar eclipse begins with first contact of the lunar shadow with Earth’s surface. The year’s first solar eclipse begins Sunday, June 21, at 03:45.9 Universal Time (Saturday, June 20, at 11:45:54 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), according to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office website. The terrestrial coordinates of 1 degree 02.3 minutes south latitude and 34 degrees 25.8 minutes east longitude place the eclipse’s start in southwestern Kenya.

The southern limit of the penumbra, the outer lighter part of the lunar shadow, begins at 04:46.2 UT (12:46:12 a.m. EDT, Sunday, June 21). Coordinates of 27 degrees 53.8 minutes south latitude at 32 degrees 10.6 minutes east longitude place the start of the penumbra’s southern limit in southeastern Republic of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

The southern limit of the umbra, the innermost and darkest part of the lunar shadow, begins at 04:48.2 UT (12:48:12 a.m. EDT). Coordinates of 0 degrees 56.6 minutes north latitude at 18 degrees 00.7 minutes east longitude place the start of the umbra’s southern limit in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The beginning of the eclipse’s central line, known as the path of annularity, signals the start of the eclipse’s annular portion. The center line begins at 04:48.4 UT (12:48:24 a.m. EDT). Its starting point is in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (1°15.8 minutes north at 17°49.2 minutes east).

The umbral shadow’s northern limit begins at 04:48.6 UT (12:48:36 a.m. EDT). The umbral northern limit starts in northeastern Republic of the Congo’s Likouala region (1 degree 35.1 minutes north at 17 degrees 37.6 minutes east).

The penumbral shadow’s northern limit begins at 05:24.4 UT (1:24:24 a.m. EDT). Its starting point is over northwestern Morocco’s Casablanca-Settat region, at 33 degrees 11.6 minutes north latitude, 7 degrees 06.6 minutes west longitude).

Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office website calculates 06:41.3 UT (2:41:18 a.m. EDT) as the occurrence of the central eclipse at local apparent noon. This takes place over Nanda Devi National Park in North India’s Uttarakhand state, at 30 degrees 34.9 minutes north latitude, 80 degrees 07.9 minutes east longitude.

The penumbral shadow’s northern limit ends at 07:55.6 UT (3:55:36 a.m. EDT). Its end occurs in the open North Pacific Ocean, at 42 degrees 44.9 minutes north latitude, 175 degrees 11.8 east longitude. This end point lies approximately 10 degrees south of the Andreanof Islands’ largest island, Atka Island, in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands Archipelago.

The umbral shadow’s northern limit ends at 08:31.4 UT (4:31:24 a.m. EDT). Coordinates of 11 degrees 45.8 minutes north latitude and 147 degrees 47.3 minutes east longitude place the umbral northern limit’s end over the open northwestern Pacific Ocean, southeast of the United States Territory of Guam.

The annular portion of June’s solar eclipse ends with the center line’s ending. Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office website ends the path of annularity at 08:31.6 UT (4:31:36 a.m. EDT). The center line’s end occurs over the open northwestern Pacific Ocean at 11 degrees 27.9 minutes north latitude, 147 degrees 36.3 minutes east longitude.

The umbral southern limit ends at 08:31.8 UT (4:31:48 a.m. EDT). Coordinates of 11 degrees 10.1 minutes north latitude, 147 degrees 25.2 east longitude place its end over the open northwestern Pacific Ocean, southeast of Guam.

The penumbral southern limit ends at 08:33.9 UT (4:33:54 a.m. EDT). Its end occurs in the Barkly region of Australia’s Northern Territory, at 17 degrees 50.6 minutes south latitude, 133 degrees 58.8 minutes east longitude.

June’s solar eclipse ends with last contact of the lunar shadow with Earth’s surface. Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office website ends the eclipse at 09:34 UT (5:34 a.m. EDT). The last contact happens over the Arafura Sea at 9 degrees 10.4 minutes north latitude, 130 degrees 59.0 minutes east longitude. Last contact takes place a little over one degree south of Selaru Island in Eastern Indonesia’s Tanimbar Archipelago.

The takeaways for the Sunday, June 21, annular solar eclipse are that it is the first 2020 solar eclipse, that the path of annularity crosses Africa and Asia and that the path of partiality affords visibility to two more continents, Australia and Europe.

animation of annular solar eclipse Sunday, June 21, 2020: 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:

annular solar eclipse of Sunday, June 21, 2020, details: "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 @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Jun21A.GIF

animation of annular solar eclipse Sunday, June 21, 2020: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2020Jun21A.gif

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 2020 Jun 21.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Preview: 2018 Through 2030.
Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2020Jun21Aprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 2020 Jun 21.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipse Page > Solar Eclipses: 2011-2020: 2020 Jun 21.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Jun21A.GIF

Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 2020 Jan 10.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Lunar Eclipses > Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses > 2011-2020.
Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2020Jan10Nprime.html

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Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2020Jul05Nprime.html

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Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2020Jun05Nprime.html

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Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2020Nov30Nprime.html

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Available via EclipseWise @ http://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2020Dec14Tprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Solar Eclipse of 2020 Dec 14.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipse Page > Solar Eclipses: 2011-2020.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Dec14T.GIF

Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office. “Annular Eclipse of the Sun: 2020 June 21.” The Astronomical Data Portal @ UK Hydrographic Office > Eclipses Online > Eclipses in 2020. Last revision June 22, 2018.
Available @ http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0332020/

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/friday-jan-10-lunar-eclipse-is-first-of.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/friday-june-5-lunar-eclipse-is-second.html

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