Monday, Dec. 14, Total Solar Eclipse Is Second 2020 Solar Eclipse

Summary: The Monday, Dec. 14, total solar eclipse is the second 2020 solar eclipse and is fully seen in Argentina, Chile, the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

total solar eclipse of Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Monday, Dec. 14, total solar eclipse is the second 2020 solar eclipse, is fully visible in Argentina, Chile and the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and is the last of the year’s six eclipses.

The eclipse’s path of partiality stretches across the equator, into the Northern Hemisphere, to offer partial visibility to a small part of the eastern North Atlantic Ocean and a larger area of the central and eastern North Pacific Ocean. In addition to Argentina and Chile’s non-totality areas, six countries on the South American continent benefit from partiality’s expansive path. Parts of Brazil, Ecuador and Peru fall within partiality’s path. All of Bolivia, Paraguay and Ecuador experience partiality.

The December solar eclipse’s path of partiality also reaches across the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to include parts of the Southern Ocean. Parts of Antarctica, including the Antarctic Peninsula and parts of East Antarctica also lie within partiality’s path.

December’s total solar eclipse begins as a partial eclipse Monday, Dec. 14, at 13:33:47.7 Universal Time (8:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time; 10:33 a.m. Chile Summer Time; 10:33 a.m. Argentina Time), according to NASA’s Eclipse Web Site. The eclipse’s total portion starts at 14:32:27.9 UT (9:32 a.m. EST; 11:32 a.m. CLST and ART). Totality ends at 17:54:12.9 UT (12:54 p.m. EST; 2:54 p.m. CLST and ART). The eclipse closes with the end of partiality, at 18:53:59.8 UT (1:53 p.m. EST; 3:53 p.m. CLST and ART).

Greatest eclipse refers to the instant of closest passage of the axis of the lunar shadow cone to Earth’s center. Greatest eclipse happens at 16:13:22.9 UT (11:13 a.m. EST; 1:13 p.m. CLST and ART).

Greatest eclipse’s coordinates of 40 degrees 20.5 minutes south latitude at 67 degrees 56.1 minutes west longitude place the event in south-central Argentina, at the northern edge of Patagonia. The location is in Nueve de Julio Department in central-south Río Negro Province.

Local circumstances at greatest eclipse include a path width of 90.2 kilometers (56.04miles). NASA’s Eclipse Web Site calculates the sun’s altitude, the angle up from the horizon, at the instant of greatest eclipse at 72.7 degrees.

The sun’s azimuth, the angle along the horizon, measures 10.3 degrees. The sun’s azimuthal direction during greatest eclipse is 10 degrees east of due north. The U.S. Naval Observatory’s Astronomical Applications Department website explains that azimuthal readings assign zero degrees to north and increase clockwise around the observer’s horizon. East is at 90 degrees, with south at 180 degrees and west at 270 degrees.

NASA’s Eclipse Web Site explains that a total or annular solar eclipse’s central line claims the event’s longest duration. The central axis of the lunar shadow cone traces the central line during its traversal of Earth’s surface. The path of totality encloses the central line.

Retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak’s EclipseWise website places the start time of the central line’s starting point on Earth’s surface at 14:32:50.4 UT1 (9:32 a.m. EST; 11:32 a.m. CLST and ART). The starting point of 7 degrees 46.0 minutes south latitude at 132 degrees 50.4 minutes west longitude happens northeast of France’s Marquesas Islands (Îles Marquises or Archipel des Marquises) in the South Pacific Ocean.

The central line reaches its ending point on Earth’s surface at 17:54:05.9 UT1 (12:54 p.m. EST; 2:54 p.m. CLST and ART). Coordinates of 23 degrees 36.8 minutes south latitude at 11 degrees 2.9 minutes east longitude mark the central line’s ending point. This last contact with Earth’s surface occurs over the open waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, between the United Kingdom’s Saint Helena, to the northeast, and Tristan da Cunha, to the southwest.

December’s total solar eclipse numbers as the second of two 2020 solar eclipses and as sixth in the lineup of six eclipses in 2020. The year’s first solar eclipse occurred as an annular solar eclipse Sunday, June 21, and numbered as third in the year’s lineup. The year’s four lunar eclipses all appeared as penumbral eclipses and took place Friday, Jan. 10; Friday, June 5; Sunday, July 5; and Monday, Nov. 30.

The takeaway for the Monday, Dec. 14, total solar eclipse is that the second 2020 solar eclipse closes the year’s lineup of four penumbral lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses.

animation of annular solar eclipse Monday, Dec. 14, 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:

total solar eclipse of Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Dec14T.GIF

animation of annular solar eclipse Monday, Dec. 14, 2020: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2020Dec14T.gif

For further information:

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. “Total Solar Eclipse of 2020 Dec 14.” EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Preview: 2018 Through 2030.
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

Espenak, Fred. “Total Solar Eclipse of 2020 Dec 14: Google Maps and Solar Eclipse Paths.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipse Page > Solar Eclipses: 2011-2020.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2020Dec14Tgoogle.html

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

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

Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, June 5, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 111.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/friday-june-5-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Friday, June 5, Lunar Eclipse Is Second of Four 2020 Penumbral Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/friday-june-5-lunar-eclipse-is-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Monday, Nov. 30, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 119.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/11/monday-nov-30-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/11/monday-nov-30-lunar-eclipse-is-fourth.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Sunday, July 5, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 149.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/sunday-july-5-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/sunday-july-5-lunar-eclipse-is-third-of.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/sunday-june-21-annular-solar-eclipse.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/06/sunday-june-21-annular-solar-eclipse-is.html

Smith, Ian Cameron. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 21 Jun, 2020 AD.” Moon Blink > Hermit Eclipse > Eclipse Database > Full Lunar Catalog > 2001-3000 AD > 2001 AD > 2001-2020 AD.
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Smith, Ian Cameron. “Total Solar Eclipse of 14 Dec, 2020 AD.” Moon Blink > Hermit Eclipse > Eclipse Database > Full Solar Catalog > 2001-3000 AD > 2001 AD > 2001-2020 AD.
Available @ https://moonblink.info/Eclipse/eclipse/2020_12_14

Tran, Lina; Rob Garner, ed. “Greatest Eclipse and Greatest Duration: What’s the Difference?” NASA > Feature > Goddard Space Flight Center > 2017 > Eclipses and Transits. Aug. 22, 2017.
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