Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999

Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
Totality observed from France.
Map of path
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.5063
Saros	145 (21 of 77)
Maximum eclipse
Duration	143 s (2 min 23 s)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	11:03:07.5

The eclipse as seen from France.

On August 11, 1999, a total eclipse of the Sun, with an eclipse magnitude of 1.029, occurred.

The path of the moon's shadow began in the Atlantic Ocean and, before noon, was traversing Cornwall, Devon, northern France, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, and northern Serbia. Its maximum was at 11:03 UTC at 45°06′N 24°18′E / 45.1°N 24.3°E / 45.1; 24.3 in Romania (next to a town called Ocnele Mari near Râmnicu Vâlcea); and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, Iran, southern Pakistan and Srikakulam in India and ended in the Bay of Bengal.

It was the first total eclipse visible from Europe since July 22, 1990, and the first visible in the United Kingdom since June 29, 1927.

Observations

Because of the high density populated in the areas of the path, there is little doubt that this was the most-viewed total solar eclipse in human history; although some areas in the path of totality (mainly in Western-Europe) offered impaired visibility due to adverse weather conditions.

Some of the organised eclipse-watching parties along the path of totality set up video projectors on which people could watch the shadow as it raced towards them.^[1] There was substantial coverage on European TV stations of the progress of the eclipse shadow. The Moon's shadow was also observed from the Russian Mir space station; during the eclipse, video from Mir was broadcast live on television.

• The BBC concentrated its coverage efforts on the first landfall of the shadow across the western end of Cornwall ( from St Ives to Lizard), which was packed with an extraordinary number of visitors, although Cornwall did not have nearly as many as expected leading to many specially organised events to be left with very small attendance.. The veteran eclipse-watcher, Patrick Moore, was brought in to head a live programme, but the eclipse was clouded out. BBC One also produced a special version of their Balloon Idents for the event. Unfortunately, the BBC did not have a presence at Goonhilly on the Lizard Peninsula, as this was the only portion of Cornwall where the clouds parted just in time for the total eclipse to be visible.
• Some of the best viewing conditions were to be had mid-Channel, where ferries were halted in calm conditions to obtain an excellent view.
• A gathering of several thousand people at the airport in Soissons, France, which was on the path of totality, were denied all but a few fleeting glimpses of the eclipse through the overcast sky. Frustratingly, the clouds cleared completely just a few minutes after the eclipse.
• Further inland, viewing conditions were also perfect at Vouziers, a French country town which was gridlocked by Belgian cars from day-visitors. The patchy cloud covering cleared a short time before the shadow arrived. Some photos from Vouziers were used on the subsequent BBC Sky at Night programme.
• The San Francisco Exploratorium featured a live webcast from a crowded town square in Amasya, Turkey.
• Doordarshan, the national TV channel in India broadcast a live coverage from Srikakulam, hosted by the renowned TV personality, Mona Bhattacharya.
• A Bulgarian Air Force MiG-21 two-seater was used by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to study the solar corona. The MiG-21, flying at 1600-1700km/h (M=1,4-1,5) at an altitude of 13,000m, was able to stay in the moon's umbra for 6min. The photographer, an air force pilot, used two film cameras, both fitted with 200mm lenses and infrared filters, and one Digital8 video camera. The flight was sponsored by Mobiltel.

Notable times and coordinates

Animated path

Special 2,000 lei note note made for the 1999 total eclipse of the Sun, showing the eclipse path over the map of Romania

Type of the eclipse

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1997-2000

This set of solar eclipses repeat approximately every 177 days and 4 hours at alternating nodes of the moon's orbit.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1997–2000

Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Photo		Saros	Map	Photo
120	March 9, 1997 Total			125	September 2, 1997 Partial
130	February 26, 1998 Total			135	August 22, 1998 Annular
140	February 16, 1999 Annular			145	August 11, 1999 Total	Totality France
150	February 5, 2000 Partial			155	July 31, 2000 Partial
Partial solar eclipses on July 1, 2000 and December 25, 2000 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 145

This solar eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 145, repeating every 18 year, 11 days, containing 77 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on January 4, 1639, and reached a first annular eclipse on June 6, 1891. It was a hybrid event on June 17, 1909, and total eclipses from June 29, 1927 through September 9, 2648. The series ends at member 77 as a partial eclipse on April 17, 3009. The longest eclipse occurred on June 25, 2522, with a maximum duration of totality was 7 minutes, 12 seconds. ^[2]

Series members 16-26 occur between 1901 and 2100:

16	17	18
June 17, 1909	June 29, 1927	July 9, 1045
19	20	21
July 20, 1963	July 31, 1981	August 11, 1999
22	23	24
August 21, 2017	September 2, 2035	September 12, 2053
25	26
September 23, 2071	October 4, 2089

References

• "Club Krile Magazine", Vol. 11, 1999, "Air Group 2000" Publishing, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson. Total Solar Eclipse of 1999 August 11.. NASA, November 2004.
  • NASA Graphics
  • Google interactive map of the eclipse from NASA
• Eclipse at hermit.org
• The Total Solar Eclipse of 1999 August 11

External links

Photos:

• Exploratorium Webcast: Solar Eclipse August 11, 1999
• KryssTal - Eclipse in Cornwall (UK) - totality not seen but scene photographed.
• Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Romania, shown in Romanian Maximum Card
• Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Romania, shown in Romanian Maximum Card
• Images from Turkey by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society
• [1] APOD 6/10/2007, Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth, total eclipse shadow seen from Mir spacestation
• [2] APOD 4/8/2001, The Big Corona, totality by Fred Espenak
• [3] APOD 6/20/2001, Total Eclipse of the Active Sun, from Kecel, Hungary
• [4] APOD 8/19/1999, Light From The Dark Sun, totality from Siofok, Hungary

	Solar eclipses
Previous eclipse February 16, 1999 (annular)	Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 (total)	Next eclipse February 5, 2000 (partial)
Previous total eclipse February 26, 1998		Next total eclipse June 21, 2001

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