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A Partial Solar Eclipse for Christmas

By Alan MacRobert
& Paul Deans

Above: Little crescents show how the Sun will look at mideclipse (at the local times indicated) in various North American cities on Christmas Day 2000. Each crescent is oriented as seen by an observer facing the Sun with a safe solar filter. Click on image for larger view. Sky & Telescope diagram.

CHRISTMAS will be extra special this year. Weather permitting, people all across North America will be able to watch the Moon glide across the low December Sun, creating a partial solar eclipse. This event will be visible throughout nearly all the inhabited parts of North America (except Alaska and the Yukon), as well as from most of Mexico and the Caribbean.

[ How to Watch Safely | Timetable | Map | Animations | More Info ]

According to Sky & Telescope magazine, the eclipse takes place during early morning in the Southwest and mountain states, during late morning or midday in the central part of the continent, and during early afternoon in the East. People in the northwestern U.S. and western Canada will need to be up bright and early Christmas morning; the partial eclipse will already be in progress when the Sun rises, a most dramatic sight.

Left: During the partial solar eclipse of October 3, 1986, Johnny Horne took this sequence photograph in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and composited it with a separate exposure of the statue of Marquis de Lafayette, for whom the city is named. Click on image for larger view. © 1986 Johnny Horne.

How deep the eclipse will get also depends on where you are. As seen from California, Mexico, and the Caribbean, the Sun will appear only slightly dented at most. The eclipse will grow deeper, with the Sun turning into a fat crescent, for the Northwest through the central states to the Southeast. The narrowest, most dramatic crescent Sun awaits Christmas skywatchers in the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes region, the Northeast, and all of eastern Canada. Here the light may be dimmed enough to give the winter landscape a slightly eerie cast, and winds may whip up as the partial loss of sunlight adds to the December chill.

When, exactly, should you go out and look to catch the eclipse's first beginnings? How deeply will you find the Sun dented at maximum?

Sky & Telescope has prepared a timetable of the eclipse's beginning, middle, and end (as well as other details) for 327 cities in North America. The cities are arranged alphabetically by state and province. Pick the one nearest you.

Alternatively, you can estimate the midpoint of the eclipse, as well as its depth at maximum, by interpolating between the crescents and times shown on the accompanying map.

In cooperation with the editors of Sky & Telescope, Tennessee amateur astronomer Larry Koehn has created Flash animations of the eclipse as seen from across the North American continent. These are available for both PCs and Macs.

Right: On May 30, 1984, Maurizio Eltri captured this view of the partially eclipsed Sun shortly before it set in the west over Venice, Italy. Click on image for larger view. © 1984 Maurizio Eltri.

The Christmas Day 2000 eclipse belongs to saros series 122. Eclipses in a given series recur every 6,585.3211 days -- 18 years plus 10 or 11 days (depending on the number of leap days in between). December's event is a close replay of an eclipse that occurred three saros intervals ago, also in North America, on November 23, 1946.

Apart from the geometric similarity of the two events, the year 2000, like 1946, falls near the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. So Edward Oravec's prediction in the November 1946 Sky & Telescope is quite apt for this year's event: "There may be a number of sunspots, for maximum is approaching, and the Moon may be seen in contact with some spots."

More details, including observing projects and photographic hints, appear in the December 2000 issue of Sky & Telescope. See also the following articles here on our Web site:

Where the Sun is concerned, safety is paramount. Do not look directly at the Sun without using a safe solar filter. If you don't have one, see our list of suppliers.

Sky and Telescope ®

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