|
|---|
|
|
|---|
On Wednesday, 2006 March 29, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia.This web site has been established for the purpose of providing detailed predictions, maps, figures and information about this important event. The material here is adapted from the NASA Technical Publication "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762). This publication was published in 2004 October and is now available for distribution. It is part of NASA's official eclipse bulletin publication series. Instructions and a form for ordering a hard copy of this publication can be found at:
Order Form for NASA Eclipse Bulletins Additional and supplemental material for the 2006 eclipse will be published here in the coming months.
The following maps show the overall regions of visibility of the partial eclipse as well as the path of the total eclipse through Africa and Asia. They use high resolution coastline data from the World Data Base II (WDB). Each map was chosen to isolate a specific region along the land portion of the eclipse path. Curves of maximum eclipse are included as well as the outline of the umbral shadow.
Each map is available in two resolutions: 'Low' (web resolution) and 'High' (300 dpi print resolution). You may need to set your printer to 25% reduction in order to print 'High' resolution figures on a single page.
| Figure Number | Title/Description | Low Resolution | High Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure 1 | Orthographic (Global) Map of 2006 Total Solar Eclipse | Low | High |
| Figure 2 | Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Africa | Low | High |
| Figure 3 | Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Asia | Low | High |
| Figure 4 | Detailed Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Africa | Low | High |
| Figure 5 | Detailed Map of 2006 Eclipse Path Through Asia | Low | High |
These figures are adapted from NASA Technical Publication "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762).
The following tables give detailed predictions including the Besselian Elements, shadow contacts with Earth, path of the umbral shadow and topocentric data (with path corrections) along the path. Also included are special extended version tables of path coordinates and graze zones in formats convenient for plotting on maps.
| Figure Number | Title/Description | Low Resolution | High Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure 20 | Lunar Limb Profile for March 29 at 10:30 UT | Low | High |
| Figure 24 | Sky During Totality as Seen From Central Line at 10:30 UT | Low | High |
Eclipse Predictions & WebMaster: Fred Espenak e-mail: espenak@gsfc.nasa.gov Official NASA Representative: Dr. Drake Deming
Planetary Systems Branch - Code 693
|
|---|
