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Royal Astronomical Society of New ZealandEclipses in 2010 |
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Royal Astronomical Society of New ZealandEclipses in 2010 |
Eclipses of the Sun and Moon during 2010 Eclipses for other years.
For much more detailed information on eclipses and transits go to Fred Espenak's eclipse site.
The first solar eclipse of the 2010 year occurs on January 15. It is annular, with the Moon not appearing large enough to fully cover the Sun's disk. As a result at mid eclipse a ring of sunlight is left round the black silhouette of the Moon. No part of the eclipse is visible from New Zealand nor Australia.
The second solar eclipse is on July 11. This is a total eclipse crossing the southern Pacific Ocean, touching little land. Again no part of the eclipse is visible from Australia nor New Zealand, apart from a very slight partial eclipse visible from East Cape in NZ at sunrise.
The lunar eclipse on Dec 31 / Jan 1 is a very slight affair with no more then 7.5% of the diameter of the Moon being darkened in total shadow.
The second lunar eclipse on June 26 while still partial is considerably deeper, with over 50% of the moon in total shadow. All the eclipse is visible from New Zealand and most of Australia
The final lunar eclipse is on December 21 and is total. At least some of the total stag is visible from New Zealand but not from Australia
Partial eclipse of the Moon
2009 December 31 / 2010 January 1, not visible from New Zealand.
Annular eclipse of the Sun January 15.
No part visible from New Zealand.
Partial eclipse of the Moon
June 26, visible from New Zealand.
Total eclipse of the Sun July 11.
Not visible from New Zealand.
Total eclipse of the Moon
December 21, partial visible from New Zealand.
The eclipse will be visible from much of Australia, from Asia and Europe and most of Africa.
For Europe, Africa and the middle East, the eclipse occurs on December 31. For places like
India in central Asia the eclipse starts in 2009 and ends in 2010. Further east again in
China, Indonesia and Australia the eclipse is on January 1.
No stage of the eclipse is visible from New Zealand where it takes place after the
Moon has set on January 1, New Zealand time.
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Path of the Moon through the Earth's shadow1. First contact with penumbra. 2. First contact with umbra 4. Maximum penumbral eclipse. 6. Last contact with umbra. 7. Last contact with penumbra. Visibility and Times of the Eclipse (below) |
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This path of this annular eclipse starts at dawn in equatorial Africa. After crossing the eastern of Africa, the path turns northeast over the Indian Ocean to touch southeast India and northern Sri Lanka. It then crosses northern Miamar and crosses China to end at sunset on the Shantu Peninsula to the southeast of Beijing.
A partial eclipse is visible from most of central and eastern Africa, much of western and
central Asia and the western islands of Indonesia. No part of the eclipse is visible from
New Zealand nor from Australia.
Safe viewing of Solar eclipses
During this eclipse the Moon moves more deeply into the Earth's shadow than in the eclipse at the beginning of the year. At its greatest just over 50% of the Moon's diameter will be inside the umbra. The Moon will pass through the southern part of the Earth's shadow, so northern parts of the Moon will be darkened. From New Zealand this will be the lower left of the Moon.
New Zealand and Australia are well placed for seeing this eclipse, although the earliest stages will be low from Australia.
The moon begins to enter the penumbra, the Earth's part shadow, just before 9.00 pm NZST, (09:00 UT). Little change will be visible for about an hour by when the lower edge of the moon will be noticeably duller then the upper.
By 10.20 pm, when the moon is beginning to move into the umbra, that is the full shadow of the Earth, the darkening at the lower edge will be very obvious. The dark region will grow until 11.38 pm when half the diameter of the moon will be immersed in the Earth's shadow.
The amount of dark shadow will then decrease again until the moon leaves the umbra at 1.00 am. The moon finally leaves the penumbra at 2.21 am.
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Path of the Moon through the Earth's shadow1. First contact with penumbra. 2. First contact with umbra 4. Maximum penumbral eclipse. 6. Last contact with umbra. 7. Last contact with penumbra. Visibility and Times of the Eclipse (below) |
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The path of totality for this eclipse starts at sunrise to the northeast of New Zealand close to international date line. It swings in an arc across the southern Pacific to end at sunset just after making landfall in southern Chile. Before this the path lies almost entirely over ocean, the only significant landfall being the island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands southeast of Rarotonga and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua).
At its greatest the total eclipse will last for 5 minutes, 20 seconds; at Easter Island
it will last for 4 minutes, 41 seconds.
Safe viewing of Solar eclipses
A partial eclipse is visible from most of the south Pacific east of about 180° longitude. A very slight partial eclipse will be visible from East Cape in New Zealand. The final stages of the eclipse will be visible with 6% of the Sun's diameter in eclipse as the Sun rises at 7.23 am on the morning of July 12. Note the date, NZ being west of the date line.
All stages of the total eclipse of the Moon are visible from North America and the eastern Pacific. South America will see the earlier stages up to totality. On the other side of the Pacific, the start of the eclipse is before Moon rise in New Zealand.
In northern parts of New Zealand to just south of Auckland, moonrise occurs just before the onset of totality, so all parts of the total stage of the eclipse are visible. Further south only the later parts of the total phase will be visible. More than half of the total eclipse is visible in all of the North Island and the top half of the South Island. At Timaru the Moon rises about 1 minute before the time of mid eclipse. Further south only the final stages of totality are visible; at Invercargill moonrise is just over 15 minutes before the end of the total part of the eclipse.
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Path of the Moon through the Earth's shadow1. First contact with penumbra. 2. First contact with umbra 3. Total eclipse starts. 4. Maximum penumbral eclipse. 5. Total eclipse ends. 6. Last contact with umbra. 7. Last contact with penumbra. Visibility and Times of the Eclipse (below) |
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