The Next Solar Eclipse - How Solar Eclipses Occur

By now you might have seen the video footage on news shows worldwide. It was a super total eclipse for those living or staying between Mumbai and Shanghai and was probably the most watched eclipse in history due to the populations of the areas it was visible in. Totality was as long as six and a half minutes with a shadow nearly 260 kms wide.

Mixed emotions and reactions were reported in India where some treated it as a significant religious event while of course most others treated it much like westerners, perhaps highlighting how that huge country has gone through such change in recent times.

Looking forward to the next solar eclipse and wondering how they come about? A solar eclipse occurs when the moon's path takes it between the earth and the sun thus forming a shadow over part of the earth below. This happens only during a new moon when the sun and moon are in conjunction as observed from earth. A shadow is cast behind the moon consisting of a dark inner shadow known as the umbra and a fainter outer shadow known as the penumbra. When a part of the earth falls into the dark shadow a total eclipse is observed at that location. Areas shaded in the penumbra see a partial eclipse.

A solar eclipse does not happen at every new moon as the moon's orbit is not in perfect alignment between earth and the sun. Its orbit is at an angle of about 5% relative to the earth's orbit around the sun. This means the moon's shadow usually passes above or below the earth at new moon time. The moon's orbit around the earth is elliptical so its apparent size varies. Sometimes the moon will appear to cover the sun's disk completely (known as a total eclipse) this leaves only the sun's corona visible. At other times the moon does not appear quite large enough to completely obscure the sun so it leaves a ring of sunlight visible around the moon. This particular type is known as an Annular eclipse.

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Total solar eclipses are not just spectacular to the general public but also of great interest to astronomers because they present an opportunity to study the sun's corona, the super hot gas atmosphere that surrounds the sun. Unfortunately the area of earth in total shadow is only ever a small portion some 150kms wide so the chance of your particular location experiencing one is a small one.

In ancient times solar eclipses were magical events that frightened ordinary folk and foretold of fearful events to come. Astronomers who worked out how to forecast the next solar eclipse were thought of as wise men and future tellers. Today we understand eclipses as the natural phenomena they are. We now look forward to observing them, indeed some enthusiasts known as 'Eclipse-Chasers' will travel far and wide to get the best views.

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The January 2009 Eclipse was seen as an annular eclipse from Sumatra, Borneo and southern India. It was visible as a partial eclipse from a much wider area, including the southern third of Africa, Australia, Southeast India and Indonesia.

The August 1st Eclipse seen from northern Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China as a total solar eclipse.

The February 2008 Eclipse was visible as a partial eclipse from parts of South East Australia and New Zealand. Parts of Antarctica experienced an annular eclipse.

Unfortunately for SE Australia observation was very poor due to weather conditions.