Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01

On Friday, 2008 August 01, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia.



Click to enlarge.

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 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149). The document was published in 2007 March and is now available for distribution in hard copy and as a high resolution (11 MB) PDF file . 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.

Preliminary Look at the Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01

(presented at: IAU Symposium 233 - Solar Activity and Its Magnetic Origin

This data presented at: IAU Symposium 233 - Solar Activity and Its Magnetic Origin

See also: Eclipse Weather and Maps (Jay Anderson)

Google Map of the Path of Totality

An implementation of Google Map has been created which includes the central path of the 2008 total solar eclipse. This allows the user to sellect any portion of the path and to zoom in using either map data or Earth satellite data.

General Maps of the Eclipse Path

The following maps show the overall regions of visibility of the partial eclipse as well as the path of the total eclipse through North America, Europe 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 2008 Total Solar Eclipse Low High Figure 2 Stereographic Projection Map of the 2008 Eclipse Low High Figure 3 Map of 2008 Eclipse Path Through Canada and Greenland Low High Figure 7 Map of 2008 Eclipse Path Through Asia Low High

From NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149).

Detailed Maps of the Path of Totality

The following maps show path of the 2008 total eclipse in greater detail. They use high resolution coastline, city and highway data from the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). 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. Within the umbral path, curves of constant duration have been plotted for totality.

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 4 Arctic Canada Low High Figure 5 Arctic Canada and Greenland Low High Figure 6 Svalbard & Frans Josef Land Low High Figure 8 Russia - Noyaya Zemlya Low High Figure 9 Russia - Nadym Low High Figure 10 Russia - Central Siberia Low High Figure 11 Russia - Novosibirsk Low High Figure 12 China, Russia & Mongolia Low High Figure 13 China & Mongolia Low High Figure 14 China (Wuwei) Low High Figure 15 China (Xian) Low High

From NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149).

Additional Figures

The following figures also appear in the NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149)

Figure

Number Title/Description Low

Resolution High

Resolution Figure 16 Lunar Limb Profile for August 01 at 11:00 UT Low High Figure 17 Average August Cloud Amount Along the Central Line Low High Figure 18 Spectral Response of Common Solar Filters Low High Figure 19 Focal Length Vs. Image Size for Eclipse Photography Low High Figure 20 Sky During Totality: Central Line at 11:00 UT Low High

From NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149).

Eclipse Elements, Shadow Contacts and Path of Totality

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.

From NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149).

Note that Tables 7b and 8b are supplementary extended tables which do not appear in NASA/TP-2007-214149.

The tables above are updated versions of the ones published in NASA/TP-2007-214149. They include a nutation correction to Besselian element "Mu[0]" and use an updated value for ΔT of 65.6 seconds.

Local Circumstances

The following tables give the local circumstances of the eclipse from various cities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. These tables have a lot of columns and, consequently, are quite wide. To print them, set the paper orientation of your printer to "landscape" and set the scale to about 60%. All contact times are given in the tables are in Universal Time.

From NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149).

Additional Tables

The following figures also appear in the NASA Tech. Pub. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2008 August 01" (NASA/TP-2007-214149)

Explanation of Eclipse Maps and Tables

The following links give detailed descriptions and explanations of the eclipse maps and tables.



Click Here for Live Webcast of the 2008 eclipse!

Live Web Coverage of the 2008 Total Solar Eclipse

The following links will provide live web coverage of the 2008 eclipse. (check for more links in July 2008)

Reproduction of Eclipse Data

All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC"

For more information, see: NASA Copyright Information