| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | 0.1838 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0701 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 340 s (5 min 40 s) |
| Coordinates | 28°06′N93°42′W / 28.1°N 93.7°W /28.1; -93.7 |
| Max. width of band | 232 km (144 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 17:56:55 |
| References | |
| Saros | 139 (33 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9683 |
A totalsolar eclipse will occur at the Moon'sascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 11, 2078,[1] with amagnitude of 1.0701. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 16 hours afterperigee (on May 11, 2078, at 2:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.[2]
The path of totality will be visible from parts ofKiribati,Mexico,Texas,Louisiana,Mississippi,Alabama, the westernFlorida panhandle,Georgia,South Carolina,North Carolina, andVirginia, in theUnited States, and the easternCanary Islands. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts ofOceania,North America,Central America, theCaribbean, northernSouth America,Western Europe, andNorthwest Africa.
The path of totality will begin over the Pacific Ocean nearCaroline Island,Kiribati. From there, it will track northeast towards North America, making landfall on theMexican coast. In Mexico, totality will be visible in the cities ofManzanillo,Guadalajara,Aguascalientes,Zacatecas,San Luis Potosí,Ciudad Victoria, andMatamoros, Tamaulipas. The path then briefly crosses into theUnited States in southernTexas, includingMcAllen andBrownsville before crossing theGulf of Mexico. It then re-enters the United States, passing throughLouisiana (includingNew Orleans andBaton Rouge),Mississippi (includingBiloxi),Alabama (includingMobile andMontgomery), far northwesternFlorida,Georgia (includingAtlanta,Athens, andAugusta),South Carolina (includingColumbia andGreenville),North Carolina (includingCharlotte andRaleigh), andVirginia (includingVirginia Beach). It then passes over the Atlantic Ocean and ends near theCanary Islands.[3]
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2078 May 11 at 15:20:00.9 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2078 May 11 at 16:14:08.4 UTC |
| First Central Line | 2078 May 11 at 16:15:33.1 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2078 May 11 at 16:16:57.9 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 2078 May 11 at 17:12:36.4 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2078 May 11 at 17:56:54.8 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2078 May 11 at 17:58:47.4 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 2078 May 11 at 18:02:17.5 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2078 May 11 at 18:04:05.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 2078 May 11 at 18:41:03.0 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2078 May 11 at 19:36:48.0 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 2078 May 11 at 19:38:12.0 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2078 May 11 at 19:39:36.1 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2078 May 11 at 20:33:47.3 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.07012 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.14516 |
| Gamma | 0.18380 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 03h16m09.4s |
| Sun Declination | +18°07'17.6" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'50.2" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 03h15m52.6s |
| Moon Declination | +18°17'46.7" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'39.9" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'09.6" |
| ΔT | 104.1 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by afortnight.
| April 27 Descending node (full moon) | May 11 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
| |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 113 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 139 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
The partial solar eclipses onJanuary 6, 2076 andJuly 1, 2076 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2076 to 2079 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 119 | June 1, 2076 Partial | −1.3897 | 124 | November 26, 2076 Partial | 1.1401 | |
| 129 | May 22, 2077 Total | −0.5725 | 134 | November 15, 2077 Annular | 0.4705 | |
| 139 | May 11, 2078 Total | 0.1838 | 144 | November 4, 2078 Annular | −0.2285 | |
| 149 | May 1, 2079 Total | 0.9081 | 154 | October 24, 2079 Annular | −0.9243 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses from August 11, 1627 through December 9, 1825 and total eclipses from December 21, 1843 through March 26, 2601. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 61 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds onJuly 16, 2186. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000.[6] All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[7]
| Series members 18–39 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
 November 29, 1807 |  December 9, 1825 |  December 21, 1843 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
 December 31, 1861 |  January 11, 1880 |  January 22, 1898 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
 February 3, 1916 |  February 14, 1934 |  February 25, 1952 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
 March 7, 1970 |  March 18, 1988 |  March 29, 2006 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
 April 8, 2024 |  April 20, 2042 |  April 30, 2060 |
| 33 | 34 | 35 |
May 11, 2078 |  May 22, 2096 |  June 3, 2114 |
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
 June 13, 2132 |  June 25, 2150 |  July 5, 2168 |
| 39 | ||
 July 16, 2186 | ||
Themetonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
| 21 eclipse events between July 23, 2036 and July 23, 2112 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 23–24 | May 11 | February 27–28 | December 16–17 | October 4–5 |
| 117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
 July 23, 2036 |  May 11, 2040 |  February 28, 2044 |  December 16, 2047 |  October 4, 2051 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
 July 24, 2055 |  May 11, 2059 |  February 28, 2063 |  December 17, 2066 |  October 4, 2070 |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 July 24, 2074 | May 11, 2078 |  February 27, 2082 |  December 16, 2085 |  October 4, 2089 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
 July 23, 2093 |  May 11, 2097 |  February 28, 2101 |  December 17, 2104 |  October 5, 2108 |
| 157 | ||||
 July 23, 2112 | ||||
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 June 26, 1805 (Saros 114) |  May 27, 1816 (Saros 115) |  April 26, 1827 (Saros 116) |  March 25, 1838 (Saros 117) |  February 23, 1849 (Saros 118) |
 January 23, 1860 (Saros 119) |  December 22, 1870 (Saros 120) |  November 21, 1881 (Saros 121) |  October 20, 1892 (Saros 122) |  September 21, 1903 (Saros 123) |
 August 21, 1914 (Saros 124) |  July 20, 1925 (Saros 125) |  June 19, 1936 (Saros 126) |  May 20, 1947 (Saros 127) |  April 19, 1958 (Saros 128) |
 March 18, 1969 (Saros 129) |  February 16, 1980 (Saros 130) |  January 15, 1991 (Saros 131) |  December 14, 2001 (Saros 132) |  November 13, 2012 (Saros 133) |
 October 14, 2023 (Saros 134) |  September 12, 2034 (Saros 135) |  August 12, 2045 (Saros 136) |  July 12, 2056 (Saros 137) |  June 11, 2067 (Saros 138) |
May 11, 2078 (Saros 139) |  April 10, 2089 (Saros 140) |  March 10, 2100 (Saros 141) |  February 8, 2111 (Saros 142) |  January 8, 2122 (Saros 143) |
 December 7, 2132 (Saros 144) |  November 7, 2143 (Saros 145) |  October 7, 2154 (Saros 146) |  September 5, 2165 (Saros 147) |  August 4, 2176 (Saros 148) |
 July 6, 2187 (Saros 149) |  June 4, 2198 (Saros 150) | |||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||
|---|---|---|
 November 9, 1817 (Saros 130) |  October 20, 1846 (Saros 131) |  September 29, 1875 (Saros 132) |
 September 9, 1904 (Saros 133) |  August 21, 1933 (Saros 134) |  July 31, 1962 (Saros 135) |
 July 11, 1991 (Saros 136) |  June 21, 2020 (Saros 137) |  May 31, 2049 (Saros 138) |
May 11, 2078 (Saros 139) |  April 23, 2107 (Saros 140) |  April 1, 2136 (Saros 141) |
 March 12, 2165 (Saros 142) |  February 21, 2194 (Saros 143) | |
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