| Annular eclipse | |
 Partial fromMinneapolis, Minnesota | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | 0.4089 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 0.9681 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 233 s (3 min 53 s) |
| Coordinates | 0°36′N130°42′W / 0.6°N 130.7°W /0.6; -130.7 |
| Max. width of band | 126 km (78 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 20:53:01 |
| References | |
| Saros | 132 (45 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9512 |
An annularsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit on Friday, December 14, 2001,[1][2][3][4] with amagnitude of 0.9681. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like anannulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 7.9 days afterperigee (on December 6, 2001, at 22:40 UTC) and 6.7 days beforeapogee (on December 21, 2001, at 13:00 UTC).[5]
Annularity was visible across thePacific Ocean, southernCosta Rica, northernNicaragua andSan Andrés Island,Colombia. The central shadow passed just south ofHawaii in early morning and ended overCentral America near sunset. A partial eclipse was visible for parts ofNorth America,Central America, northwesternSouth America, andHawaii.
The path of annularity was mostly on the sea, so observers were concentrated in Central America, the only land covered by the path, especially in Costa Rica with the largest area covered by the path and highestsolar zenith angle. However, it was cloudy or rainy in many parts of the country during the eclipse, and only a few observers saw the annular eclipse.[6] The International Occultation Timing Association made up of scientists from different countries planned to measure the diameter of the Sun withBaily's beads that appeared at the moment of the second and third contacts inSanta Rosa National Park on the northern edge of the path of annularity, but failed.[7] A team of professors from theUniversity of Costa Rica and abroad traveled toOstional Mixed Wildlife Refuge, kilometres north ofNosara. The Sun could be seen through the clouds after the eclipse started, but it was completely clouded out when 80% was blocked by the Moon. All the stages after that, including the annularity, could not be seen.[8]
Coincidentally, the 2001Geminids peaked in the early morning of December 14 local time, less than 24 hours before the annular solar eclipse.[7]
| Country or territory | City or place | Start of partial eclipse | Start of annular eclipse | Maximum eclipse | End of annular eclipse | End of partial eclipse | Duration of annularity (min:s) | Duration of eclipse (hr:min) | Maximum coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Costa Rica | Liberia | 15:11:39 | 16:30:42 | 16:32:02 | 16:33:22 | 17:21:53 (sunset) | 2:40 | 2:10 | 91.50% |
| Costa Rica | Alajuela | 15:13:44 | 16:31:57 | 16:32:55 | 16:33:53 | 17:18:05 (sunset) | 1:56 | 2:04 | 91.44% |
| Costa Rica | San José | 15:13:58 | 16:32:39 | 16:33:00 | 16:33:23 | 17:17:42 (sunset) | 0:44 | 2:04 | 91.44% |
 Colombia | San Andrés | 16:16:17 | 17:32:45 | 17:33:13 | 17:33:41 | 18:03:25 (sunset) | 0:56 | 1:47 | 91.27% |
| References:[1] | |||||||||
| Country or territory | City or place | Start of partial eclipse | Maximum eclipse | End of partial eclipse | Duration of eclipse (hr:min) | Maximum coverage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 United States Minor Outlying Islands | Midway Atoll | 07:33:23 (sunrise) | 08:11:10 | 09:27:12 | 1:54 | 90.45% | |||
 United States | Honolulu | 08:08:06 | 09:26:54 | 11:00:47 | 2:53 | 78.80% | |||
 Kiribati | Kiritimati[a] | 08:20:34 | 09:39:13 | 11:13:21 | 2:53 | 54.61% | |||
 French Polynesia | Taioha'e | 09:26:14 | 11:03:25 | 12:49:54 | 3:24 | 53.50% | |||
| United States | Washington, D.C. | 16:12:58 | 16:43:36 | 16:46:51 (sunset) | 0:34 | 15.76% | |||
 Clipperton Island | Clipperton Island | 12:11:08 | 13:58:29 | 15:26:12 | 3:15 | 65.93% | |||
 Dominican Republic | Santo Domingo | 17:24:17 | 18:03:00 | 18:05:31 (sunset) | 0:41 | 42.30% | |||
 Turks and Caicos Islands | Cockburn Harbour | 16:21:47 | 17:03:27 | 17:06:02 (sunset) | 0:44 | 44.50% | |||
 Venezuela | Caracas | 17:31:16 | 18:05:29 | 18:07:55 (sunset) | 0:37 | 35.06% | |||
| Turks and Caicos Islands | Providenciales | 16:21:13 | 17:05:45 | 17:08:21 (sunset) | 0:47 | 47.94% | |||
 Curaçao | Willemstad | 17:28:47 | 18:10:42 | 18:13:14 (sunset) | 0:44 | 46.96% | |||
 Haiti | Port-au-Prince | 16:22:43 | 17:12:27 | 17:14:59 (sunset) | 0:52 | 58.20% | |||
 Mexico | Mexico City | 14:44:53 | 16:12:54 | 17:26:20 | 2:41 | 48.92% | |||
 Aruba | Oranjestad | 17:27:45 | 18:14:25 | 18:16:52 (sunset) | 0:49 | 54.34% | |||
 Bahamas | Nassau | 16:16:31 | 17:19:16 | 17:21:57 (sunset) | 1:05 | 56.96% | |||
| Venezuela | Maracaibo | 17:27:45 | 18:23:55 | 18:26:33 (sunset) | 0:59 | 66.41% | |||
 Cuba | Havana | 16:12:34 | 17:26:24 | 17:46:04 (sunset) | 1:34 | 58.39% | |||
 Belize | Belmopan | 15:04:59 | 16:26:31 | 17:23:11 (sunset) | 2:18 | 67.79% | |||
 Guatemala | Guatemala City | 15:02:11 | 16:26:32 | 17:35:07 (sunset) | 2:33 | 73.73% | |||
 El Salvador | San Salvador | 15:04:41 | 16:28:09 | 17:31:25 (sunset) | 2:27 | 78.45% | |||
 Honduras | Tegucigalpa | 15:07:57 | 16:29:28 | 17:22:44 (sunset) | 2:15 | 79.89% | |||
 Cayman Islands | George Town | 16:14:30 | 17:29:47 | 17:49:42 (sunset) | 1:35 | 71.35% | |||
| United States Minor Outlying Islands | Galápagos Islands | 15:09:16 | 16:30:22 | 17:38:37 | 2:29 | 64.34% | |||
 Nicaragua | Managua | 15:09:54 | 16:30:58 | 17:22:28 (sunset) | 2:13 | 87.39% | |||
 Jamaica | Kingston | 16:19:29 | 17:31:18 | 17:33:50 (sunset) | 1:14 | 81.60% | |||
| Costa Rica | Limón | 15:15:29 | 16:33:31 | 17:13:23 (sunset) | 1:58 | 90.68% | |||
 Panama | Panama City | 16:20:39 | 17:35:09 | 18:01:06 (sunset) | 1:40 | 82.71% | |||
| Colombia | Barranquilla | 16:24:45 | 17:35:38 | 17:38:42 (sunset) | 1:14 | 82.33% | |||
 Ecuador | Quito | 16:28:04 | 17:36:07 | 18:12:59 (sunset) | 1:45 | 50.82% | |||
| Colombia | Bogotá | 16:29:41 | 17:36:56 | 17:46:57 (sunset) | 1:17 | 60.14% | |||
| References:[1] | |||||||||
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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.
| December 14 Descending node (new moon) | December 30 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 132 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 144 |
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.[9]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 5, 2000 andJuly 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | July 1, 2000 Partial | −1.28214 | 122 Partial projection inMinneapolis, MN, USA | December 25, 2000 Partial | 1.13669 | |
127 Totality inLusaka, Zambia | June 21, 2001 Total | −0.57013 | 132 Partial inMinneapolis, MN, USA | December 14, 2001 Annular | 0.40885 | |
137.jpg) Partial inLos Angeles, CA, USA | June 10, 2002 Annular | 0.19933 | 142 Totality inWoomera, South Australia | December 4, 2002 Total | −0.30204 | |
147 Annularity inCulloden, Scotland | May 31, 2003 Annular | 0.99598 | 152.jpg) | November 23, 2003 Total | −0.96381 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 13, 1208. It contains annular eclipses from March 17, 1569 through March 12, 2146; hybrid eclipses on March 23, 2164 and April 3, 2182; and total eclipses from April 14, 2200 through June 19, 2308. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 25, 2470. 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 annularity was produced by member 25 at 6 minutes, 56 seconds on May 9, 1641, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 61 at 2 minutes, 14 seconds on June 8, 2290. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[10]
| Series members 34–56 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | 35 | 36 | |
 August 17, 1803 |  August 27, 1821 |  September 7, 1839 | |
| 37 | 38 | 39 | |
 September 18, 1857 |  September 29, 1875 |  October 9, 1893 | |
| 40 | 41 | 42 | |
 October 22, 1911 |  November 1, 1929 |  November 12, 1947 | |
| 43 | 44 | 45 | |
 November 23, 1965 |  December 4, 1983 | December 14, 2001 | |
| 46 | 47 | 48 | |
 December 26, 2019 |  January 5, 2038 |  January 16, 2056 | |
| 49 | 50 | 51 | |
 January 27, 2074 |  February 7, 2092 |  February 18, 2110 | |
| 52 | 53 | 54 | |
 March 1, 2128 |  March 12, 2146 |  March 23, 2164 | |
| 55 | 56 | ||
 April 3, 2182 |  April 14, 2200 | ||
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 descending node.
| 21 eclipse events between July 22, 1971 and July 22, 2047 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 22 | May 9–11 | February 26–27 | December 14–15 | October 2–3 |
| 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 |
 July 22, 1971 |  May 11, 1975 |  February 26, 1979 |  December 15, 1982 |  October 3, 1986 |
| 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 |
 July 22, 1990 |  May 10, 1994 |  February 26, 1998 | December 14, 2001 |  October 3, 2005 |
| 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 |
 July 22, 2009 |  May 10, 2013 |  February 26, 2017 |  December 14, 2020 |  October 2, 2024 |
| 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
 July 22, 2028 |  May 9, 2032 |  February 27, 2036 |  December 15, 2039 |  October 3, 2043 |
| 156 | ||||
 July 22, 2047 | ||||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 April 14, 1828 (Saros 126) |  March 25, 1857 (Saros 127) |  March 5, 1886 (Saros 128) |
 February 14, 1915 (Saros 129) |  January 25, 1944 (Saros 130) |  January 4, 1973 (Saros 131) |
December 14, 2001 (Saros 132) |  November 25, 2030 (Saros 133) |  November 5, 2059 (Saros 134) |
 October 14, 2088 (Saros 135) |  September 26, 2117 (Saros 136) |  September 6, 2146 (Saros 137) |
 August 16, 2175 (Saros 138) | ||
Photos:
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