A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, April 8, 2005, with a magnitude of 1.0074. It was a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance from annular to total and back as the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth's surface. Totality occurs between the annularity paths across the surface of the Earth, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 4.3 days after perigee (on April 4, 2005, at 12:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
It was visible within a narrow corridor in the Pacific Ocean. The path of the eclipse started south of New Zealand and crossed the Pacific Ocean in a diagonal path and ended in the extreme northwestern part of South America. The total solar eclipse was not visible on any land, but the annular solar eclipse was visible in the southern tip of Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of New Zealand, Oceania, West Antarctica, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and western South America.
A partial eclipse was photographed from Nicaragua; in Bogotá, several hundred schoolchildren watched the eclipse despite cloud cover. In Córdoba, an expedition from Bogotá's National University observed the eclipse.
In Panama, where the eclipse was visible (and nearly total) from nearly the entire country, it was reported that hundreds of people had booked hotels to view it, including astronomers from the United States, Mexico, France, Belgium, Denmark, Iran and Spain. While the totality of the eclipse occurred over the Pacific Ocean, it could be seen from some parts of the southern United States; it was reported that the southernmost parts of Florida had the best viewing conditions (with as much as 50% of the sun occluded), although rainy conditions in part of the region meant the event was partially obscured.
Observations NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Fred Espenak and Williams College professor Jay Pasachoff boarded the cruise ship Galapagos Legend and observed the eclipse from the sea west of the Galápagos Islands. The ship first docked at several islands in the Galapagos Islands from April 1 to 3, and then started sailing westward toward the path of totality on April 4. It was cloudy at first on April 8. The ship encountered relatively large wind and waves while sailing south to look for a location with clear sky. The clouds began to disperse from 2 pm, and the Sun could be seen through the thin clouds around 2:40. It cleared up later and during the totality, the weather was excellent and the observation was very successful. After another several days of sailing, the ship arrived at the Galápagos Islands again on April 12 and docked at several islands in the following days.
In addition, cruise ships including the MV Discovery and MS Paul Gauguin carried passengers around the Pitcairn Islands and French Polynesia. A team of NASA's did ground-based observations Penonomé, Coclé, Panama.
Images Animated path
Eclipse timing Places experiencing annular eclipse Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2005(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of annular eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of annular eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of annularity (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage David 15:53:09 17:10:18 17:10:22 17:10:25 18:17:52 0:07 2:25 99.55%References:
Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2005(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Auckland 06:40:59 (sunrise) 06:49:33 07:49:35 1:09 56.96% Wellington 06:44:32 (sunrise) 06:50:39 07:52:56 1:08 73.66% Chatham Islands 06:57:12 (sunrise) 07:38:09 08:44:30 1:47 89.67% Gambier Islands 09:18:22 10:41:56 12:11:51 2:53 87.60% Adamstown 10:21:42 11:47:00 13:17:42 2:56 95.34% Georgetown 17:15:16 17:59:08 18:01:20 (sunset) 0:46 60.72% Mexico City 15:46:40 17:02:24 18:10:45 2:24 48.83% Quito 15:50:55 17:05:09 18:10:05 2:19 68.16% Guatemala City 14:49:18 16:07:56 17:17:23 2:28 73.06% Bridgetown 17:19:16 18:08:24 18:10:38 (sunset) 0:51 65.04% San Salvador 14:49:51 16:08:32 17:17:52 2:28 77.25% Managua 14:52:02 16:10:04 17:18:36 2:27 84.46% San José 14:52:25 16:10:13 17:18:19 2:26 93.55% Tegucigalpa 14:53:29 16:10:41 17:18:44 2:25 76.73% Belmopan 14:56:22 16:11:26 17:18:06 2:22 64.17% Bogotá 16:01:01 17:12:50 18:03:47 (sunset) 2:03 84.89% Panama City 15:58:01 17:13:00 18:18:44 2:21 97.95% Port of Spain 17:16:23 18:13:55 18:16:50 (sunset) 1:00 81.81% Castries 17:19:23 18:13:55 18:16:39 (sunset) 0:57 69.68% Kingstown 17:18:33 18:13:55 18:17:06 (sunset) 0:59 72.87% St. George's 17:17:22 18:16:19 18:18:35 (sunset) 1:01 79.60% Basse-Terre 17:20:49 18:18:31 18:20:46 (sunset) 1:00 65.79% Caracas 17:12:48 18:19:11 18:38:16 (sunset) 1:25 89.88% Kingston 16:11:44 17:19:28 18:20:00 2:10 63.64% Oranjestad 17:12:02 18:19:29 18:51:59 (sunset) 1:40 61.43% Willemstad 17:12:35 18:19:33 18:47:21 (sunset) 1:35 84.50% Kralendijk 17:13:09 18:19:42 18:44:44 (sunset) 1:32 84.10% Port-au-Prince 17:16:26 18:21:09 19:04:44 (sunset) 1:48 60.89% Santo Domingo 17:18:13 18:21:39 18:55:04 (sunset) 1:37 60.58% San Juan 17:20:49 18:22:06 18:39:47 (sunset) 1:19 59.20%References:
Gallery
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse 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 a fortnight.
+ Eclipse season of April 2005 April 8Ascending node (new moon) April 24Descending node (full moon) Hybrid solar eclipseSolar Saros 129 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 141
Related eclipses Eclipses in 2005 A hybrid solar eclipse on April 8. A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 24. An annular solar eclipse on October 3. A partial lunar eclipse on October 17.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1996 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016
Solar Saros 129 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 20, 2034
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 8, 1918 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2092
Solar eclipses of 2004–2007
Saros 129
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
External links
Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 2005 April 08 (NASA.gov)
Google Map
Photos: Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. South Pacific (MV Discovery) Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Pacific (MV Galapagos Legend) Spaceweather.com eclipse gallery Clouds, Plane, Sun, Eclipse, North Carolina, USA APOD 4/11/2005 Hybrid Solar Eclipse, combined photo of totality 2,200 kilometers west of the Galapagos and annularity at Penonome Airfield APOD 5/6/2005 A Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse, APOD 11/3/2013