An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Sunday, May 20 and Monday, May 21, 2012, with a magnitude of 0.9439. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres or miles wide. Occurring about 1.3 days after apogee (on May 19, 2012, at 17:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The annular eclipse was the first visible from the contiguous United States since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 (Saros 128), and the first in Asia since the solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 (Saros 141). The path of the eclipse's antumbra included heavily populated regions of China and Japan, and an estimated 100 million people in those areas were capable of viewing annularity. In the western United States, its path included 8 states, and an estimated 6 million people were capable of viewing annularity.
The eclipse was visible in a band spanning through East Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and North America. As a partial solar eclipse, it was visible from Greenland to Hawaii, and from eastern Indonesia at sunrise to western North America at sunset.
Visibility and viewing
The antumbra had a magnitude of .94, stretched wide, and traveled eastbound at an average rate of per second, remaining north of the equator throughout the event. The longest duration of annularity was 5 minutes and 46 seconds, occurring just south of the Aleutian Islands. The eclipse began on a Monday and ended on the previous Sunday, as it crossed the International Date Line.
Asia The annular eclipse commenced over the Chinese province of Guangxi at sunrise, at 6:06 a.m. China Standard Time. Travelling northeast, the antumbra of the eclipse approached and passed over the cities of Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, reaching Taipei by 6:10 a.m NST. After crossing the East China Sea, it passed over much of eastern Japan, including Osaka and Tokyo at 7:28 a.m and 7:32 a.m JST respectively, before entering the Pacific Ocean. The penumbra of the eclipse was visible throughout Eastern Asia and various islands in the Pacific Ocean until noon.
The path of the antumbra over highly populated areas allowed at least an estimated 100 million people to view annularity. Because the eclipse took place during the summer monsoon season in Southeast Asia, viewing conditions were not ideal in some areas, including Hong Kong.
North America After traveling approximately 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean, the antumbra entered North America between the coastlines of Oregon and California, reaching the coastal city of Eureka, California at 6:25 p.m PDT. After passing over Medford, Oregon and Redding, California, it had reached Reno, Nevada by 6:28 p.m PDT. The eclipse continued to travel southeast, passing 30 miles (48 km) north of Las Vegas, Nevada, over St. George, Utah, and reaching the Grand Canyon by approximately 6:33 p.m MST. After passing over Albuquerque, New Mexico and Lubbock, Texas, the eclipse terminated above central Texas at sunset, 8:38 p.m. CST. An estimated 6.6 million people lived under the path of the antumbra. The penumbra was visible throughout most of North America, including the islands of Hawaii.
Eclipse timing Places experiencing annular eclipse Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012(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 magnitude Hong Kong 05:41:16 (sunrise) 06:06:48 06:08:31 06:10:15 07:16:23 3:27 1:35 87.03% Kowloon 05:40:56 (sunrise) 06:06:49 06:08:32 06:10:15 07:16:26 3:26 1:36 87.04% Macau 05:44:00 (sunrise) 06:06:41 06:08:34 06:10:26 07:16:04 3:45 1:32 87.01% Shenzhen 05:41:20 (sunrise) 06:06:50 06:08:50 06:10:49 07:16:41 3:59 1:35 87.03% Shantou 05:29:24 (sunrise) 06:07:29 06:09:14 06:10:59 07:18:41 3:30 1:49 87.16% Foshan 05:44:13 (sunrise) 06:07:25 06:09:38 06:11:50 07:17:05 4:25 1:33 87.01% Guangzhou 05:43:27 (sunrise) 06:07:31 06:09:43 06:11:55 07:17:16 4:24 1:34 87.02% Xiamen 05:21:48 (sunrise) 06:08:14 06:10:24 06:12:32 07:20:53 4:18 1:59 87.25% Hsinchu 05:09:35 (sunrise) 06:09:42 06:10:36 06:11:29 07:22:53 1:47 2:13 87.37% Taoyuan 05:07:52 (sunrise) 06:09:50 06:10:50 06:11:49 07:23:22 1:59 2:16 87.39% Taipei 05:07:13 06:10:00 06:10:56 06:11:50 07:23:37 1:50 2:17 87.40% Fuzhou 05:13:53 (sunrise) 06:10:16 06:12:23 06:14:30 07:23:55 4:14 2:10 87.34% Kagoshima 06:12:48 07:20:03 07:22:11 07:24:19 08:42:27 4:16 2:30 87.93% Kobe 06:17:10 07:28:48 07:29:42 07:30:35 08:53:57 1:47 2:37 88.18% Osaka 06:17:09 07:28:28 07:29:53 07:31:16 08:54:23 2:48 2:37 88.19% Kyoto 06:17:42 07:29:52 07:30:37 07:31:21 08:55:21 1:29 2:38 88.21% Suzuka 06:17:29 07:28:53 07:30:53 07:32:53 08:56:18 4:00 2:39 88.24% Hamamatsu 06:17:16 07:28:50 07:31:20 07:33:49 08:57:44 4:59 2:40 88.28% Nagoya 06:17:58 07:29:45 07:31:36 07:33:27 08:57:18 3:42 2:39 88.26% Shizuoka 06:17:45 07:29:46 07:32:16 07:34:46 08:59:14 5:00 2:41 88.31% Yokosuka 06:18:24 07:31:18 07:33:46 07:36:15 09:01:51 4:57 2:43 88.37% Yokohama 06:18:41 07:31:30 07:34:01 07:36:32 09:02:00 5:02 2:43 88.37% Sagamihara 06:18:51 07:31:34 07:34:04 07:36:35 09:01:54 5:01 2:43 88.36% Kawasaki 06:18:49 07:31:44 07:34:16 07:36:47 09:02:22 5:03 2:44 88.37% Tokyo 06:19:06 07:32:01 07:34:32 07:37:04 09:02:38 5:03 2:44 88.37% Utsunomiya 06:20:37 07:34:14 07:36:18 07:38:22 09:04:31 4:08 2:44 88.39% Carson City 17:15:54 18:29:18 18:31:14 18:33:10 19:37:40 3:52 2:22 87.66% Santa Fe 18:27:45 19:33:11 19:34:58 19:36:44 20:06:16 (sunset) 3:33 1:39 87.09% Albuquerque 18:28:22 19:33:37 19:35:50 19:38:03 20:07:43 (sunset) 4:26 1:39 87.10% Midland 19:32:57 20:36:26 20:37:45 20:39:04 20:42:27 (sunset) 2:38 1:10 86.86%References:
Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Ngerulmud 05:57:21 06:51:35 07:53:16 1:56 26.48% Manila 05:27:00 (sunrise) 05:58:42 07:06:11 1:39 61.59% Kota Kinabalu 05:59:53 (sunrise) 06:02:09 06:51:48 0:52 39.97% Hagåtña 07:00:38 08:02:21 09:14:38 2:14 29.03% Bandar Seri Begawan 06:06:03 (sunrise) 06:08:19 06:50:17 0:44 33.95% Kaohsiung 05:14:52 (sunrise) 06:08:22 07:19:50 2:05 84.82% Taichung 05:12:03 (sunrise) 06:09:47 07:21:42 2:10 86.91% Hanoi 05:16:48 (sunrise) 05:19:15 06:13:42 0:57 74.87% Shanghai 05:15:02 06:19:44 07:33:14 2:18 81.34% Kumamoto 06:14:36 07:24:16 08:44:46 2:30 87.68% Fukuoka 06:15:53 07:25:29 08:45:46 2:30 86.01% Stung Treng 05:28:43 (sunrise) 05:31:03 06:04:48 0:36 37.77% Seoul 06:23:15 07:31:07 08:48:20 2:25 73.44% Beijing 05:31:29 06:33:13 07:41:53 2:10 57.49% Pyongyang 06:26:11 07:33:16 08:49:15 2:23 68.96% Vientiane 05:34:59 (sunrise) 05:37:23 06:10:30 0:36 38.74% Niigata 06:22:54 07:38:12 09:05:31 2:43 86.56% Phnom Penh 05:35:59 (sunrise) 05:38:17 06:02:40 0:27 23.75% Khon Kaen 05:36:36 (sunrise) 05:38:58 06:08:46 0:32 33.23% Ulaanbaatar 05:51:56 06:46:46 07:46:04 1:54 36.20% Sapporo 06:33:05 07:49:49 09:17:35 2:45 77.80% Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 08:41:39 09:58:33 11:25:18 2:44 70.51% Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 10:03:14 11:27:39 12:59:04 2:56 70.92% Anadyr 10:43:38 12:01:43 13:20:14 2:37 50.26% Toronto 20:19:23 20:38:20 20:41:39 (sunset) 0:22 15.90% Calgary 18:03:56 19:13:57 20:17:44 2:14 61.70% Vancouver 16:58:39 18:14:52 19:23:15 2:25 72.86% Los Angeles 17:24:58 18:38:15 19:42:41 2:18 78.52% Ciudad Juárez 18:32:51 19:39:31 19:59:31 (sunset) 1:27 83.87% Hermosillo 17:35:45 18:43:25 19:11:55 (sunset) 1:36 72.42%References:
Gallery Asia
North America
Eclipse details 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.
+May 20, 2012 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2012 May 20 at 20:57:13.9 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2012 May 20 at 22:07:23.9 UTC First Central Line 2012 May 20 at 22:10:08.2 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2012 May 20 at 22:12:53.7 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2012 May 20 at 23:48:08.1 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2012 May 20 at 23:53:53.6 UTC Greatest Duration 2012 May 20 at 23:56:59.8 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2012 May 21 at 00:00:16.3 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2012 May 21 at 01:34:49.7 UTC Last Central Line 2012 May 21 at 01:37:34.4 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2012 May 21 at 01:40:18.0 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2012 May 21 at 02:50:28.7 UTC
+May 20, 2012 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.94390 Eclipse Obscuration 0.89094 Gamma 0.48279 Sun Right Ascension 03h52m43.0s Sun Declination +20°13'15.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.1" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 03h52m30.7s Moon Declination +20°39'06.3" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'43.3" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'01.7" ΔT 66.7 s
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 May–June 2012 May 20Descending node (new moon) June 4Ascending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 128 Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 140
Related eclipses Eclipses in 2012 An annular solar eclipse on May 20. A partial lunar eclipse on June 4. A total solar eclipse on November 13. A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 28.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2019
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2003 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023
Solar Saros 128 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 1, 2030
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2041
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1925 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 21, 2099
Solar eclipses of 2011–2014
Saros 128
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References