An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, December 14, 2001, with a magnitude of 0.9681. 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 wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 7.9 days after perigee (on December 6, 2001, at 22:40 UTC) and 6.7 days before apogee (on December 21, 2001, at 13:00 UTC).
Annularity was visible across the Pacific Ocean, southern Costa Rica, northern Nicaragua and San Andrés Island, Colombia. The central shadow passed just south of Hawaii in early morning and ended over Central America near sunset. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America, Central America, northwestern South America, and Hawaii.
Observation
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 highest solar 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. The International Occultation Timing Association made up of scientists from different countries planned to measure the diameter of the Sun with Baily's beads that appeared at the moment of the second and third contacts in Santa Rosa National Park on the northern edge of the path of annularity, but failed. A team of professors from the University of Costa Rica and abroad traveled to Ostional Mixed Wildlife Refuge, kilometres north of Nosara. 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.
Coincidentally, the 2001 Geminids peaked in the early morning of December 14 local time, less than 24 hours before the annular solar eclipse.
Eclipse timing Places experiencing annular eclipse Solar Eclipse of December 14, 2001(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 Liberia 15:11:39 16:30:42 16:32:02 16:33:22 17:21:53 (sunset) 2:40 2:10 91.50% Alajuela 15:13:44 16:31:57 16:32:55 16:33:53 17:18:05 (sunset) 1:56 2:04 91.44% San José 15:13:58 16:32:39 16:33:00 16:33:23 17:17:42 (sunset) 0:44 2:04 91.44% 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:
Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of December 14, 2001(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Midway Atoll 07:33:23 (sunrise) 08:11:10 09:27:12 1:54 90.45% Honolulu 08:08:06 09:26:54 11:00:47 2:53 78.80% Kiritimati 08:20:34 09:39:13 11:13:21 2:53 54.61% Taioha'e 09:26:14 11:03:25 12:49:54 3:24 53.50% Washington, D.C. 16:12:58 16:43:36 16:46:51 (sunset) 0:34 15.76% Clipperton Island 12:11:08 13:58:29 15:26:12 3:15 65.93% Santo Domingo 17:24:17 18:03:00 18:05:31 (sunset) 0:41 42.30% Cockburn Harbour 16:21:47 17:03:27 17:06:02 (sunset) 0:44 44.50% Caracas 17:31:16 18:05:29 18:07:55 (sunset) 0:37 35.06% Providenciales 16:21:13 17:05:45 17:08:21 (sunset) 0:47 47.94% Willemstad 17:28:47 18:10:42 18:13:14 (sunset) 0:44 46.96% Port-au-Prince 16:22:43 17:12:27 17:14:59 (sunset) 0:52 58.20% Mexico City 14:44:53 16:12:54 17:26:20 2:41 48.92% Oranjestad 17:27:45 18:14:25 18:16:52 (sunset) 0:49 54.34% Nassau 16:16:31 17:19:16 17:21:57 (sunset) 1:05 56.96% Maracaibo 17:27:45 18:23:55 18:26:33 (sunset) 0:59 66.41% Havana 16:12:34 17:26:24 17:46:04 (sunset) 1:34 58.39% Belmopan 15:04:59 16:26:31 17:23:11 (sunset) 2:18 67.79% Guatemala City 15:02:11 16:26:32 17:35:07 (sunset) 2:33 73.73% San Salvador 15:04:41 16:28:09 17:31:25 (sunset) 2:27 78.45% Tegucigalpa 15:07:57 16:29:28 17:22:44 (sunset) 2:15 79.89% George Town 16:14:30 17:29:47 17:49:42 (sunset) 1:35 71.35% Galápagos Islands 15:09:16 16:30:22 17:38:37 2:29 64.34% Managua 15:09:54 16:30:58 17:22:28 (sunset) 2:13 87.39% Kingston 16:19:29 17:31:18 17:33:50 (sunset) 1:14 81.60% Limón 15:15:29 16:33:31 17:13:23 (sunset) 1:58 90.68% Panama City 16:20:39 17:35:09 18:01:06 (sunset) 1:40 82.71% Barranquilla 16:24:45 17:35:38 17:38:42 (sunset) 1:14 82.33% Quito 16:28:04 17:36:07 18:12:59 (sunset) 1:45 50.82% Bogotá 16:29:41 17:36:56 17:46:57 (sunset) 1:17 60.14%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 December 2001 December 14Descending node (new moon) December 30Ascending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 132 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 144
Related eclipses Eclipses in 2001 A total lunar eclipse on January 9. A total solar eclipse on June 21. A partial lunar eclipse on July 5. An annular solar eclipse on December 14. A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 30.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 2005
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1994 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 9, 1992 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 21, 2010
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012
Solar Saros 132 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 25, 2030
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1915 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2088
Solar eclipses of 2000–2003
Saros 132
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
NASA Press release: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2001 December 14
Photos: Photos of solar eclipse around the world
Partial Solar Eclipse from the USA SpaceWeather.com Dec 14, 2001, Solar Eclipse Gallery and