An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, February 7, 2008, with a magnitude of 0.965. 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 days after apogee (on January 31, 2008, at 4:25 UTC) and 6.9 days before perigee (on February 14, 2008, at 1:00 UTC).

The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.

Visibility

Centrality was visible from parts of Antarctica. A significant partial eclipse was visible over New Zealand and a minor partial eclipse was seen from southeastern Australia and much of Oceania.

For most solar eclipses the path of centrality moves eastwards. In this case the path moved west round Antarctica and then north.

Observations

The best land-based visibility outside of Antarctica was from New Zealand. Professional astronomer and eclipse-chaser Jay Pasachoff observed it from Nelson, New Zealand, 60% coverage, under perfect weather.Solar Eclipse in New Zealand , meade4m.com: Advisor/Partner: Jay Pasachoff2008 Annular Eclipse Professor Jay Pasachoff, Williams College--Hopkins Observatory

Images Animated path

Eclipse timing Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of February 7, 2008(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Marion Island 05:28:16 (sunrise) 05:31:44 05:35:08 0:07 0.42% Casey Station 10:02:18 11:03:36 12:05:53 2:04 31.30% Belgrano II Base 00:11:03 01:07:28 02:04:10 1:53 83.44% McMurdo Station 15:22:18 16:28:29 17:33:24 2:11 76.87% Macquarie Island 13:54:30 15:05:30 16:12:07 2:18 49.60% Hobart 14:18:47 15:19:18 16:15:53 1:57 18.53% Adelaide 14:36:26 14:56:39 15:16:23 0:40 0.49% Melbourne 14:38:34 15:28:13 16:14:54 1:36 8.91% Papeete 18:26:28 18:33:45 18:36:07 (sunset) 0:10 4.22% Canberra 14:47:33 15:38:49 16:26:37 1:39 10.74% Chatham Islands 17:17:58 18:24:41 19:25:56 2:08 66.35% Wellington 16:35:33 17:42:49 18:44:18 2:09 53.07% Sydney 14:52:30 15:44:08 16:32:07 1:40 11.55% Auckland 16:46:42 17:51:51 18:51:14 2:05 47.00% Lord Howe Island 14:59:09 15:55:28 16:47:12 1:48 18.71% Brisbane 14:18:39 15:00:06 15:38:55 1:20 6.19% Kingston 15:36:52 16:35:04 17:28:14 1:51 26.68% Rarotonga 18:23:26 19:15:46 19:21:41 (sunset) 0:58 43.61% Nouméa 15:29:03 16:17:26 17:02:08 1:33 14.57% Nuku'alofa 17:27:20 18:20:28 19:09:23 1:42 31.78% Alofi 17:31:06 18:22:18 18:59:26 (sunset) 1:28 32.17% Suva 16:37:09 17:25:39 18:10:29 1:33 20.34% Port Vila 15:43:57 16:25:46 17:04:45 1:21 9.94% Nadi 16:38:31 17:26:12 18:10:19 1:32 18.81% Lautoka 16:39:05 17:26:30 18:10:22 1:31 18.50% Pago Pago 17:43:04 18:28:48 18:56:40 (sunset) 1:14 22.05% Apia 17:44:43 18:29:42 19:00:24 (sunset) 1:16 20.44% Mata Utu 16:48:28 17:31:35 18:11:51 1:23 16.22% Fakaofo 17:56:39 18:34:45 18:52:54 (sunset) 0:56 12.37% Funafuti 17:07:52 17:38:36 18:07:48 1:00 5.23%References:

Gallery

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.

+February 7, 2008 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 01:39:34.7 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2008 February 07 at 03:09:56.4 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 03:20:50.1 UTC First Central Line 2008 February 07 at 03:25:03.4 UTC Greatest Duration 2008 February 07 at 03:25:03.4 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2008 February 07 at 03:29:52.5 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2008 February 07 at 03:45:36.0 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2008 February 07 at 03:56:10.5 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2008 February 07 at 04:23:01.0 UTC Last Central Line 2008 February 07 at 04:27:46.7 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 04:31:56.6 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2008 February 07 at 06:12:58.9 UTC

+February 7, 2008 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.96499 Eclipse Obscuration 0.93120 Gamma −0.95701 Sun Right Ascension 21h20m44.7s Sun Declination -15°30'56.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.1" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 21h22m15.3s Moon Declination -16°21'00.5" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'35.2" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'12.3" ΔT 65.4 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 February 2008 February 7Ascending node (new moon) February 21Descending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 121 Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 133

Related eclipses Eclipses in 2008 An annular solar eclipse on February 7. A total lunar eclipse on February 21. A total solar eclipse on August 1. A partial lunar eclipse on August 16.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 2004 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 25, 2011

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 1999 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 11, 2017

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 6, 2019

Solar Saros 121 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 1990 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 17, 2026

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1979 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 16, 2037

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1921 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 7, 2094

Solar eclipses of 2008–2011

Saros 121

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

External links

shadowandsubstance.com Annular Eclipse of the Sun animated for February 7, 2008 Photos of solar eclipse around the world Animation: Partial solar eclipse from New Zealand