Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012
A total solar eclipse took place on 13–14 November 2012 (UTC). Because it crossed the International Date Line it began in local time on November 14 west of the date line over northern Australia, and ended in local time on November 13 east of the date line near the west coast of South America. Its greatest magnitude was 1.0500, occurring only 12 hours before perigee (Perigee on 2012 Nov 14 at 10:11:48 UTC), with greatest eclipse totality lasting just over four minutes. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.
Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012 | |
---|---|
Map | |
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Total |
Gamma | -0.3719 |
Magnitude | 1.05 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 242 sec (4 m 2 s) |
Coordinates | 40°S 161.3°W |
Max. width of band | 179 km (111 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
(P1) Partial begin | 19:37:58 |
(U1) Total begin | 20:35:08 |
Greatest eclipse | 22:12:55 |
(U4) Total end | 23:48:24 |
(P4) Partial end | 0:45:34 |
References | |
Saros | 133 (45 of 72) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9536 |
It was the 45th eclipse of the 133rd Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on July 13, 1219 and will conclude with a partial eclipse on September 5, 2499.
Summary of the Total Solar Eclipse of 13 November 2012
Eclipse Characteristics
Eclipse Magnitude = 1.05004
Eclipse Obscuration = 1.10259
Gamma = -0.37189
Saros Series = 133rd (45 of 72)
Conjunction Times
Greatest Eclipse = 13 Nov 2012 22:11:48.2 UTC (22:12:55.2 TD)
Ecliptic Conjunction = 13 Nov 2012 22:07:59.9 UTC (22:09:06.9 TD)
Equatorial Conjunction = 13 Nov 2012 22:18:04.7 UTC (22:19:11.7 TD)
Geocentric Coordinates of Sun and Moon
Sun right ascension = 15 hours, 18 minutes, 6.7 seconds
Moon right ascension = 15 hours, 17 minutes, 51.2 seconds
Earth's shadow right ascension = 3 hours, 18 minutes, 6.7 seconds
Sun declination = 18 degrees, 15 minutes, 2.6 seconds south of Celestial Equator
Moon declination = 18 degrees, 37 minutes, 29.5 seconds south of Celestial Equator
Earth's shadow declination = 18 degrees, 15 minutes, 2.6 seconds north of Celestial Equator
Sun diameter = 1939.8 arcseconds
Moon diameter = 2004.8 arcseconds
Geocentric Libration of Moon
Latitude: 1.0 degrees south
Longitude: 0.5 degrees east
Direction: 16.5 (NNE)
Visibility
For this eclipse, totality was visible from northern Australia to about 470 km north of the Chilean Juan Fernández Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean where totality ended. The most populous city to experience totality was Cairns, which had around 2 minutes of totality an hour after daybreak (06:39 AEST, 20:39 UTC) with the sun at an altitude of 14°.[1] Norfolk Island, a small Pacific island east of Australia, experienced a partial eclipse with a maximum eclipse of 98% of the sun obscured at 08:37 NFT and an altitude of 42°.
New Zealand experienced a partial eclipse. Auckland had 84.8% of the sun obscured, whereas Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin respectively had 71.2%, 61.9% and 52.9% of the sun obscured. Maximum eclipse over New Zealand occurred around 10:30 NZDT (21:30 UTC), with Auckland at 10:27, Wellington at 10:34, Christchurch at 10:35 and Dunedin at 10:36.[2][3]
Most of Chile and parts of Argentina saw a partial eclipse at sunset. In some places over half the sun was obscured. In Chile, Talcahuano in Biobío saw 72% obscured, Castro in Los Lagos saw 56% obscured. Chilean coastal locations were ideally situated to observe an eclipsing sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Points further north, up to about Chañaral, saw the eclipse begin as the sun was setting.
West of the International Date Line the eclipse took place on the morning of November 14. The maximum eclipse totality, of duration 4 min 2 sec, occurred east of the International Date Line on November 13, approximately 2,000 km east of New Zealand, and 9,600 km west of Chile.
On the morning of November 14, skies in Auckland were cloudy, obscuring much of the eclipse, which peaked at 10:27 NZDT.[4] Cloud also obscured the moment of totality at Cairns, disappointing many tourists that had flocked to the area. Eclipse chasers along the northern beaches up through to Port Douglas generally got a clear view however.
Photo gallery
- Screenshot of NASA video viewed from northern Australia
- Totality from Mount Carbine, Queensland, 20:33 UTC
- Totality from Mount Mulligan, Queensland, 20:39 UTC
- Totality from Port Douglas, Queensland, 20:40 UTC
- Totality with Baily's beads in Mossman Gorge, Queensland, 20:40 UTC
- Totality from Trinity Beach, Queensland, 20:41 UTC
- Partial from Redcliffe, Queensland, 20:46 UTC
- Partial from Adelaide, Australia, 20:47 UTC
- Partial from Brisbane, Australia, 21:07 UTC
- Partial from Eltham, Victoria, 21:07 UTC
- Partial from Nouméa, New Caledonia, 21:09 UTC
- Partial from Melbourne, Australia, 21:12 UTC
- Partial from Tauranga, New Zealand, 21:23 UTC
- Partial from Christchurch, New Zealand, 21:29 UTC
- Eclipse projection from Wellington, New Zealand
- Progression from Auckland, New Zealand
Related eclipses
Eclipses of 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.
Solar eclipses of 2011–2014
This eclipse is a member of the 2011–2014 solar eclipse semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5][Note 1]
Solar eclipse series sets from 2011–2014 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
118 Partial from Tromsø, Norway |
2011 June 01 Partial (north) |
1.21300 | 123 | 2011 November 25 Partial (south) |
-1.05359 | |
128 Middlegate, Nevada |
2012 May 20 Annular |
0.48279 | 133 Cairns, Australia |
2012 November 13 Total |
-0.37189 | |
138 Churchills Head, Australia |
2013 May 10 Annular |
-0.26937 | 143 Partial from Libreville, Gabon |
2013 November 03 Hybrid |
0.32715 | |
148 Partial from Adelaide, Australia |
2014 April 29 Annular (non-central) |
-0.99996 | 153 Partial from Minneapolis |
2014 October 23 Partial (north) |
1.09078 |
Saros 133
Solar Saros 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 13, 1219. It contains annular eclipses from November 20, 1435, through January 13, 1526, with a hybrid eclipse on January 24, 1544. It has total eclipses from February 3, 1562, through June 21, 2373. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on September 5, 2499. The longest duration of totality was 6 minutes, 49.97 seconds on August 7, 1850.[6] The total eclipses of this saros series are getting shorter and farther south with each iteration. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.
Series members 30–56 occur between 1742 and 2211 | ||
---|---|---|
30 | 31 | 32 |
June 3, 1742 | June 13, 1760 | June 24, 1778 |
33 | 34 | 35 |
July 4, 1796 | July 17, 1814 | July 27, 1832 |
36 | 37 | 38 |
August 7, 1850 | August 18, 1868 |
August 29, 1886 |
39 | 40 | 41 |
September 9, 1904 |
September 21, 1922 |
October 1, 1940 |
42 | 43 | 44 |
October 12, 1958 |
October 23, 1976 |
November 3, 1994 |
45 | 46 | 47 |
November 13, 2012 |
November 25, 2030 |
December 5, 2048 |
48 | 49 | 50 |
December 17, 2066 |
December 27, 2084 |
January 8, 2103 |
51 | 52 | 53 |
January 19, 2121 |
January 30, 2139 |
February 9, 2157 |
54 | 55 | 56 |
February 21, 2175 |
March 3, 2193 |
March 15, 2211 |
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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.
Inex series members between 1901 and 2100: | ||
---|---|---|
January 14, 1926 (Saros 130) |
December 25, 1954 (Saros 131) |
December 4, 1983 (Saros 132) |
November 13, 2012 (Saros 133) |
October 25, 2041 (Saros 134) |
October 4, 2070 (Saros 135) |
September 14, 2099 (Saros 136) |
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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 1901 and 2100 | |||
---|---|---|---|
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) |
Metonic series
The metonic 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 ascending node.
21 eclipse events between June 21, 1982, and June 21, 2058 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
June 21 | April 8–9 | January 26 | November 13–14 | September 1–2 |
107 | 109 | 111 | 113 | 115 |
June 21, 1963 | April 9, 1967 | January 26, 1971 | November 14, 1974 | September 2, 1978 |
117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
June 21, 1982 |
April 9, 1986 |
January 26, 1990 |
November 13, 1993 |
September 2, 1997 |
127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
June 21, 2001 |
April 8, 2005 |
January 26, 2009 |
November 13, 2012 |
September 1, 2016 |
137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
June 21, 2020 |
April 8, 2024 |
January 26, 2028 |
November 14, 2031 |
September 2, 2035 |
147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
June 21, 2039 |
April 9, 2043 |
January 26, 2047 |
November 14, 2050 |
September 2, 2054 |
157 | ||||
June 21, 2058 |
Notes
- The partial solar eclipses of January 4, 2011 and July 1, 2011 occurred in the previous semester series.
References
- "Eclipse Calculator – Solar Eclipses in Cairns, Queensland, Australia". Time and Date AS. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- "Future solar eclipses in New Zealand". Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- Total Solar Eclipse of 2012 November 14 in Australia Xavier M. Jubier
- "New Zealanders treated to solar eclipse". 3 News NZ. 13 November 2012.
- van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros133.html
External links
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- www.eclipser.ca: Jay Anderson 2012 November 13 Total Solar Eclipse
- timeanddate.com Nov 13 - Nov 14, 2012 Total Solar Eclipse — Animated eclipse viewer
- NASA video of eclipse, shot in northern Australia