A total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on August 1, 2008. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

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. It had a magnitude of 1.0394 that was visible from a narrow corridor through northern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, central

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, eastern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, western

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Occurring north of the

arctic circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

, it belonged to the so-called

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...

eclipses. The largest city in the path of the eclipse was

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

in Russia. Occurring only 2.5 days after perigee (Perigee on July 29, 2008), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger than average. The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) larger than the February 7, 2008 annular solar eclipse. This was the first eclipse this season, with the second being the 16 August 2008 partial lunar eclipse. The total eclipse lasted for 2 minutes 27 seconds, and covered 0.4% of the Earth's surface in a 10,200 km long path. It was the 47th eclipse of the 126th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on March 10, 1179, and will conclude with a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. A partial eclipse could be seen from the much broader path of the

penumbra The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast. Th ...

, including northeastern North America and most of Europe and Asia. It was described by observers as "special for its colours around the horizon. There were wonderful oranges and reds all around, the clouds lit up, some dark in silhouette, some golden, glowing yellowy-orange in the distance. You could see the shadow approaching against the clouds and then rushing away as it left." The moon's apparent diameter was larger because the eclipse was occurring only 58 hours, 56 minutes after perigee.

Start of eclipse: Canada and Greenland

Animated path The eclipse began in the far north of Canada in

at 09:21 UT, the zone of totality being 206 km wide, and lasting for 1 minute 30 seconds. The path of the eclipse then headed north-east, crossing over northern

and reaching the northernmost latitude of 83° 47′ at 09:38 UT before dipping down into Russia. The path of totality touched the northeast corner of

Kvitøya Kvitøya (English: "White Island") is an island in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with an area of . It is the easternmost part of the Kingdom of Norway. The closest Russian Arctic possession, Victoria Island, lies only to the ea ...

, an uninhabited Norwegian island in the

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

archipelago, at 09:47 UT.

Greatest eclipse: Russia

The eclipse reached the Russian mainland at 10:10 UT, with a path 232 km wide and a duration of 2 minutes 26 seconds. The greatest eclipse occurred shortly after, at 10:21:07 UT at coordinates (close to

Nadym Nadym (russian: Нады́м, Selkup: Ня́рэм, Nấrém) is a town in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the river Nadym. The population has fluctuated: Etymology There are three several translations from the Nenets langu ...

), when the path was 237 km wide, and the duration was 2 minutes 27 seconds. Cities in the path of the total eclipse included

Megion Megion (russian: Мегион) is a town in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Russia, located at the altitude of above sea level, on the right bank of the Ob River, east of Khanty-Mansiysk and northeast of Tyumen. The area of the town is ...

, Nizhnevartovsk,

Strezhevoy Strezhevoy (russian: Стрежево́й) is a town in Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of the Ob River's canal. Population: History It was founded in 1966 as a settlement near the village of Strezhevoy and was granted town status in ...

and Barnaul. Around 10,000 tourists were present in

, the largest city to experience the eclipse. For

Gorno-Altaysk Gorno-Altaysk (russian: Го́рно-Алта́йск, a=Горно-Алтайск.ogg, r=Gorno-Altaysk, p=ˈgornə ɐlˈtajsk; ; historically, pre-1932: Ulala) is the capital town of the Altai Republic, Russia. The population stands at around ...

the eclipse was the second consecutive total solar eclipse after the March 2006 eclipse.Eclipses and Transits Visible in Gorno-Altaysk
timeanddate.com Image:Солнечное затменение 049.jpg, Partial from Dmitrov Image:Max phase of partial eclipse 01.08.2008 in Magnitogorsk, Ural, Russia..jpg, Magnitogorsk at maximum phrase Image:Solar eclipse of 2008 August 1.JPG, Partial from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Image:NovosibirskTotalEclipsePhoto-cropped.jpg, Totality from

Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and about west of Koltsovo. It is the edu ...

(

) Image:Aug1Novosibirsk2008.JPG, Diamond ring effect in Novosibirsk Image:2008-08-01 Solar eclipse progression with timestamps.jpg, Eclipse progression in Novosibirsk. All times UTC (local time UTC+7) Image:Неполное солнечное затмение в Пскове (2008).jpg, Partial from

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...

, Russia Image:Eclipse 2008 Sar.JPG, Partial from

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

, Russia File:Частичное солнечное затмение (40915809292).jpg, Partial from

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

, Russia

Conclusion: Mongolia and China

The path of the eclipse then moved south-east, crossing into

and just clipping Kazakhstan at around 10:58 UT. The path here was 252 km wide, but the duration decreased to 2 minutes 10 seconds. The path then ran down the China-Mongolia border, ending in

at 11:18 UT, with an eclipse lasting 1 minute 27 seconds at sunset. The total eclipse finished at 11:21 UT. The total eclipse passed over Altay City, Hami and

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in ...

. Around 10,000 people were gathered to watch the eclipse in Hami. File:Total Eclipse at Khar Nuur, Altai (2812021816).jpg, Totality in

Altai City Altai City ( mn, Алтай хот, Altai hot, ) is the capital of the Govi-Altai province in western Mongolia. As of 2008, its population is 15,800.

, Mongolia Image:Diamondring.jpg, Diamond ring effect in Kumul, Xinjiang Image:Solar Eclipse Gansu.jpg, Totality in

, China. Red prominences are visible on both sides of the sun Image:Solar Eclipse Gansu 2.JPG, Totality in Jiuquan, China Image:日全食 - panoramio.jpg, Partial from

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

, China

Partial eclipse

A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the north east coast of North America and most of Europe and Asia. In London, England, the partial eclipse began at 09:33 BST, with a maximum eclipse of 12% at 10:18 BST, before concluding at 11:05 BST. At

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

the partial eclipse was 23.5%, whilst it was 36% in

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

in the

Shetland Isles Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

. Image:Arctic eclipse.jpg, The eclipse over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

as seen from NASA's

Terra satellite Terra (EOS AM-1) is a multi-national, NASA scientific research satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth that takes simultaneous measurements of Earth's atmosphere, land, and water to understand how Earth is changing and to identify ...

. Image:Jorg Weingrill - Partial Solar Eclipse 2008 (by).jpg, Partial from Graz, Austria Image:Partial Solar Eclipse - Miensk.jpg, Partial from Minsk, Belarus Image:1 August 2008 partial eclipse from UK.jpg, Partial from Jodrell Bank Observatory, England File:2008.08.01 Auringonpimennys 2 (41840192725).jpg, Partial from Huittinen, Finland Image:Michaelll - Partial Solar Eclipse (by).jpg, Partial from

Bergen, Norway Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

Image:Zacmienie slonca 2008 08 01 Warszawa.jpg,

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-cen ...

at maximum phrase File:Solar Eclipse 080801 (2722291466).jpg, Partial from Kumla, Sweden Image:Solar eclipse in Makiivka.jpg, Partial from Makiivka, Ukraine Image:Partial Eclipse Chennai Aug2008.jpg, Partial from

Chennai, India Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

LTU 1111

German charter airline LTU, now trading as Air Berlin, operated a special flight from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

to observe the eclipse. Flight number LT 1111 spent over 11 hours in the air, returning to base at 6pm after flying a planeload of eclipse chasers, scientists, journalists and TV crews to watch the celestial event. The route also included a low-level sightseeing tour of

before the eclipse and the magnetic pole afterwards.

More details about the Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008.

Eclipse Magnitude: 1.03942 Eclipse Obscuration: 1.08040 Gamma: 0.83070 Greatest Eclipse: 2008 August 1 at 10:22:12.3 TD (10:21:06.7 UTC) Sun right ascension: 8.8 Sun declination: 17.9 Sun diameter (arcseconds): 1891.0 Moon right ascension: 8.82 Moon declination: 18.6 Moon diameter (arcseconds): 1948.2 Delta T: 1 minute, 5.7 seconds Saros series: 126th (47 of 72)

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 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.

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015 A partial solar eclipse occurred on September 13, 2015. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to inc ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of July 28, 1999 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017

Tritos

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of September 2, 1997 A partial solar eclipse occurred on Tuesday, September 2, 1997. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs i ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2019

Solar Saros 126

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 2 days past perigee (Perigee on Monday, August 10, 2026), in North America and Europe. The total eclipse will pass over the Arctic, Greenlan ...

Inex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1979 * Followed: Solar eclipse of July 13, 2037

Solar eclipses 2008–2011

Saros 126

Metonic series

Notes

References

Google Map
Photos:
Russian solar eclipse

from Russia by Jay Pasachoff
Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Mongolia

''Astronomy.com'' Eclipse trip images from Russia

Memories, video and images of the eclipse by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society

APOD 8/5/2008, A Total Solar Eclipse Over China, wide sky from near Barkol in Xinjiang, China

APOD 8/7/2008, At the Sun's Edge, Totality from Novosibirsk, Russia

APOD 8/8/2008, The Crown of the Sun, totality with corona from Kochenevo, Russia

APOD 9/20/2008,A Darkened Sky, totality with wide corona from Mongolia
Webcast of the eclipse from northwest China

University of North Dakota's Live Webcast from China
Video
Video from Altai, featured on CNN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of August 1, 2008 Total solar eclipses, 2008 08 01 2008 in science 2008 08 01 Novaya Zemlya August 2008 events 2008 in Russia 2008 in Mongolia 2008 in China 2008 in Kazakhstan