An annular

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 mo ...

occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on January 15, 2010, with a magnitude of 0.91903. 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 ...

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 surf ...

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 incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...

, 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 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 smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an

annulus Annulus (or anulus) or annular indicates a ring- or donut-shaped area or structure. It may refer to: Human anatomy * ''Anulus fibrosus disci intervertebralis'', spinal structure * Annulus of Zinn, a.k.a. annular tendon or ''anulus tendineus co ...

(ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. It was the longest annular

of the millennium,NASA – Solar Eclipse Search Engine
/ref> and the longest until December 23, 3043, with the length of maximum eclipse of 11 minutes, 7.8 seconds, and the longest duration of 11 minutes, 10.7 seconds. This is about 4 minutes longer than total solar eclipses could ever get. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992, was longer, at 11 minutes, 40.9 seconds, occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)Annular Solar Eclipse Occurs on January 15, 2010
/ref> Lasting 11 minutes and 7.8 seconds, and eclipse magnitude of only 0.91903, this was the longest and smallest annular solar eclipse of the 21st century. It was an annular solar eclipse on January 15, 2010. The eclipse was visible as only a partial eclipse in much of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. It was seen as an annular eclipse within a narrow stretch of width across

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, E ...

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...

, South

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

(India), South

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

(

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and parts of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and China.

Summary of the Annular Solar Eclipse of January 15, 2010

Eclipse Magnitude: 0.91903 Eclipse Obscuration: 0.84462 Gamma: 0.40016 Saros Series: 141st (23 of 70) Sun Right Ascension: 19.8 Moon Right Ascension: 19.79 Sun Declination: -21.1 Moon Declination: -20.8 Sun Diameter: 1951.0 arcseconds Moon Diameter: 1768.6 arcseconds Radius of the Penumbral Shadow: 7,322.7 km (4,550.1 mi) Radius of the Antumbral Shadow: 361.7 km (224.8 mi) Path Width: 333.1 km (207 mi) Greatest Eclipse: 2010 January 15 at 07:06:33.2 UTC Apogee at 2010 January 17 at 01:41 UTC (406,433 km (252,546 mi))

Visibility of the eclipse

The eclipse started in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the C ...

near the border with

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

, traversed

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, passed through the northern tip of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, southwestern

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

and three islands of

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

(

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

Denis Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–14 ...

and Aride), before it entered the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, where it reached its greatest visibility. It then passed through

. The annular eclipse at

Malé Malé (, ; dv, މާލެ) is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 252,768 and an area of , it is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city is geographically located at the southern ...

, the capital city of the country, started at 12:20:17 and ended at 12:31:02 local time (UTC+5), lasting for 10 minutes and 45 seconds (645 seconds). This was also the longest duration of any eclipse with an international airport in its track.NASA: Eclipses During 2010: Annular Solar Eclipse of January 15
/ref> At approximately 13:20 IST, the annular solar eclipse entered India at

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

(Trivandrum), the capital of

and exited India at

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 ki ...

. The eclipse was viewable for 10 minutes in India. After Rameswaram, it entered

Delft Island Neduntheevu or Nedunthivu ( ta, நெடுந்தீவு, translit=Neṭuntīvu; ) (also known by its Dutch name Delft) is an island in the Palk Strait, northern Sri Lanka. This island is named as Delft in the Admiralty Chart unlike the othe ...

, exited at

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mos ...

in Sri Lanka, crossed the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

and re-entered India in

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...

Thiruvananthapuram, which was the entry point of the eclipse in India, was equipped with telescopes and announced facilities for the public to view the eclipse.Facilities to view the solar eclipse in Trivandrum
/ref>

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...

, situated in Trivandrum, analysed the atmospheric-ionospheric parameters during the eclipse.VSSC expects insights from eclipse
/ref> Many scientists camped in the city to witness and study the eclipse. At Rameswaram, the sunrise was not visible due to thick clouds, but it started getting clear at around 9am local time and became almost totally clear by the time the eclipse began. The sky had a thin layer of

cirrus cloud Cirrus ( cloud classification symbol: Ci) is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition on ...

s till 2:30pm. Among the eclipse-watchers was Sky Watchers' Association of North Bengal (SWAN) from

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

at the foothills of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

and Tamil Nadu Astronomical Association.

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyc ...

, which falls on the central line of the eclipse, was a good place to view the eclipse. The northernmost limit of shadow in India was

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

Neyveli Neyveli is a industrial town in the Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located inland from the Bay of Bengal, west of Pondicherry and south of Chennai. The town was developed in 1956 after the establishment of Ne ...

Erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the ...

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

, and

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

. Other prime viewing locations in Tamil Nadu include

Thoothukudi Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital an ...

and

Cape Comorin Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland I ...

, 22 km north of the center line. The exact location of the line is between the NH end and the Dhanushkodi ruins. Dhanushkodi is about 2 km east of the central line. The degree difference is about 0.2 between the central line – with Kodandaramar Temple and Dhanushkodi ruins vice versa. Dhanushkodi is about 5 km from the Kodandaramar Temple. After

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

, the antumbra passed through the southern tip of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and China before leaving the Earth.

Gallery

File:Solar eclipse 2010Jan15 Moon-Sun-Venus.png, Photographic equipment may allow the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

to be shown about 1.5 degrees west and south of the annular ring of 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 incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...

. File:SE2010Jan15A.gif, Animation of path File:Annular Solar Eclipse over India.jpg, Satellite image showing the moon's antumbra falling over

and the

File:Solar eclipse 2010-01-15 05.41 UT.jpg, Degania A, Israel, 5:41 UTC File:Solar eclipse bangalore.jpg,

Bangalore, India Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, 7:20 UTC File:Ring of Fire (4281146536).jpg, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 7:56 UTC File:Partial eclipse in sunset (4275548173).jpg, Sanda, Hyogo, 7:59 UTC File:15 January 2010 Solar Eclipse from Malaysia.JPG, Bandar Pusat Jengka, Malaysia, 8:05 UTC File:Solar Eclipse (5041071329).jpg, Akashi, Hyogo, 8:05 UTC File:Chennai Eclipse.jpg,

Chennai, India Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, 8:10 UTC File:Solar Eclipse 15 Jan 2010 reflection on floor at pallipalayam.jpg, Reflection of the eclipse from Pallipalayam, India File:Tvmeclipses.jpg, Stages of annular eclipse from

, India File:Solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 - seen from Batticaloa.JPG,

Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the ...

, Sri Lanka, 8:28 UTC File:Nhật thực ngày 15 tháng 1.JPG,

Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, 8:36 UTC File:Eclipse (4283374588).jpg,

Central, Hong Kong Central (also Central District) is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kow ...

, 8:40 UTC File:Solar annular eclipse of January 15, 2010 in Jinan, China.jpg,

Jinan, China Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

, 8:54 UTC File:Solar partial eclipse of January 15, 2010 in Taichung ,of Taiwan - 229.jpg, Taichung, Taiwan, 9:19 UTC

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2010

* An annular solar eclipse on January 15. * A partial lunar eclipse on June 26. * A total solar eclipse on July 11. * A total lunar eclipse on December 21.

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of December 4, 2002 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of February 26, 2017 An annular solar eclipse took place on February 26, 2017. 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 t ...

Half-Saros cycle

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 2001 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019

Tritos

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1999 * Followed: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2020

Solar Saros 141

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992 * Followed: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2028

Inex

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on February 4–5, 1981. 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 ...

* Followed:

Solar eclipse of December 26, 2038 A total solar eclipse will occur on December 26, 2038. A 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 ...

Triad

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of March 17, 1923 An annular solar eclipse occurred on March 17, 1923. 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 M ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of November 15, 2096

Solar eclipses 2008–2011

Saros 141

Metonic series

Notes

References

NASA: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2010 January 15

** ttp://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2010-Fig01.pdf NASA PDF graphicbr>Eclipse.org.uk: Annular eclipse of the Sun: 2010 January 15www.sciencemaldives.org: January 15th 2010 Solar Eclipse, MaldivesHermit.org Visibility graphics

External links

APOD 1/18/2010, partial eclipse of

Sounion Cape Sounion (Modern Greek: Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο ''Akrotírio Soúnio'' ; grc, Ἄκρον Σούνιον ''Άkron Soúnion'', latinized ''Sunium''; Venetian: ''Capo Colonne'' "Cape of Columns") is the promontory at the southernmost ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Millennium Annular Solar Eclipse
APOD 1/22/2010, annularity of

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland I ...

, India, the same picture chosen as APOD again on 5/19/2012
Annular Solar Eclipse

APOD 1/23/2010, from Alif Alif Atoll, Maldives
Annular Eclipse Over Myanmar
APOD 1/26/2010, annularity of

Ananda Temple The Ananda Temple ( my, အာနန္ဒာ ဘုရား, ), located in Bagan, Myanmar is a Buddhist temple built in 1105 AD during the reign (1084–1112/13) of King Kyansittha of the Pagan Dynasty. The temple layout is in a cruciform with ...

Bagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wo ...

, Myanmar
2010 Annular Eclipse January 15, 2010
from India by Jay Pasachoff
Solar Eclipse animation of January 15, 2010
* ttp://picasaweb.google.com/bharathanaadusuraj84/AnnularSolarEclipse15012010 Eclipse photography taken from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Indiabr>Eclipse-Chasers: January 15, 2010 annular solar eclipse SWAN Website
{{Solar eclipses 2010 1 15 2010 in science 2010 01 15 January 2010 events