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 Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Thursday, February 7, 2008, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 0.965. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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 separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

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 An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on January 31, 2008, at 4:25 UTC) and 6.9 days before

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(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 Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. A significant partial eclipse was visible over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and a minor partial eclipse was seen from southeastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and much of

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. 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

. Professional

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and eclipse-chaser Jay Pasachoff observed it from

Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

, 60% coverage, under perfect weather.

Images

Animated path

Gallery

Antarctica Solar Eclipse (2247233877).jpg, Partial from McMurdo, Antarctica, 3:23 UTC Eclipsed Sun projected onto the ground (2251326651).jpg, Eclipse projection in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand

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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

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 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, November 25, 2011, with a magnitude of 0.9047. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, December 25, 2000 (also known as the "Christmas 2000 Solar Eclipse"), with a magnitude of 0.7228. It was the first solar eclipse to fall on Christmas since 1954 ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, March 20, 2015, with a magnitude of 1.0445. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of th ...

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 A partial solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 16, 2037, with a magnitude of 0.7049. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

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

shadowandsubstance.com Annular Eclipse of the Sun animated for February 7, 2008

Animation: Partial solar eclipse from New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of February 7, 2008 Annular solar eclipses, 2008 02 07 2008 in science 2008 02 07 February 2008