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

occurred at the Moon's

descending 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 Friday, March 20, 2015, 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 1.0445. A solar eclipse 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. 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 a partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 14 hours after

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 March 19, 2015, at 19:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. Totality was visible in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and western

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. This total solar eclipse is notable in that the path of totality passed over 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 rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes and 47 seconds off the coast of the

. It was the last total solar eclipse visible in Europe until the eclipse of August 12, 2026.

Event

The solar eclipse began at 08:30 GMT in northwest Europe, and moved towards the northeast, but was still in northern Europe. It was most visible from the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the northwestern part of the country, with a total land area of . Its only internal border is the Republic of Karelia to the south, and it is bor ...

. The shadow began its pass off the south coast of Greenland. It then moved to the northeast, passing between Iceland and the United Kingdom before moving over the Faroe Islands and the northernmost islands of Norway. The shadow of the eclipse was visible in varying degrees all over Europe. For example, London experienced an 86.8% partial solar eclipse while points north of the Faroe Islands in the Norwegian Sea saw a complete solar eclipse. Three chartered airliners flew above the clouds, giving passengers a slightly prolonged view. The eclipse was observed at radio frequencies at the Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Finland, where a partial eclipse was seen. The eclipse was also observed by meteorological satellite Meteosat-10.

Impact

The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

has a

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

output of about 90

gigawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor ...

s and production could have been temporarily decreased by up to 34 GW of that dependent on the clarity of the sky. In actuality the dip was less than expected, with a 13 GW drop in Germany happening due to overcast skies. This was the first time that an eclipse had a significant impact on the power system, and the electricity sector took measures to mitigate the impact. The power

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

(change in power) may be −400 MW/minute and +700 MW/minute. Places in

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

were 80-85% obscured.Solar Eclipse 2015 – Impact Analysis
pp3+6+7+13 . ''

European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) is an association representing 40 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 36 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. It manages the ...

'', 19 February 2015. Accessed: 4 March 2015. The temperature drops varied greatly across Europe, with most areas having an insignificant drop in temperature due to the overcast weather, while others, like Scotland, Wales, and Iceland received a drop of 2-4°C. These areas were not obscured by cloud cover during the eclipse which may have led to the drop in temperature. Wind speed in the UK dropped by ~9%.

Coincidence of events

In addition to the eclipse, 20 March 2015 was also the day of the March

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun appears directly above the equator, rather than to its north or south. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise directly east and set directly west. This occurs twice each year, arou ...

(also known as the spring or vernal equinox in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

). In addition, six supermoons were expected for 2015. The supermoon on 20 March 2015 was the third of the year; however, it was a

new moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

(near side facing away from the sun), and only its shadow was visible. At greatest eclipse, the Sun was at its zenith less than south of the Equator. Greatest eclipse occurred at 09:45:39 UTC of Friday, March 20, 2015, while March Equinox occurred at 22:45:09 UTC, just under 13 hours after the greatest eclipse (Greatest eclipse occurred in winter, 13 hours before spring).

Religious Significance

Proponents of the Blood Moon Prophecy, such as Bob O'Dell also pointed out that 20 March 2015 was also a significant day on the Jewish and Biblical calendar. That evening was the onset of the Hebrew month of

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

, the first month in the Biblical calendar year. Furthermore, the path of the total eclipse over the North Pole was a highly symbolic location infusing the day with both great natural significance and profound religious meaning according to O'Dell. Due to the significance of the eclipse, a global prayer event in Jerusalem was organized that day.

Eclipse visibility

The event was visible as a partial eclipse all across Europe including: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Montenegro, Finland, Western Russia, and Ukraine. File:20th March 2015 Solar Eclipse in Sheffield, UK.jpg, Sheffield, United Kingdom. All time local time (GMT) File:Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 - Lorient 5743.JPG, Lorient, France, 10:20 local time (9:20 GMT) File:15-03-20-Sonnenfinsternis-Berlin-RalfR-N3S 6865-01.jpg,

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

, 10:29 local time (9:29 UTC) – unconfirmed source File:15-03-20-Sonnenfinsternis-Markt Schwaben.JPG, Markt Schwaben, Germany File:March 20th Eclipse - Ireland.jpg,

Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, 9:30 GMT File:Eclipse, 2015, Chester-le-Street.jpg,

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555. The town's history is ancient; ...

, United Kingdom, 9:36 GMT File:EclipseTórshavn.JPG, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, End of totality, 9:43 local time (GMT) File:Solar eclipse of 20th march 2015 - Wrocław, Poland.png, Wrocław, Poland, 10:44 local time (9:44 UTC) File:Solar Eclipse 2015 - Hjartdal, Norway.JPG, Hjartdal, Norway, 10:47 local time (9:47 UTC) File:Zatmění Slunce 2015-03-20 Praha, Dejvice 10.48.jpg,

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 m ...

, 10:49 local time (9:49 UTC) File:2015 Zaćmienie słońca 20.03.2015.jpg,

Kłodzko Kłodzko (; ; ; ) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko County (and of the ru ...

, Poland, 10:54 local time (9:54 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 2015 Warsaw Poland.jpg,

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a grea ...

, 10:56 local time (9:56 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 2015 Budapest Hungary.jpg,

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, 11:00 local time (10:00 UTC) File:Sonnenfinsternis - Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 in Austria 5.jpg,

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

, Austria, 11:06 local time (10:06 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 20th, March 2015, in Milano, Italy.JPG, Milan, Italy, 11:08 (10:08 UTC) – unconfirmed source File:То,чего не может быть.jpg,

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

, 13:25 local time (10:25 UTC) File:Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 in Kiev.JPG,

Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, 12:28 local time (10:28 UTC) File:Ulcinj – Eclipse 2015.JPG,

Ulcinj Ulcinj () is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 11,488. As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast, it was founded in 5th ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, 11:34 local time (10:34 UTC) File:20 Mar 2015 Moscow 10-35 (UTC), 13-35 (Local).jpg,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia, 13:35 local time (10:35 UTC) File:March 20 Solar Eclipse Leeds England.png, Leeds, United Kingdom, 10:30 UTC/GMT

Simulation

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 2015

* A total solar eclipse on March 20. * A total lunar eclipse on April 4. * A partial solar eclipse on September 13. * A total lunar eclipse on September 28.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 1, 2011 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 6, 2019

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2022

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2006 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2024

Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 2004 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 17, 2026

Solar Saros 120

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 30, 2033

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 9, 1986 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 28, 2044

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1928 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 19, 2102

Solar eclipses of 2015–2018

Saros 120

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

Bibliography

NASA graphics

NASA Besselian Elements – Partial Solar Eclipse of 2007 September 11

External links

APOD 3/21/2015, totality of

Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, , "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlements, northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the capital and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ( ...

, Svalbald
A Double Eclipse of the Sun

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

moving in front of the eclipsed sun, APOD 3/22/2015, partial eclipse of Fregenal de la Sierra,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Diamond Rings and Baily's Beads
APOD 3/28/2015, totality of

, Svalbald
Corona from Svalbard
APOD 3/31/2015 *
Eclipse spectacle
AstroBob, 3/20/15 * {{Solar eclipses 2015 in Europe 2015 in science 2015 03 20 2015 03 20 March 2015 2015 in Iceland 2015 in Norway