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Diamond Ring Effect
The diamond ring effect is seen during the Total Solar Eclipse of 1991 July 11.
(click to see more photos)

Solar Eclipse Preview: 2011 - 2020

Fred Espenak (c) 2012

Introduction

An eclipse of the Sun (or solar eclipse) can only occur at New Moon when the Moon passes between Earth and Sun. If the Moon's shadow falls upon Earth's surface, we see some portion of the Sun's disk covered or 'eclipsed' by the Moon. Since New Moon occurs every 29 1/2 days, you might think that we should have a solar eclipse about once a month. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen because the Moon's orbit around Earth is tilted 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun. As a result, the Moon's shadow usually misses Earth as it passes above or below our planet at New Moon. At lease twice each year, the geometry lines up just right so that an eclipse of the Sun is seen from some part of Earth.

The Moon's shadow has three parts two of which are nested inside the third. The faint outer shadow is the penumbra. Partial eclipses are visible inside the penumbral shadow. The dark inner shadow is the umbra. Total eclipses are seen in the umbral shadow. The umbra is cone-shaped and narrows to a point. Extending beyond the umbra is the antumbra.

There are four types of solar eclipses:

1. Partial - Moon's penumbral shadow traverses Earth (umbral and antumbral shadows completely miss Earth)
2. Annular - Moon's antumbral shadow traverses Earth (Moon is too far from Earth to completely cover the Sun)
3. Total - Moon's umbral shadow traverses Earth (Moon is close enough to Earth to completely cover the Sun)
4. Hybrid - Moon's umbral and antumbral shadows traverse Earth (eclipse appears annular and total along different sections of its path). Hybrid eclipses are also known as annular-total eclipses.

The number of solar eclipses in a single year can range from 2 to 5. Nearly 3/4 of the time there are 2 eclipses in a year. On the other hand, it is quite rare to have 5 solar eclipse in a single year. The last time it happened was in 1935 and the next time is 2206.

For a complete introduction to this subject, see: Solar Eclipses For Beginners.

2006 Total Solar Eclipse
This Baily's Beads sequence shows both 2nd and 3rd Contact.
(click to see more photos)

Solar Eclipses: 2011 - 2020

The table below lists every solar eclipse from 2011 through 2020. Click on the eclipse Calendar Date to see a global map showing where the eclipse is visible from. The second column TD of Greatest Eclipse is the Terrestrial Dynamical Time of greatest eclipse and links to an animation showing the eclipse path across Earth. The Eclipse Type link opens a window showing the path of total and annular eclipses plotted on Google Maps. The Saros Series link opens a window showing the table listing details for all eclipses in the Saros series. The Eclipse Magnitude is the fraction of the Sun's diameter covered by the Moon at greatest eclipse. For total and annular eclipses, this value is actually the ratio of the apparent diameters of the Moon to the Sun. The Central Duration lists the duration of totality or annularity at greatest eclipse and links to a table of geographic coordinates of the eclipse path. The last column is a brief description of the geographic regions of eclipse visibility. The descriptions are for the partial phases of each eclipse. Annular and total eclipses are only visible from the regions in bold.

Geographic abbreviations (used above): n = north, s = south, e = east, w = west, c = central

The last total solar eclipse visible from the continental U.S.A. occured on Feb. 26, 1979. A total solar eclipse was visible from Hawaii and Mexico on July 11, 1991. The next two total solar eclipses visible from the U.S.A. occur on Aug. 21, 2017 and Apr. 8, 2024.

The partial and annular phases of eclipses are dangerous to look at because the un-eclipsed part of the Sun is still very bright. You must use special filters or a home-made pinhole projector to safely watch a partial or annular eclipse of the Sun (see: Observing Solar Eclipses Safely).It is only during the total phase of a total eclipse that it is completely safe the to view the Sun with the naked eye.

Total Solar Eclipse of 2006
This sequence captures the entire eclipse from start to finish.
(click to see more photos)

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Last revised: 2012 May 07