Annular Solar Eclipse of April 29
The first solar eclipse of 2014 occurs at the Moon's descending node in southern Aries. This particular eclipse is rather unusual because the central axis of the Moon's antumbral shadow misses Earth entirely while the shadow edge grazes the planet. Classified as a non-central annular eclipse, such events are rare. Out of the 3,956 annular eclipses occurring during the 5,000-year period -2000 to +3000, only 68 of them or 1.7% are non-central (Espenak and Meeus, 2006).
The northern edge of the antumbral shadow first touches down in Antarctica at 05:57:35 UT. The instant of greatest eclipse[4] occurs just six minutes later at 06:03:25 UT. For an observer at the geographic coordinates nearest the shadow axis (131? 15.6' E, 79? 38.7' S), the Sun would appear on the horizon during the 49-second annular phase. Six minutes later (06:09:36 UT), the antumbral shadow lifts off the surface of Earth as the annular eclipse ends. The entire zone of annularity appears as a small D-shaped region in eastern Antarctica (Figure 2).
A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, that includes the southern Indian Ocean, the southern edge of Indonesia and all of Australia (Figure 2). Local circumstances for a number of cities in Australia are found in Table 2. All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun's altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude[5] and obscuration[6] are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.
This is the 21st eclipse of Saros 148 (Espenak and Meeus, 2006). The family began with a series of 20 partial eclipses starting on 1653 Sep 21. The 2014 Apr 29 eclipse is actually the first annular eclipse of the series. It will be followed by another annular on 2032 May 09. The series switches to hybrid on 2050 May 20 followed by the first 40 total eclipses on 2068 May 31. After a final 12 partial eclipses, Saros 148 terminates on 2987 Dec 12. Complete details for the 75 eclipses in the series (in the sequence of 20 partial, 2 annular, 1 hybrid, 40 total, and 12 partial) may be found at:
eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros148.html
