The Total Solar Eclipse of 2 July 2019.
The narrow blue region is the Path of Totality (also known as the Umbra).
The Moon's umbra (shadow) travels from west to east (left to right on the map). At the point of Greatest Eclipse, totality is at local midday. The duration of totality at greatest eclipse is 4 minutes 33 seconds. This occurs in the Pacific Ocean. On either side of that point, the duration of totality is less. To the West (left) of the point of greatest eclipse, the eclipse is total before local noon; East (right) of this point, totality is seen after local noon. The umbra is generally widest around the time of greatest eclipse as the Earth is bulging out towards the Moon in that region. This brings the Earth's surface closer to the Moon.
The area on either side of the path of totality (in pale blue) is called the Penumbra and provides a partial eclipse, the magnitude decreasing with distance from the path of totality. Beyond the partial region no eclipse is visible.
The Sub-solar Point is the location where the Sun is overhead at the time of greatest eclipse; in July this point is North of the equator. The parts in red on either end of the umbra are the regions where the eclipse occurs during sunrise (left) or sunset (right).
The Moon's shadow (Umbra) touched down on the Earth at 18:01 (UT) in the Pacific Ocean East of New Zealand. At this point the width of the shadow was 126km and the duration of totality was 2m 00s at local sunrise.
The shadow then moved Eastwards across the sea for 2 hours 39 minutes and reached dry land in South America at 20:40 when it was travelling at 2.8km per second. On the coast the path width was 145km and the duration of totality was just under 2m 37s. Here the eclipse was total at late afternoon.
The shadow covered Chile and Argentina in the final four minutes of the eclipse.
The umbra left the Earth near Buenos Aires at local sunset when the path width was 130km and the duration was 2m 03s.
The umbra took 2 hours 43 minutes to traverse its entire path, marking out a narrow band thousands of km long and a maximum width of 201km. Totality will have been visible over an area covering less than half a percent of the Earth's surface.
The Path of Totality (the Moon's Umbra) is the shaded area moving across South America from top left to lower right.
The Moon's shadow took 4 minutes to move through the central regions of Chile and Argentina.
The yellow markers indicate some of the region's observatories.
The largest cities in the Path of Totality are La Serena and Coquimbo on the coast. Both are around 40km South of the centre line and experienced Totality lasting 2m 16s and 2m 01s respectively.
The inland town of Vicuna was slightly closer to the centre line (24km) and had totality of 2m 26s.
The tiny village of La Higuera was the region's over-subscribed "eclipse city", 5km from the centre line with a totality of 2m 36s, just a second short of the maximum duration on the South American landmass.
La Serena was our eclipse base as it had the best facilities.
The Centre Line of the Path of Totality is shown in blue in the region of La Higuera.
The Path Width was 145km in this region and the duration of Totality at the coast on the centre line was 2m 37s.
Our location was where Route 5 comes closest to the coast South of the centre line.
We were close to the restaurant called El Muelle ("The Pier") named after the structure we were observing the eclipse from.
Our observing location is marked by the yellow cross.
| Date | 2 July 2019 |
| Location | The Pier, Caleta del Hornos, Chile |
| Latitude | 29° 37' 19" S |
| Longitude | 71° 17' 24" W |
| Altitude | 5 m |
| Distance from Centre Line | 10.8 km |
| 1st Contact (UT - 4) | 15:22 |
| 2nd Contact | 16:38:14 |
| 3rd Contact | 16:40:48 |
| 4th Contact | 17:46 |
| Sunset | 17:55 |
| Duration of Totality | 2m 34s |
| Path Width | 145 km |
| Major Axis | 492 km |
| Minor Axis | 118 km |
| Direction of Shadow Approach | ~ 299° |
| Umbral Velocity | 2.831 km/s |
| Solar Altitude | 13° |
| Solar Azimuth | 307° |
| Position Angle: 2nd Contact | 107° |
| Position Angle: 3rd Contact | 270° |
| Gamma | -0.6456 |
| Diameter Ratio | 1.037 |
| Saros Details | 127 (58 / 82) 1460 years |
The Location, Latitude, Longitude and Altitude (in metres) are for the observation site at Caleta del Hornos South of La Higuera.
The Distance from Centre Line was estimated from Google Interactive maps provided by Fred Espenak and Xavier Jubier.
First Contact is the beginning of the eclipse when the first "bite" appears on the Sun's disk; it is the beginning of the partial phase. Second Contact is the beginning of totality. Third Contact is the end of totality. Fourth Contact is the end of the partial eclipse. The times are in local time which, for this eclipse, is UT (GMT) - 4.
The Duration of the eclipse at the observation site was 2 minutes 34 seconds. This was 3s shorter than the duration at the centre line further North along the coast.
The Path Width is the width of the path of totality. The umbra itself was very elliptical in shape as it was intersecting the Earth at an angle. The Major Axis is the longest axis of the umbra; the Minor Axis is the shorter axis. The umbra at the observation site was 492 km long and 118 km wide and had a path width of 145km.
The Direction of the Shadow indicates that the umbra approached the observation site from North of West.
The Umbral Velocity is the speed of the Moon's shadow (2831 metres per second) at the observation site. This, and the size and shape of the umbra, determines the duration of the total eclipse.
The Sun's Altitude is measured from the horizon; the Azimuth is the direction of the Sun measured clockwise from North. The figures are for mid-eclipse. The figures mean that the Sun was low above the North West horizon.
The Position Angles indicate the exact position of the Sun's disk where the Moon covers and uncovers the Sun at the beginning and end of Totality. These figures determine the position of any diamond rings or Bailey's beads at the beginning and end of totality.
Gamma determines how the Moon's shadow, if extended, would pass through the Earth.
A Gamma of zero implies that the shadow would pass through the exact centre of the Earth. A Gamma of greater than 1 misses the Earth and no total eclipse would occur. A positive Gamma passes North of the Earth's centre; a negative Gamma passes South of the Earth's centre. The value of Gamma for this eclipse is -0.6456. This means that the shadow passes more than half of the way between the Earth's centre and the Southern part of the Earth. This, combined with the fact that in July, the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun, produces an eclipse mainly in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Diameter Ratio determines how much bigger the Moon's apparent radius is than the Sun's. In this case, the Moon's radius is 1.037 that of the Sun's. A total eclipse can only occur if this figure is greater than 1. The Moon would then appear larger than the Sun and could cover it completely. If this figure was less than one a total eclipse could not occur because the Moon would appear smaller than the Sun.
For this eclipse the value of the Diameter Ratio means that the Moon appears nearly 4% larger than the Sun.
The Saros is a collection of eclipses belonging to a series. Each member of the series is followed by a similar eclipse approximately 18 years, 10 / 11 days and 8 hours later.
The eight hours has an interesting effect. The 2001 eclipse was total in Africa. The eight hours between the 2001 and the 2019 eclipses means that the Earth has rotated an extra third of the way round. Eight hours is a third of a day. So the 2019 eclipse is a third of the way round from Africa and occurred over South America instead. The next member of this series will be on 13 July 2037 and that third of a rotation will see it being total in Australia. Each successive eclipse in a Saros is about 120 degrees West of its predecessor.
This eclipse is a member of Saros number 127. It is the 58th eclipse out of a total of 82 in the series.
The series began on 10 October 991 with a small partial eclipse (lass than 4%) in the Arctic regions. The Moon's umbra was a long way from the Earth and only a small part of the penumbra brushed the Earth.
This was followed by 19 partial eclipses of increasing magnitude as the Moon's shadow moved closer to the Earth's centre with each successive eclipse.
On 14 May 1352, the Moon's shadow finally made contact with the Earth. The Moon was close enough to the Earth to cover the Sun completely and a total eclipse occurred. This had a maximum duration of 2m 18s.
The next ten eclipses in the series continued moving southwards and increasing in duration until the eclipse of 30 August 1532 which had a duration of 5m 40s.
The series then produced total eclipses of decreasing duration until 30 January 1767 (4m 06s). The series then increased in duration until a 5m 15s eclipse on 30 May 1965. The remaining total eclipses of the series will end on 15 August 2091 (in the southern regions of the Earth) with a duration of 1m 38s.
Kryss saw the 56th eclipse in the series (11 June 1983) in Java (Indonesia).
Kryss and Talaat were in Zimbabwe for the previous eclipse in Saros 127.
Saros 127 will end with a series of 20 decreasing partial eclipses in the Antarctic. The final eclipse of the saros will be a 3% partial on 21 March 2452.
Saros 127 will consist of 82 eclipses: 40 partials and 42 totals. The series lasts for 1460 years. At any one time dozens of Saros series are in progress. Other eclipses will belong to different series.
