A hybrid solar eclipse occurs on Friday, 8 April, 2005, in the Pacific Ocean and Central/South America. As usual for a hybrid eclipse, this will be a very narrow eclipse, just 27 km wide at maximum eclipse. The track passes from south of New Zealand, north-east across the Pacific, tailing out in Central America and into South America.
More information on this eclipse may be found at Fred Espenak's site.
Please note that these maps are very approximate. Check with reliable sources before making travel plans.
Remember that an annular eclipse, and the partial phases of a total eclipse, cannot be viewed safely with the naked eye.
This map shows the annular phases of the eclipse (in yellow) and the total phase (in red):
The eclipse begins in the Pacific off New Zealand at 18:54 UT, local sunrise, as an annular eclipse; the path width is 23km, and the annular phase lasts 24 seconds here. The eclipse moves east, the path narrowing and the duration shortening as the Moon's apparent size grows to match the Sun's, until at 19:07 UT, the path width and duration are zero, and a perfect total eclipse is seen -- unfortunately, a long way from land.
The zone of totality continues east, expanding as the Moon's apparent size grows; however, this is always going to be a small eclipse. At maximum eclipse, 20:36 UT, the path width of the total eclipse is just 27km, and the duration 42 seconds.
Continuing east, the eclipse once more starts to narrow as the Moon's apparent size begins to shrink. The total eclipse ends with another perfect eclipse, visible from a single point on the earth for an instant of time, at 22:00 UT, off the coast of Costa Rica.
From this point, the eclipse once more becomes annular, and continues on east, widening as it goes. It touches land about 22:10 UT, where the path is 11km wide, and the duration of the annular eclipse about 12 seconds. Finally, the eclipse ends in South America at 22:18 UT, with a 33-second annular eclipse at sunset.
The partial eclipse will be visible over western South America, Central America, and southern North America.
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Copyright (C) 1995-2005 Ian Cameron Smith.
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