Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems XV

On Monday October 3rd 2005 an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible during the celebration of the ADASS XV congress at El Escorial. From a particular location on the Earth, these astronomical events are extremely infrequent. For example, the last annular eclipse visible from Spain took place on the 1st of April 1764 and the next one will occur on the 26th of January 2028. The last total eclipse seen in Spain was on the 17th of April 1912 and the next one will take place on the 12th of August 2026.

An annular eclipse differs from a total eclipse in that the Moon appears too small to completely cover the Sun. As a result, the Moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the uneclipsed outer perimeter of the Sun's disk. The solar corona is not visible during annular eclipses. Furthermore, a solar filter or projection is needed to observe all phases of an annular eclipse.

The October eclipse (see Figure) will start as partial eclipse at 07h 35m UT just off the Portuguese coast. The annular eclipse itself will start around one hour later at 08h 41m UT in the mid North Atlantic Ocean. Later on, the annular eclipse will cross the Iberian Peninsula, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, northeast of Chad, Sudan, south east of Ethiopia, north of Kenya and will exit Africa crossing to south side of Somalia. The annular eclipse will finish in the Indian Ocean at 12h 23m (UT). The eclipse will be seen as partial eclipse in an extensive area covering Europe, Africa, Middle East and the west and south counties of Asia.

The general circumstances of the Eclipse are given in the table below:

ECLIPSE PHASE	TIME (UT)	LATITUDE	LONGITUDE
Start of the general eclipse	07h 36m	+41º 08´	-23º 06´
Start of the annular eclipse	08h 41m	+47º 53´	-38º 30´
Maximum of the eclipse	10h 32m	+12º 53´	+28º 44´
End of the annular eclipse	12h 23m	+09º 53´	+82º 19´
End of the general eclipse	13h 28m	-16º 41´	+66º 30´

The eclipse will be visible as partial Eclipse in the whole Iberian Peninsula and as annular eclipse in a band of around 185 Km that crosses Spain from the northwest to the southeast. Since El Escorial is located in the central part of this annular band, the eclipse will have the maximum possible duration. The foreseen eclipse duration is 04m 11s and the obscured fraction of the Sun will be 90%.

The local circumstances of the eclipse in El Escorial (Madrid) are described in the table below:

ECLIPSE PHASE	TIME (Local)	ELEVATION	AZIMUTH
Start of the partial eclipse	09h 40m	15.3	109.3
Start of the annular eclipse	10h 55m 56s	28.2	124.4
Maximum of the eclipse	10h 57m 59s	28.5	124.8
End of the annular eclipse	11h 00m 03s	28.8	125.3
End of the partial eclipse	12h 24m	40.0	147.0

The general weather prediction for the eclipse, based on statistical records of previous years, indicates that the probability of good weather and no clouds is about 50%.

Some general pictures of how the eclipse will look like from El Escorial are shown below.

Eclipse Web Links

Animated GIF for the eclipse path

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEanimate/SE2001/SE2005Oct03A.GIF

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For any further question, please contact adassxv@sciops.esa.int

Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems XV

October 2-5, 2005San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain

Hosted by ESA, European Space Agency

ESAC, European Space Astronomy Centre

Annular Solar Eclipse of 2005 October 03

Eclipse Web Links

Animated GIF for the eclipse path

October 2-5, 2005
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain