- Start
- Dec 15, 203975% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
Total Solar Eclipse Crosses Antarctica
- A total solar eclipse on 2039 Dec 15, catalogued by NASA/GSFC as sequence 09596, relative number -23, of Saros series 152[1][2][3]
- Greatest Eclipse falls at 16:22:21.9 UT at 80°51.6'S 172°47.9'E, with the Sun only 18.4° up, a path 379.7 km wide and a central duration of 01m51.4s[1]
- Greatest Duration is 7 seconds later at 16:22:28 UT at 80°54'S 172°36'E, path width 379.6 km and the same 01m51.4s duration, which the Google-map page also states[1][2]
- The umbral path is brief, tabulated from 15:50 to 16:54 UT: the central line runs from 55°03.9'S 173°21.6'E (370 km wide, 01m23.2s) across the Antarctic region past 85°S to 64°44.5'S 080°47.3'E (372 km, 01m23.3s), with central-line width about 377-403 km and a Moon/Sun diameter ratio of 1.030 to 1.036[1]
- The Saros 152 catalog gives the same instant in Terrestrial Dynamical Time as 2039 Dec 15 16:23:46 TD with ΔT = 85 s, gamma -0.9458, magnitude 1.0356, path width 380 km and central duration 01m51s — rounded against the path page’s 379.7 km[1][3]
- Totality can only be seen between the blue northern and southern path limits and is longest on the red central line; yellow lines mark maximum eclipse at 10-minute intervals[2]
- Predictions use the VSOP87/ELP2000-85 solar and lunar ephemerides with ΔT = 83.8 seconds, and exclude the lunar limb profile, whose corrections ‘may shift the limits of the eclipse path north or south by ~1-3 kilometers, and change the eclipse duration by ~1-3 seconds’[1][2]
- Saros 152 is a young series, begun with a partial on 1805 Jul 26 and running 1244.08 years over 70 eclipses to a partial on 3049 Aug 20; this eclipse follows 2021 Dec 04 (01m54s) and precedes 2057 Dec 26 (01m50s), all of them near-grazing and high-latitude[3]
- All calculations are by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC, who ‘assumes full responsibility for their accuracy’[1][2][3]
References 382% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]75%eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpath/SEpath2001/SE2039Dec15Tpath.htmleclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov· Posted Sep 20, 2026· Starts Dec 15, 2039 ✓· 33% of score
NASA's[2][3] eclipse catalogue gives the instant of greatest eclipse as 16:22:21 UT on 2039-12-15 (16:23:46 TD, the two separated by delta-T), from Saros series 152. Eclipse circumstances are computed from orbital mechanics, so the date and time are exact centuries ahead.
- [2]90%Total Solar Eclipse of 2039-12-15 - Google map of the patheclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov· Added Sep 20, 2026· 33% of score
NASA's[1][3] interactive map of this eclipse, showing the central path, the points of greatest eclipse and greatest duration, and local circumstances anywhere on the map.
- [3]80%Saros series 152eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov· Added Sep 20, 2026· 33% of score
The saros series this eclipse belongs to, listing every eclipse in the same 18-year family and where each one fell.[1]
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