- Start
- Oct 14, 204275% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
Annular Solar Eclipse Crosses Australia
- An annular solar eclipse on 2042 Oct 14, its antumbral shadow path computed by Fred Espenak for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center[1][2]
- Greatest eclipse falls at 01:59:15.2 UT at 23°44.7'S, 137°49.1'E in central Australia, with the Sun 72.2° up, a path 273.3 km wide and a central-line duration of 07m44.2s[1]
- Greatest duration comes later and further south-east, at 02:13:33 UT at 27°13'S, 140°52'E, where the path is 270.8 km wide and annularity lasts 07m45.4s[1]; the Google map page repeats it, "In this case, the Greatest Duration is 07m45.4s"[2]
- The saros catalogue lists the same eclipse as 2042 Oct 14 at 02:00:42 TD (Terrestrial Dynamical Time, against the path table's Universal Time) at 23.7°S 137.8°E, path width 273 km and central duration 07m44s[3]
- The path table has 116 printed lines - two "Limits" rows plus 114 rows at 120-second intervals - running from 00:06 to 03:52 Universal Time in WGS 84 coordinates[1]
- The central line enters at 00:06 UT near 09°41.6'N, 089°26.2'E in the Bay of Bengal and leaves at 03:52 UT near 45°56.4'S, 150°14.6'W in the South Pacific; the outer limit rows run from 10°09.3'N, 086°31.6'E to 45°04.5'S, 143°20.0'W[1]
- The path is widest and annularity shortest at the ends (342-343 km, about 05m48s at the limit rows) and narrowest near greatest eclipse (about 271-273 km)[1]
- Annularity is visible only inside the central path between the blue limit lines and is longest on the central line; yellow lines mark maximum eclipse at 10-minute intervals, a green GE marker greatest eclipse and a magenta GD marker greatest duration[2]
- The eclipse is member -15 of Saros 144 (sequence number 09602), with gamma -0.3030 and eclipse magnitude 0.9300[3]
- It sits in a run of lengthening annular eclipses in the series - 2006 Sep 22 at 07m09s, 2024 Oct 02 at 07m25s, this one at 07m44s, then 2060 Oct 24 at 08m06s - with the series maximum on 2168 Dec 29 at 09m52s[3]
- Saros 144 runs 1244.08 years from a partial eclipse on 1736 Apr 11 to a partial eclipse on 2980 May 05, holds 70 eclipses (39 annular, 31 partial, no total or hybrid) and occurs at the Moon's descending node[3]
- Predictions use the VSOP87/ELP2000-85 solar and lunar ephemerides with ΔT = 86.0 seconds[1][2]; the catalogue row carries ΔT = 87 s[3]
- The predictions "DO NOT include the effects of mountains and valleys along the edge of the Moon"; limb corrections may shift the path limits north or south by ~1-3 km, change durations by ~1-3 seconds and move the exact location of greatest duration by ~10-20 km[1][2]
- More detailed predictions including the lunar limb profile "are normally posted 12-18 months before each eclipse"[1][2]
- All calculations are by Fred Espenak, who "assumes full responsibility for their accuracy"; the path page ends with the date 2014 Feb 26, the Google map page 2014 Mar 14 and the saros catalogue 2009 Sep 26[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/SE2042Oct14Apath.htmleclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov· Posted Sep 20, 2026· Starts Oct 14, 2042 ✓· 33% of score
NASA's[2][3] eclipse catalogue gives the instant of greatest eclipse as 01:59:15 UT on 2042-10-14 (02:00:41 TD, the two separated by delta-T), from Saros series 144. Eclipse circumstances are computed from orbital mechanics, so the date and time are exact centuries ahead.
- [2]90%Annular Solar Eclipse of 2042-10-14 - 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 144eclipse.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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