2010 brings us a decade into this century and in the middle of the first month it will bring us the first solar eclipse of the year. On January 15th the annular solar eclipse will be in the middle of the African continent traveling across the Indian Ocean and on towards Asia.
The annular solar eclipse is not a total eclipse of the sun. What occurs is that the center of the sun will be blocked out by the shadow of the moon. The outer rim or diameter of the sun will be visible displaying an orange ring. The path that the greatest annularity will take begins in Cameroon taking an easterly course over the Indian Ocean. It will curve towards the north east to pass over the southern tip of India and Sri Lanka then onwards to Myanmar and China. Countries like Mozambique, Madagascar and Singapore are in the sub solar path.
Duration of this solar eclipse is estimated to be around 11 minutes and 8 seconds. The instant when the axis of the shadow from the moon passes closest to the Earth’s center will occur at 07:06 UT time. Since this is an annular solar eclipse the magnitude will only be measured at .919. The magnitude is the fraction of the diameter of the sun that will be obscured by the moon.
There is only one other solar eclipse that will take place in the year 2010 and that is on July 11th. This is categorized as a total eclipse. The shadow of the moon will obscure all the diameter of the sun. The greatest eclipse path will take place over the South Pacific and it will just graze the tip of Chile and Argentina. These are the only two continental places where this total solar eclipse will be viewable. South pacific islands like Easter Island are near the greatest eclipse path. Partial viewing of about ten or twenty percent may occur over Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia. The duration of this total solar eclipse is five minutes and twenty seconds. The next total solar eclipse won’t be until the fall of 2012.
These are the only two solar eclipse occurrences for the year of 2010. The following year will bring us four more however; none of these will be a total or an annular solar eclipse. Different kinds of solar eclipses occur at least twice a year which means that you can plan ahead to view one. Below is a chart of solar eclipses for the next two years:
| Year | Date | Type of Solar Eclipse | Viewable Location |
| 2010 | January 15 | Annular | Africa, India, Myanmar, China |
| 2010 | July 11 | Total | South Pacific, Easter Island, Chile, Argentina |
| 2011 | January 4 | Partial | Europe, Africa, Asia |
| 2011 | June 1 | Partial | Eastern Asia, Iceland |
| 2011 | July 1 | Partial | Antarctica, South Africa, New Zealand |
| 2011 | November 25 | Partial | Antarctica, South Africa, New Zealand |
Dear sir,
I’m from Myanmar. i want to know, in my country, at what time can we see the sun for this event? i can’t calculate the time. please reply to me. thanks a lot
You will not see it. Most of the solar eclipses occur over the South Pacific. You might be able to see the tail end of a partial solar eclipse if you fly to eastern Australia or Tasmania. However even then you need to check the actual eclipse path for a given eclipse.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas3/SEatlas2001.GIF
As you can see from this plot of all solar eclipses through 2020 — staying at home you get close a couple times but “no cigar”.
LOL — here is the master list for a few thousand years in the past and into the future.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas.html
You can check out when solar eclipse could be seen in your country in the past and in the future…but no guarantees for within your lifetime. Hope you are not waiting on a eclipse for prophecies to come true like in SciFi or Fantasy movies and books.
Oops ! You meant the 15 Jan 2010 annular eclipse which you WILL see & then not for a long time to the next.
Times:
Yangon local times — begins 06:50 maximum 08:35 ends 10:01
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHtables/OH2010-Tab02.pdf
begins in westernmost Central African Republic at 05:14 UT (Universal Time GMT)
instant of greatest eclipse [1] occurs at 07:06:33 UT when the eclipse magnitude [2] will reach 0.9190
the Maldive Islands (07:26 UT)
between the southern tip of India and northern Sri Lanka (07:51 UT)
then Burma where the central line duration is 8 minutes 48 seconds
By 08:41 UT, the central line enters China
Or Times by geographic coordinates
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHtables/OH2010-Tab01.pdf
GMT +6.5 for Myanmar – so…
by your clock
begins 13:20 maximum 15:05 ends 16:31
how about in the Philippines? will it be visible? both Jan 15 and July 11th? thanks
i am residing in Dublin, Ireland. Please let me know the time of solar eclipse in our country. I know it will not be visible here but still wanted to know the time as I am pregnant. Thanks
crap. missed it.
The 2012 solar alignment tale can be attributed to part hype, part exaggeration of what scientists really expect. The information has been inflamed to fit the need of some who like creating fits of hysteria amongst the population.