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October 14th, 2004 Sun Partial Eclipse

This is the second and last 2004 solar eclipse. Like the previous one, it is only a partial one

This second partial eclipse occurs in northeastern Asia and Pacific. Partial eclipses occur when Moon's main shadow misses Earth: penumbra only hits Earth and yields a partially occulted Sun only. Eclipses occur when Sun, Moon and Earth are in line, Moon projecting its shadow on Earth. This shadow comprises two elements: the "umbra" ("shadow" in Latin) which is a dark shadow, and the "penumbra", which is a lighter outer shadow. When both umbra and penumbra hit Earth a complete eclipse occurs. Sun is completely occulted by Moon's disk for places along eclipse's path. During a partial eclipse, Sun is partially occulted only and is displaying diverse aspects of a Sun's crescent along eclipse's process. Eclipse is beginning at 00:54:34 UT (P1) and ending at 05:04:17 UT (P4). Greatest eclipse is at 02:59:16 UT. Eclipse theoretical magnitude is important: 92 per cent of Sun surface (0.92759). Eclipse is mainly observable in Japan, Alaska and Hawai. In these two latter places, they have the eclipse on the previous day (October, 13th) at sunset. It is in Anchorage that the partiality is the most important; the show is low on the horizon however and lasts 30 mn only. And is interrupted by sunset before maximum. In Japan, eclipse occurs by morning's end. For more details (map of visibility, times for diverse locations) see Fred Espenak's Eclipse Home Page

For how an eclipse works and how to observe one, see the tutorials "Sun Eclipses" and "Observing a Sun Eclipse". Remember that observing an eclipse is as dangerous as usually observing the Sun. In the second tutorial, you will find advices about these dangers. Do not forget to see them!

Observation Reports: they have a gallery of the eclipse at SpaceWeather.com