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The April 29th, 2014 Annular Solar Eclipse

CAUTION! OBSERVING A SUN ECLIPSE IS DANGEROUS AND MAY CAUSE IRREVERSIBLE EYE DAMAGE, UP TO BLINDNESS, ANNULAR AND PARTIAL ECLIPSES INCLUDED! Observing a Sun eclipse necessitates DEDICATED SAFE TECHNIQUES!

That first solar eclipse in 2014 -that year's second major astronomical event- is a annular eclipse occurring on April 29th, 2014. A annular eclipse is occurring when the apparent diameter of the Moon is smaller than the one of the Sun, due to the general geometry of the eclipse. A ring of Sun is still visible, surrounding the dark disk of the Moon, as it doesn't provide the observers with the more classical view of the Sun totally hidden and of the corona streaming away. for more about the solar eclipses, theoretically, see our tutorial 'Sun Eclipses'. The April 29th, 2014 annular solar eclipse is a rare astronomical event because it is classified a 'non-central annular eclipse,' with 68 only such eclipses having occurred or to occur on a period 2000 B.C.-3000 A.C.! Such eclipses are characterized through that the central axis of Moon's antumbral shadow is missing Earth entirely, and the shadow edge grazing our planet. Eclipse's background lies in southern Aries, the Ram as the annularity only lies on a small, D-shaped path in eastern Antarctica. A broader area is concerned with a partial eclipse. Densely inhabited areas which will see a partial eclipse are mainly located in Australia as the eclipse occurs -late or early- by theafternoon, local time. The more South of Australia, the more the Sun indented by Moon!

Eclipse's main data are the following (data as of October 2013, NASA Eclipse Web Site). The Moon's apparent diameter will be of 31' 16.8", compared to the Sun's 31' 45,8" which will leave a small solar area visible only. Greatest eclipse occurs in eastern Antarctica at 06:03:25.0 UT with the duration of annularity theoretically 0. for more about how to observe a solar eclipse, see our tutorial 'Observing a Sun Eclipse':
- greatest eclipse: 06:03:25.0 UT
- eclipse magnitude (fraction of the Sun's diameter obscured by the Moon at greatest eclipse): 0.9868
- U1 to U4 (moments of first-last external-internal tangency of the antumbra with Earth's limb; practically these are the moments of the eclipse for the places where the eclipse is annular; no U2 nor U3 due to the specific configuration of the eclipse); in UT: U1 at 05:57:35.1, U4 at 06:09:36.2
- P1 to P4 (moments of first-last external-internal tangency of the penumbra with Earth's limb; practically these are the moments of the eclipse for the places where the eclipse is partial; no P2 nor P3 due to the specific configuration of the eclipse), in UT: P1 at 03:52:38.2, P4 at 08:14:29.2

see a .PDF map for the April 29th, 2014 annular solar eclipse. map courtesy NASA Eclipse Web Site

. for more about this eclipse and for more about solar and lunar eclipses generally, you may see at NASA Eclipse Web Site