An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 10, 1994, with a magnitude of 0.9431. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.6 days after apogee (on May 9, 1994, at 3:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The path of annularity crossed four states of Mexico (Baja California Sur, Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua), parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine in the United States, the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia and the southeastern tip of Quebec, the Azores Islands except Santa Maria Island, and part of Morocco including the capital city Rabat. The eclipse reached its moment of "greatest eclipse" in the United States near Wauseon, Ohio, about 35 miles west of Toledo, Ohio. Niagara Falls was also covered by the path of annularity. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern Russia, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, and West Africa.
The Columbus Crew were originally named the "Columbus Eclipse" in their Major League Soccer bid in honor of the event.
Images
Eclipse details
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1994
- An annular solar eclipse on May 10.
- A partial lunar eclipse on May 25.
- A total solar eclipse on November 3.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 18.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 1985
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2003
Tritos
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
Solar Saros 128
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012
Inex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1965
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023
Triad
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 10, 1907
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 10, 2081
Solar eclipses of 1993–1996
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
Saros 128
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 128, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 29, 984 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 16, 1417 through June 18, 1471; hybrid eclipses from June 28, 1489 through July 31, 1543; and annular eclipses from August 11, 1561 through July 25, 2120. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on November 1, 2282. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 27 at 1 minutes, 45 seconds on June 7, 1453, and the longest duration of annularity was produced by member 48 at 8 minutes, 35 seconds on February 1, 1832. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Metonic series
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
References
External links
- Example of total versus annular eclipse
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements
