2005 Apr 08: Hybrid Solar Eclipse

The first solar eclipse of 2005 is of an uncommon type known as either annular-total or hybrid. This is a unique class of central1 eclipse where some sections of the path are annular while other parts are total. The duality comes about when the vertex of the Moon’s umbral shadow pierces the Earth’s surface at some points, but falls short of the planet along other sections of the path. The unusual geometry is due to the curvature of the Earth’s surface which brings some geographic locations into the umbra while other positions are more distant and enter the antumbral rather than umbral shadow. In most cases (like in 2005), the central path begins annular, changes to total for the middle portion of the track, and reverts back to annular towards the end of the path. However it is also possible for the central path to begin annular and end total (e.g. – 2013 Nov 03) or vice versa (e.g. – 2386 Apr 29). Since these events occur near the vertex of the Moon’s umbral/antumbral shadows, the central path is typically quite narrow.

The hybrid eclipse of 2005 will be visible from within a thin corridor, which traverses the Southern Hemisphere (Figure 1).The path of the Moon’s shadow begins southeast of New Zealand and stretches across the Pacific Ocean to Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, which includes New Zealand, much of the South Pacific, South and North America.

[sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov]