Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003


An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 31, 2003, with a magnitude of 0.9384. 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. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2.6 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible across central Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Jan Mayen and northern Scotland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern Europe, North Asia, West Asia, Middle East, Alaska, Greenland, and northwestern Canada.
People from around the world traveled to see the eclipse from the small portion of Britain from which it could be seen, with the Independent saying: "A timely gap in the clouds was all it took to make the arduous journey to the northernmost reaches of Scotland worthwhile". In the village of Durness, the eclipse was observed by Patrick Moore and Brian May.
However, viewing parties in Orkney saw "just another grey morning in the far north of Scotland". In India, hundreds of thousands of Hindus carried out a tradition of bathing in sacred rivers during the eclipse, with queues as long as.
A partial eclipse was observed in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including Greece.

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.
EventTime
First Penumbral External Contact2003 May 31 at 01:47:21.0 UTC
First Umbral External Contact2003 May 31 at 03:45:50.6 UTC
First Central Line2003 May 31 at 04:03:10.1 UTC
Greatest Duration2003 May 31 at 04:08:58.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse2003 May 31 at 04:09:22.5 UTC
Last Central Line2003 May 31 at 04:15:15.4 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction2003 May 31 at 04:20:57.2 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact2003 May 31 at 04:32:33.6 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction2003 May 31 at 04:39:20.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact2003 May 31 at 06:31:08.5 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.93842
Eclipse Obscuration0.88064
Gamma0.99597
Sun Right Ascension04h30m33.5s
Sun Declination+21°50'57.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'46.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.7"
Moon Right Ascension04h29m35.5s
Moon Declination+22°43'13.1"
Moon Semi-Diameter14'48.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°54'19.3"
ΔT64.5 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months 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.
May 16
Descending node
May 31
Ascending node
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 121		Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 147

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2003

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 147

Inex

Triad