Solar eclipse of October 14, 2023


An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, October 14, 2023, with a magnitude of 0.952. 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 4.6 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from parts of Oregon, California, Nevada, extreme southwestern Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States, the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, eastern coastal Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Brazil. A partial eclipse was visible for most of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Visibility

[image:SE2023Oct14A.gif|thumb|Animated map of the eclipse's path across North America and South America]

United States

The path of the eclipse crossed the United States beginning in Oregon, entering at Dunes City, and passing over Newport, Crater Lake National Park, Eugene, and Medford. After passing over the northeast corner of California, it traveled through Nevada and Utah. After that, it covered the northeast corner of Arizona and the southwest corner of Colorado. In New Mexico, it passed over Farmington, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Roswell, Hobbs, and Carlsbad. Afterwards, it entered Texas, passing over Midland, Odessa, San Angelo, Kerrville, San Antonio and Corpus Christi before entering the Gulf of Mexico. This was the second annular eclipse visible from Albuquerque in 11 years, where it crossed the path of the May 2012 eclipse. It also coincided with the last day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
A total solar eclipse crossed the United States in April 2024, and a future solar eclipse will cross in August 2045 . An annular solar eclipse will occur in June 2048 .

Mexico

In Mexico, the eclipse path passed over the Yucatán Peninsula, covering San Francisco de Campeche in Campeche, Oxkutzcab in Yucatán, and Chetumal in Quintana Roo.

Western Caribbean

In Western Cuba, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica all saw a partial eclipse. The greatest of the partial eclipse was seen over Western Cuba and the Cayman Islands.

Central America

In Guatemala, the eclipse passed over the extreme northeastern tip of Petén Department. In Belize, the eclipse passed over Belmopan and Belize City before leaving land again; when it entered in Honduras, it passed over La Ceiba and Catacamas, and in Nicaragua it passed over Bluefields. The point of greatest eclipse occurred near the coast of Nicaragua. After that, in Costa Rica it passed over Limon, and in Panama it passed over Santiago and came close to Panama City. Its point of greatest duration occurred just off the coast of Nata, Panama.

South America

In South America, the eclipse entered Colombia from the Pacific Ocean and passed over Pereira, Armenia, Cali, Ibagué and Neiva. In Brazil, it passed over the states of Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte before ending in the Atlantic Ocean.

Citizen science

During the annular and total eclipses of 2023 and 2024, the GLOBE Program through the GLOBE Observer app will seek to collect information on air temperature, clouds, and wind. During the August 2017 eclipse, citizen scientists contributed with over 80,000 observations of air temperature and 20,000 cloud observations.

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 Contact2023 October 14 at 15:04:58.2 UTC
First Umbral External Contact2023 October 14 at 16:11:19.0 UTC
First Central Line2023 October 14 at 16:13:35.5 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact2023 October 14 at 16:15:52.5 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact2023 October 14 at 17:35:49.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction2023 October 14 at 17:37:48.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction2023 October 14 at 17:56:18.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse2023 October 14 at 18:00:40.6 UTC
Greatest Duration2023 October 14 at 18:14:20.8 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact2023 October 14 at 18:26:05.1 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact2023 October 14 at 19:45:45.0 UTC
Last Central Line2023 October 14 at 19:47:59.2 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact2023 October 14 at 19:50:13.1 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact2023 October 14 at 20:56:26.7 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.95204
Eclipse Obscuration0.90638
Gamma0.37534
Sun Right Ascension13h18m05.4s
Sun Declination-08°14'36.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'02.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension13h18m44.3s
Moon Declination-07°56'18.9"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'02.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°55'13.8"
ΔT71.3 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.
October 14
Descending node
October 28
Ascending node
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 134		Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 146

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2023

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 134

Inex

Triad