A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, April 8, 2005, with a magnitude of 1.0074. It was a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse. 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. A hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance from annular to total and back as the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth's surface. Totality occurs between the annularity paths across the surface of the Earth, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 4.3 days after perigee (on April 4, 2005, at 12:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

It was visible within a narrow corridor in the Pacific Ocean. The path of the eclipse started south of New Zealand and crossed the Pacific Ocean in a diagonal path and ended in the extreme northwestern part of South America. The total solar eclipse was not visible on any land, but the annular solar eclipse was visible in the southern tip of Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of New Zealand, Oceania, West Antarctica, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and western South America.

A partial eclipse was photographed from Nicaragua; in Bogotá, several hundred schoolchildren watched the eclipse despite cloud cover. In Córdoba, an expedition from Bogotá's National University observed the eclipse.

In Panama, where the eclipse was visible (and nearly total) from nearly the entire country, it was reported that hundreds of people had booked hotels to view it, including astronomers from the United States, Mexico, France, Belgium, Denmark, Iran and Spain. While the totality of the eclipse occurred over the Pacific Ocean, it could be seen from some parts of the southern United States; it was reported that the southernmost parts of Florida had the best viewing conditions (with as much as 50% of the sun occluded), although rainy conditions in part of the region meant the event was partially obscured.

Observations

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Fred Espenak and Williams College professor Jay Pasachoff boarded the cruise ship Galapagos Legend and observed the eclipse from the sea west of the Galápagos Islands. The ship first docked at several islands in the Galapagos Islands from April 1 to 3, and then started sailing westward toward the path of totality on April 4. It was cloudy at first on April 8. The ship encountered relatively large wind and waves while sailing south to look for a location with clear sky. The clouds began to disperse from 2 pm, and the Sun could be seen through the thin clouds around 2:40. It cleared up later and during the totality, the weather was excellent and the observation was very successful. After another several days of sailing, the ship arrived at the Galápagos Islands again on April 12 and docked at several islands in the following days.

In addition, cruise ships including the MV Discovery and MS Paul Gauguin carried passengers around the Pitcairn Islands and French Polynesia. A team of NASA's did ground-based observations Penonomé, Coclé, Panama.

Images

Animated path

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing annular eclipse

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2005(Local Times)

Places experiencing partial eclipse

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2005(Local Times)

Gallery

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.

Eclipse season of April 2005

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2005

• A hybrid solar eclipse on April 8.

• A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 24.

• An annular solar eclipse on October 3.

• A partial lunar eclipse on October 17.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1996

• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016

Solar Saros 129

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 20, 2034

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 8, 1918

• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2092

Solar eclipses of 2004–2007

Saros 129

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

External links

• Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 2005 April 08 (NASA.gov)

  Google Map

Photos:

• Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. South Pacific (MV Discovery)

• Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Pacific (MV Galapagos Legend)

• Spaceweather.com eclipse gallery

• Clouds, Plane, Sun, Eclipse, North Carolina, USA APOD 4/11/2005

• Hybrid Solar Eclipse, combined photo of totality 2,200 kilometers west of the Galapagos and annularity at Penonome Airfield APOD 5/6/2005

• A Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse, APOD 11/3/2013