Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001

Total eclipse

11°18′S 2°42′E / 11.3°S 2.7°E / -11.3; 2.7Max. width of band200 km (120 mi)Times (UTC)(P1) Partial begin9:33:04(U1) Total begin10:35:59Greatest eclipse12:04:46(U4) Total end13:31:37(P4) Partial end14:35:25ReferencesSaros127 (57 of 82)Catalog # (SE5000)9511

A total solar eclipse took place on June 21, 2001, with a magnitude of 1.0495. It was the first solar eclipse of the 21st century. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring 2.2 days before perigee (June 23, 2001), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Many people traveled to Africa to watch the eclipse;^[1]^[2]^[3] the Daily Telegraph reported that "while some tribesmen watch a celestial crocodile eating the sun, the modern African will be counting the cash brought in by thousands of visitors".^[4]

Visibility

It was visible from a narrow corridor in the southern Atlantic Ocean and southern Africa, including Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the southern tip of Malawi, and Madagascar. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including eastern South America and most of Africa.

Images

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 2000–2003

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.^[5]

Partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
Ascending node			Descending node
117	2000 July 01 Partial (south)	−1.28214	122	2000 December 25 Partial (north)	1.13669
127 Totality from Lusaka, Zambia	2001 June 21 Total	−0.57013	132 Partial from Minneapolis, MN	2001 December 14 Annular	0.40885
137 Partial from Los Angeles, CA	2002 June 10 Annular	0.19933	142 Totality from Woomera	2002 December 04 Total	−0.30204
147 Culloden, Scotland	2003 May 31 Annular	0.99598	152	2003 November 23 Total	−0.96381

Saros 127

It is a part of Saros cycle 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 82 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 through August 15, 2091. There are no annular eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.^[6]

Series members 52–68 occur between 1901 and 2200
52	53	54
April 28, 1911	May 9, 1929	May 20, 1947
55	56	57
May 30, 1965	June 11, 1983	June 21, 2001
58	59	60
July 2, 2019	July 13, 2037	July 24, 2055
61	62	63
August 3, 2073	August 15, 2091	August 26, 2109 (Partial)
64	65	66
September 6, 2127 (Partial	September 16, 2145 (Partial)	September 28, 2163 (Partial)
67	68
October 8, 2181 (Partial)	October 19, 2199 (Partial)

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.

Series members between 1901 and 2100
March 29, 1903 (Saros 118)	February 25, 1914 (Saros 119)	January 24, 1925 (Saros 120)
December 25, 1935 (Saros 121)	November 23, 1946 (Saros 122)	October 23, 1957 (Saros 123)
September 22, 1968 (Saros 124)	August 22, 1979 (Saros 125)	July 22, 1990 (Saros 126)
June 21, 2001 (Saros 127)	May 20, 2012 (Saros 128)	April 20, 2023 (Saros 129)
March 20, 2034 (Saros 130)	February 16, 2045 (Saros 131)	January 16, 2056 (Saros 132)
December 17, 2066 (Saros 133)	November 15, 2077 (Saros 134)	October 14, 2088 (Saros 135)
September 14, 2099 (Saros 136)

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 ascending node.

21 eclipse events between June 21, 1982, and June 21, 2058
June 21	April 8–9	January 26	November 13–14	September 1–2
107	109	111	113	115
June 21, 1963	April 9, 1967	January 26, 1971	November 14, 1974	September 2, 1978
117	119	121	123	125
June 21, 1982	April 9, 1986	January 26, 1990	November 13, 1993	September 2, 1997
127	129	131	133	135
June 21, 2001	April 8, 2005	January 26, 2009	November 13, 2012	September 1, 2016
137	139	141	143	145
June 21, 2020	April 8, 2024	January 26, 2028	November 14, 2031	September 2, 2035
147	149	151	153	155
June 21, 2039	April 9, 2043	January 26, 2047	November 14, 2050	September 2, 2054
157
June 21, 2058

Notes

^ "Thousands gather in Zambia for total solar eclipse". The News and Advance. 2001-06-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Solar eclipse: Day declared national holiday as thousands come to Zambia". Hickory Daily Record. 2001-06-22. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "First total eclipse of new millennium sweeps across Africa". Arizona Daily Sun. 2001-06-22. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Tradition and tourism flourish in solar eclipse". The Daily Telegraph. 2001-06-21. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
^ "Solar Saros series 127". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

References

Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2001 June 21". NASA, November 2004.
Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements
Map Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solar eclipse of 2001 June 21.

Photos:

Spaceweather.com solar eclipse gallery
Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Zambia
Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Angola
KryssTal - Eclipse in Zimbabwe - in a school by the Ruya River.
Images from Zimbabwe by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Archived 2009-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
Eclipse in African Skies, APOD 6/22/2001, totality from Lusaka, Zambia
Bakasa Eclipse Sequence, APOD 7/6/2001, totality from Bakasa, Zimbabwe
A Total Eclipse Over Africa, APOD 7/11/2001, totality from Malambanyama, Zambia
Madagascar Totality, APOD 7/26/2001, from southern Madagascar
Eclipse Over Acacia, APOD 12/3/2002, from Chisamba, Zambia
Moon AND Sun, APOD 11/22/2003, totality from Chisamba, Zambia

Solar eclipses

Lists of eclipses

By era	Antiquity Middle Ages Modern era 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd Future
Saros series (list)	110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162
Visibility	Australia British Isles China Israel Philippines Russia Turkey Ukraine United States
Historical	Mursili's eclipse (1312 BC) Assyrian eclipse (763 BC) Eclipse of Thales (585 BC) Muhammad's eclipse (632 AD)