Future Eclipse Paths on Internet

Presently, the NASA eclipse bulletins are published 24 to 36 months before each eclipse. However, there have been a growing number of requests for eclipse path data with an even greater lead time. To accommodate the demand, predictions have been generated for all central solar eclipses from 1995 through 2005 using the JPL DE/LE 200 ephemerides. All predictions use the Moon's center of mass; no corrections have been made to adjust for center of figure. The value used for the Moon's mean radius is k=0.272281. The umbral path characteristics have been predicted at 2 minute intervals of time compared to the 6 minute interval used in Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986-2035 [Espenak, 1987]. This should provide enough detail for making preliminary plots of the path on larger scale maps. Note that positive latitudes are north and positive longitudes are west. A list of currently available eclipse paths includes:

1998 February 26Total Solar Eclipse
1998 August 22Annular Solar Eclipse
1999 February 16 Annular Solar Eclipse
1999 August 11 Total Solar Eclipse
2001 June 21 Total Solar Eclipse
2001 December 14 Annular Solar Eclipse
2002 June 10 Annular Solar Eclipse
2002 December 04 Total Solar Eclipse
2003 May 31 Annular Solar Eclipse
2003 November 23 Total Solar Eclipse
2005 April 08 Annular/Total Solar Eclipse
2005 October 03 Annular Solar Eclipse

URL: http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/eclipse/predictions/year-month-day.html

The tables can be accessed through the SDAC Eclipse Information home page, or directly from the above URL For example, the eclipse path of 1999 August 11 would use the above address with the string year-month-day replaced by "1999-august-11". Send comments, corrections, suggestions or requests for more detailed 'ftp' instructions, to Fred Espenak. For Internet-related problems, please contact Joe Gurman.


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