A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Sunday, July 11 and Monday, July 12, 2010, with a magnitude of 1.058. 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 about 1.6 days before perigee (on July 13, 2010, at 12:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse on this day was one of the most remote in recorded history. It was visible over much of the southern Pacific Ocean, touching Mangaia (most southerly of the Cook Islands), several atolls in French Polynesia, Easter Island, and Chile and Argentina's Patagonian plains including the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

Fred Espenak, a NASA astrophysicist, said:

In French Polynesia, the eclipse was seen with 98 percent totality. During that time, the diamond ring effect and the Baily's beads occurred.

It ended at sunset over the southern tips of Argentina and Chile in South America, including the town of El Calafate. The Sun's altitude was only 1° during the 2 minute 47 second total phase, but Argentino Lake offered an adequate line-of-sight to the eclipse hanging just above the rugged Andes skyline.

A 58% partiality occurred at sunset in Santiago, Chile, but it was not visible due to adverse weather conditions. In other cities such as Valparaíso and Coquimbo, clearer skies permitted the event to be witnessed in continental Chile.

Observations

Total eclipse began southeast of Tonga at approximately 18:15 UTC and reached Easter Island by 20:11 UTC. The global sky photography project The World At Night stationed photographers throughout the eclipse's visibility track. Eclipse chasers photographed the event on board a chartered airplane, cruise ships, numerous Pacific islands, and in Argentina's Patagonia region. Totality was observed for four minutes and 41 seconds (4:41; 281 seconds) on Easter Island, where it was observed for the first time in 1,400 years. Approximately 4,000 observers visited Easter Island for this eclipse, including tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists,Eclipse chasing: four minutes of bliss , Australian Geographic, July 16, 2010 prompting an increase in security at its important moai archeological sites. The eclipse occurred at the same time that the final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was being played in South Africa, and many soccer fans in Tahiti watched the match instead of observing the partial eclipse with a high percentage of obscuring the Sun by over 98%. The path of totality of this eclipse barely missed some significant inhabited islands of French Polynesia, including passing just about 20 km south of the southern end of Tahiti.

This eclipse was the first one to happen over French Polynesia in 350 years. An estimated 5,000 tourists visited various islands in the archipelago to observe the event. Nearly 120,000 pairs of special glasses were distributed for observers. Eclipse chasers were also able to observe the eclipse at El Calafate, near the southern tip of Argentina, before the sun set just two minutes later.

Several hours after the eclipse was observed in continental Chile, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in the Antofagasta Region. There were no major injuries or damage in the nearby cities of Calama, Chile and San Pedro de Atacama.

Eclipse timing Places experiencing total eclipse Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of total eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of total eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of totality (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum magnitude Easter Island 12:40:42 14:08:37 14:11:01 14:13:24 15:34:27 4:47 2:54 1.0249 El Calafate 16:44:13 17:48:31 17:49:54 17:51:18 18:04:08 (sunset) 2:47 1:20 1.0206References:

Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Baker Island 05:47:34 (sunrise) 05:59:58 06:34:36 0:47 9.50% Fakaofo 06:42:02 (sunrise) 07:03:40 08:00:49 1:19 44.12% Palmyra Atoll 07:28:40 08:04:30 08:43:06 1:14 8.96% Apia 06:51:49 (sunrise) 07:05:48 08:06:41 1:15 58.75% Pago Pago 06:48:18 (sunrise) 07:06:26 08:08:35 1:20 61.82% Kiritimati 07:18:32 08:08:15 09:03:34 1:45 24.29% Alofi 06:53:34 (sunrise) 07:10:05 08:15:40 1:22 79.64% Mata Utu 06:08:29 (sunrise) 06:10:51 07:01:06 0:53 49.01% Rarotonga 07:16:59 (sunrise) 08:18:36 09:32:52 2:16 99.64% Nuku'alofa 07:18:29 (sunrise) 07:20:58 08:12:35 0:54 70.00% Funafuti 06:19:02 (sunrise) 06:22:23 06:48:50 0:30 19.13% Papeete 07:15:53 08:27:21 09:50:05 2:34 98.79% Tubou 06:27:39 (sunrise) 06:30:05 07:05:37 0:38 41.58% Suva 06:38:32 (sunrise) 06:41:28 07:03:18 0:25 21.60% Adamstown 09:50:36 11:16:34 12:48:02 2:57 83.33% Chatham Islands 08:03:26 (sunrise) 08:07:33 08:23:17 0:20 12.66% Stanley 15:52:42 15:56:33 16:00:21 (sunset) 0:08 1.86% Punta Arenas 15:43:05 16:41:01 16:45:26 (sunset) 1:02 88.67% Río Gallegos 16:45:35 17:41:57 17:46:08 (sunset) 1:01 87.21% Montevideo 17:15:27 17:46:23 17:49:14 (sunset) 0:34 24.59% Lima 15:24:17 15:52:19 16:18:59 0:55 2.77% Comodoro Rivadavia 16:52:02 17:55:44 18:02:29 (sunset) 1:10 84.50% Buenos Aires 17:13:47 17:55:52 17:58:43 (sunset) 0:45 32.86% Bariloche 16:52:24 17:57:16 18:32:59 (sunset) 1:41 75.25% Rawson 16:56:36 17:58:14 18:01:34 (sunset) 1:05 72.86% Santiago 16:00:27 17:00:53 17:50:36 (sunset) 1:50 49.14% La Paz 16:39:13 17:01:27 17:22:50 0:44 1.79% Uruguaiana 17:23:38 18:01:55 18:04:34 (sunset) 0:41 18.73% Sucre 16:37:17 17:03:44 17:29:00 0:52 3.31% Asunción 16:33:14 17:06:29 17:16:03 (sunset) 0:43 8.53%References:

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.

+July 11, 2010 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2010 July 11 at 17:10:44.0 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2010 July 11 at 18:16:18.5 UTC First Central Line 2010 July 11 at 18:17:56.9 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2010 July 11 at 18:19:36.2 UTC Greatest Duration 2010 July 11 at 19:32:32.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2010 July 11 at 19:34:37.9 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2010 July 11 at 19:41:33.7 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2010 July 11 at 19:52:01.5 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2010 July 11 at 20:49:26.0 UTC Last Central Line 2010 July 11 at 20:51:07.2 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2010 July 11 at 20:52:47.5 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2010 July 11 at 21:58:20.8 UTC

+July 11, 2010 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.05805 Eclipse Obscuration 1.11946 Gamma −0.67877 Sun Right Ascension 07h23m57.6s Sun Declination +22°02'11.0" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'43.9" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 07h23m15.8s Moon Declination +21°22'29.3" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'26.6" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'20.9" ΔT 66.2 s

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 June–July 2010 June 26Ascending node (full moon) July 11Descending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 120 Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 146

Related eclipses Eclipses in 2010 An annular solar eclipse on January 15. A partial lunar eclipse on June 26. A total solar eclipse on July 11. A total lunar eclipse on December 21.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 22, 2006 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 5, 2001 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 16, 2019

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 10, 2021

Solar Saros 146 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1992 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 2028

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 1981 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2039

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 10, 1923 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 11, 2097

Solar eclipses of 2008–2011

Saros 146

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

External links

NASA pdf map NASA homepage for July 11 2010 total solar eclipse NASA: Eclipses During 2010: Total Solar Eclipse of July 11 Eclipser: 2010 July 11 Total Solar Eclipse Eclipse.org.uk: Total Eclipse of the Sun: 2010 July 11 www.spaceweather.com Easter Island Eclipse, APOD 7/14/2010 Andes Sunset Eclipse, APOD 7/15/2010, totality from 400 meters above Argentino Lake The Crown of the Sun, APOD 7/21/2010, totality from Easter Island Diamond Ring and Shadow Bands, APOD 7/24/2010, totality from Hao, French Polynesia Eclipse on the Beach, APOD 7/30/2010, totality from Anakena Beach, Easter Island Eclipse Shadow Cone Over Patagonia, APOD 8/4/2010, totality from Patagonia, Argentina