Introduction : There was a partial solar eclipse (the moon will block part of the sun) visible from most of the Northern Hemisphere on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2000. The event lasted about 3 hours (centered around the midpart of the day). This page will talk a little about eclipses and give some links for other pages (as well as show some times for Michigan, New York (Mom, Dad, and the Sylves Clan : Tom, Eileen, Katie, Mike, and sometimes Kevin), Massachusetts (my Sis, Debbie, hubbie Kevin, niece Sarah, and nephew Declan!) and Oregon (Hi Bill and Jen! - the left-coasters).
Pictures? : What kind of astro-webmaster would I be if I didn't have pictures! Here is a montage of the eclipse over my parent's house back in New York state! [Here is a bigger image of that montage.] Here is my Dad! Here is my Brother-in-law Kevin, and his daughter (my niece) Sarah!
What's special about this eclipse? Well, I'm one of those people that believe that the Third Millennium starts Jan 1st, 2001 [oh, one of those people!]. This makes the Christmas Day Eclipse the last one of the Second Millennium! Is that special enough?
What causes eclipses? We have a moon that, because of its size and distance from the Earth, is just about as big in the sky as the Sun. Occasionally, the sun is blocked by the Moon, or the Earth blocks the light of the Sun heading toward the Moon.
What's the difference between a Solar eclipse and a Lunar eclipse? We name the eclipses by the thing that is being eclipsed .. thus a solar eclipse happens when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun (during a New Moon!), and a lunar eclipse happens when the Earth comes between the Moon and the Sun (during a Full moon!).
Why only a partial Solar Eclipse? In this case, the moon is not directly in the same "path" as the Sun (it will appear to be taking a "bite" out of the "top" of the Sun in this ellipse).
When did the eclipse occur? That depends on where you were! There are some cities listed below (friends and family!), and if you follow the quite excellent links at the bottom, you will find many other cities listed. Let's see the list, and then we'll figure out what it means :
![[Here is a bigger image of that montage.]](e122500/eclipse122500%20final.jpg){kind=link}
Place Name Time First Contact Maximum Eclipse Last Contact
zone Time Alt Time Alt Mag Obs Time Alt
(deg) (deg) % % (deg)
Ann Arbor, MI EST 10:51am 20 12:25pm 24 57% 45% 2:02pm 21
Battle Creek, MI EST 10:48am 19 12:22pm 24 56% 45% 1:59pm 22
Bay City, MI EST 10:51am 19 12:25pm 23 58% 47% 2:01pm 20
Detroit, MI EST 10:52am 20 12:27pm 24 57% 46%
2:03pm 21
Flint, MI EST 10:51am 19 12:25pm 24 58% 46% 2:02pm 21
Grand Rapids, MI EST 10:48am 19 12:21pm 24 57% 46% 1:57pm 22
Jackson, MI EST 10:50am 20 12:24pm 24 56% 45% 2:00pm 22
Kalamazoo, MI EST 10:48am 19 12:21pm 24 56% 45% 1:58pm 22
Lansing, MI EST 10:49am 19 12:24pm 24 57% 46% 2:00pm 21
Saginaw, MI EST 10:50am 19 12:25pm 23 58% 47% 2:01pm 20
Worcester, MA EST 11:14am 24 12:51pm 23 58% 46% 2:23pm 15
Albany, NY EST 11:09am 23 12:47pm 23 58% 47% 2:20pm 16
Buffalo, NY EST 10:59am 21 12:36pm 24 58% 47% 2:11pm 19
New York, NY EST 11:09am 25 12:47pm 25 56% 44% 2:21pm 18
White Plains, NY EST 11:10am 25 12:48pm 25 56% 45% 2:21pm 17
Portland, OR PST (Sun not up) 8:27am 5 33% 21% 9:33am 12
What do the various pieces of the above chart mean? Ok, City and Eastern Standard Time should be self-explanitory. The "First Contact" time is when the Moon's disk just starts to cover the Sun (you may not notice a visible effect for a few minutes though!). The ALT is the altitude - how many degrees above the horizon. {In the winter time, the Sun is relatively "low" in the sky.} The "Maximum Eclipse is where the disk of the Moon will cover the Sun as much as it can. The "magnitude" (Mag) is the percentage of the Sun's diameter that will be covered. The "obscuration" (Obs) is the percentage of the Sun's disk area that will be covered. (So, for these cities above .. slightly less than half the area of the disk will be covered by the moon .. but the "brightness" of the day should drop noticeably.) Finally, "Last Contact" is when the Moon's disk is no longer overlapping the Sun. But, notice that there is about a 3 hour difference between the start and the end events.
Am I noticing a strange trend ... the Eclipse reaches a maximum from West to East? (That is, Detroit will see the maximum before New York?) You read that right, little Buckaroo! Picture what is happening in space ... the Earth rotates around it's N/S axis (and if we look down from the top, the rotation is counter-clockwise). The Moon orbits the Earth in the same way (looking down, Moon goes around counter clockwise). It is the "new" Moon that will block the Sun, while the Sun "rises" from the East and sets in the West .. the Moon, against the stars, is moving from West to East. (Night after night, at the same time of night, the Moon will have moved toward the East each night). So, if the Moon is going to come in from the "west" of the Sun, and pass across to the East of the Sun .. the shadow caused by the Moon blocking the Sun must hit the West coast first (in fact, they will see a sunrise with a chunk taken out of the Sun). Then, as the Moon moves East, and the Sun "moves west", the shadow will move East!
Are there any good links on the web to get more information? Funny you should mention that! I have two links that are superb! And I'm going to stop yammering now, so that you can go look at those links and find all the wonderful things that are there!
Is it dangerous to look at the eclipse? IT CAN BE!! You should look at the Sky&Telescope link above, and look for the "How to Watch Safely" link for more information. Also, the January 2001 issue of ASTRONOMY magazine (should be on the stands now) has two pairs of Eclipse glasses inside (these would be safe). DO NOT LOOK THROUGH AN UNFILTERED TELESCOPE AT ANY ECLIPSE! I'm trying to scare you a little bit .. but only to the point where you will go look at those pages and learn how to safely look!