Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009

Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009
Annularity from Palangka Raya, Indonesia
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	−0.282
Magnitude	0.9282
Maximum eclipse
Duration	474 s (7 min 54 s)
Coordinates	34°06′S 70°12′E / 34.1°S 70.2°E / -34.1; 70.2
Max. width of band	280 km (170 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	7:59:45
References
Saros	131 (50 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9527

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, January 26, 2009,^[1][2][3] with a magnitude of 0.9282. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 3.3 days after apogee (on January 23, 2009, at 0:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[4]

The eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor beginning in the south Atlantic Ocean and sweeping eastward 900 km south of Africa, slowly curving northeast through the Indian Ocean. Its first landfall was in the Cocos Islands followed by southern Sumatra and western Java. It continued somewhat more easterly across central Borneo, across the northwestern edge of Celebes, then ending just before Mindanao, Philippines. The duration of annularity at greatest eclipse lasted 7 minutes, 53.58 seconds, but at greatest duration lasted 7 minutes, 56.05 seconds. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Southern Africa, East Antarctica, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Australia.