Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008
Partial from Christchurch, New Zealand
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	−0.957
Magnitude	0.965
Maximum eclipse
Duration	132 s (2 min 12 s)
Coordinates	67°36′S 150°30′W / 67.6°S 150.5°W / -67.6; -150.5
Max. width of band	444 km (276 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	3:56:10
References
Saros	121 (60 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9525

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on February 7, 2008.^[1] 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 7 days after apogee (January 31, 2008) and 6.9 days before perigee (February 14, 2008), the Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter.

The moon's apparent diameter was 1 arcminute, 17.8 arcseconds (77.8 arcseconds) smaller than the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse.

This was the first eclipse of the eclipse season, the second being the February 2008 lunar eclipse.

Visibility

Centrality was visible from parts of Antarctica. A significant partial eclipse was visible over New Zealand and a minor partial eclipse was seen from southeastern Australia.

For most solar eclipses the path of centrality moves eastwards. In this case the path moved west round Antarctica and then north.

Observations

The best land-based visibility outside of Antarctica was from New Zealand. Professional astronomer and eclipse-chaser Jay Pasachoff observed it from Nelson, New Zealand, 60% coverage, under perfect weather.^[2][3]

Images

Animated path

Gallery

• 
  Partial from McMurdo, Antarctica, 3:23 UTC
• 
  Eclipse projection in Christchurch, New Zealand

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2008

• An annular solar eclipse on February 7.
• A total lunar eclipse on February 21.
• A total solar eclipse on August 1.
• A partial lunar eclipse on August 16.

Solar eclipses 2008–2011

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.^[4]

Solar eclipse series sets from 2008 to 2011

Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
121 Partial from Christchurch, NZ	2008 February 07 Annular	−0.95701		126 Novosibirsk, Russia	2008 August 01 Total	0.83070
131 Palangka Raya, Indonesia	2009 January 26 Annular	−0.28197		136 Kurigram, Bangladesh	2009 July 22 Total	0.06977
141 Bangui, Central African Republic	2010 January 15 Annular	0.40016		146 Hao, French Polynesia	2010 July 11 Total	−0.67877
151 Partial from Vienna, Austria	2011 January 04 Partial (north)	1.06265		156	2011 July 01 Partial (south)	−1.49171

Partial solar eclipses on June 1, 2011, and November 25, 2011, occur on the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 121

Solar saros 121, repeating every about 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours, contains 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 25, 944. It contains total eclipses from July 10, 1070, to October 9, 1809. It contains hybrid eclipses on October 20, 1827, and October 30, 1845. It contains annular eclipses from November 11, 1863, to February 28, 2044. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 7, 2206. The longest total eclipse occurred on June 21, 1629, with greatest duration of totality at 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The longest annular eclipse will occur on February 28, 2044, with greatest duration of annularity at 2 minutes and 27 seconds.^[5]

Series members 49–65 occur between 1801 and 2100:
49	50	51
October 9, 1809	October 20, 1827	October 30, 1845
52	53	54
November 11, 1863	November 21, 1881	December 3, 1899
55	56	57
December 14, 1917	December 25, 1935	January 5, 1954
58	59	60
January 16, 1972	January 26, 1990	February 7, 2008
61	62	63
February 17, 2026	February 28, 2044	March 11, 2062
64	65
March 21, 2080	April 1, 2098

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, progressing from south to north between July 1, 2000 and July 1, 2076
July 1–2	April 19–20	February 5–7	November 24–25	September 12–13
117	119	121	123	125
July 1, 2000	April 19, 2004	February 7, 2008	November 25, 2011	September 13, 2015
127	129	131	133	135
July 2, 2019	April 20, 2023	February 6, 2027	November 25, 2030	September 12, 2034
137	139	141	143	145
July 2, 2038	April 20, 2042	February 5, 2046	November 25, 2049	September 12, 2053
147	149	151	153	155
July 1, 2057	April 20, 2061	February 5, 2065	November 24, 2068	September 12, 2072
157	159	161	163	165
July 1, 2076