An annular

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mo ...

occurred on December 14, 2001. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...

, 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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an

annulus Annulus (or anulus) or annular indicates a ring- or donut-shaped area or structure. It may refer to: Human anatomy * ''Anulus fibrosus disci intervertebralis'', spinal structure * Annulus of Zinn, a.k.a. annular tendon or ''anulus tendineus co ...

(ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. It was visible across the

Pacific ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

, southern Costa Rica, northern

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

and San Andrés Island, Colombia. The central shadow passed just south of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

in early morning and ended over

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

near sunset. This is the first solar eclipse to occur since the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. The moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because the eclipse occurred 7.9 days after perigee (December 6, 2001 at 22:49 UTC) and 6.7 days before apogee (December 21, 2001 at 13:03 UTC).

Images

Gallery

File:Siesta Beach - Eclipse of the Sun at Sunset (4883159455).jpg, Partial from Siesta Key, Florida at sunset

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2001

* A total lunar eclipse on January 9. * A total solar eclipse on June 21. * A partial lunar eclipse on July 5. * An annular solar eclipse on December 14. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 30.

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1994 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Monday, January 26, 2009. 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 viewe ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of December 9, 1992 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of December 21, 2010

Tritos

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991 An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 15–16, 1991. 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 w ...

* Followed:

Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012 A total solar eclipse took place on 13–14 November 2012 ( UTC). Because it crossed the International Date Line it began in local time on November 14 west of the date line over northern Australia, and ended in local time on November 13 east of ...

Solar Saros 132

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on December 4, 1983. 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 Eart ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019

Inex

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973 An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 4, 1973, with an eclipse magnitude of 0.9303. 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 ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of November 25, 2030

Solar eclipses 2000–2003

Saros 132

Tritos series

Metonic cycle

Notes

References

NASA Press release: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2001 December 14
Photos:

*

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of December 14, 2001 2001 12 14 2001 in science 2001 12 14 December 2001 events