A total

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 ...

took place on November 23, 2003, with a magnitude of 1.0379. 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. A total 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 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. It was visible from a corridor in the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and o ...

region. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the

penumbra The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast. ...

, including the southern tip of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

and most of Australia. For most solar eclipses the path of totality moves eastwards. In this case the path moved south and then west round Antarctica.

Images

Animated map

Related eclipses

Eclipse season An eclipse season is the period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Moon's tilted orbital plane ( tilted five degrees to the Earth's orbital plane), just as Earth's we ...

This is the second eclipse this season. First eclipse this season: 9 November 2003 Total Lunar Eclipse

Eclipses of 2003

* A total lunar eclipse on May 16. * An annular solar eclipse (one limit) on May 31. * A total lunar eclipse on November 9. * A total solar eclipse on November 23.

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1996 * Followed: Solar eclipse of January 4, 2011

Half-Saros

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 1994 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of November 28, 2012

Tritos

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1992 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of October 23, 2014 A partial solar eclipse occurred on Thursday, October 23, 2014, with a magnitude of 0.81141. 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 p ...

Solar Saros 152

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of November 12, 1985 A total solar eclipse occurred on November 12, 1985. 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' ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of December 4, 2021

Inex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1974 * Followed: Solar eclipse of November 3, 2032

Solar eclipses 2000–2003

Saros 152

Metonic series

Notes

References

Fred Espenak Fred Espenak is a retired emeritus American astrophysicist. He worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He is best known for his work on eclipse predictions. He became interested in astronomy when he was 7–8 years old, and had his first tel ...

and Jay Anderson. "
Total Solar Eclipse of 2003 November 23
'".

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

, July 2003. *
NASA graphics

Google Map
Photos:

* ttp://cmhas.wikispaces.com/ECLIPSE_Antarctica Images from Antarctica by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society

APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written ...

8/5/2004, An Antarctic Total Solar Eclipse

11/27/2003, The Long Shadow of the Moon, Total solar eclipse from satellite over Antarctica {{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of November 23, 2003 Total solar eclipses, 2003 11 23 2003 in science 2003 11 23 November 2003 events