Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000

A partial solar eclipse occurred on December 25, 2000, also known as the "Christmas 2000 Solar Eclipse". 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth. It is also the last solar eclipse of the 20th century.

Christmas

This is the first Solar Eclipse on Christmas day since the annular solar eclipse of 1954.^[1]

Images

Animated path

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2000

• A total lunar eclipse on January 21.
• A partial solar eclipse on February 5.
• A partial solar eclipse on July 1.
• A total lunar eclipse on July 16.
• A partial solar eclipse on July 31.
• A partial solar eclipse on December 25.

Solar eclipses 2000–2003

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.^[2]

Partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003

Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
117	2000 July 01 Partial (south)	−1.28214		122	2000 December 25 Partial (north)	1.13669
127 Lusaka, Zambia	2001 June 21 Total	−0.57013		132 Minneapolis, MN	2001 December 14 Annular	0.40885
137 Los Angeles, CA	2002 June 10 Annular	0.19933		142 Totality from Woomera	2002 December 04 Total	−0.30204
147 Culloden, Scotland	2003 May 31 Annular	0.99598		152	2003 November 23 Total	−0.96381

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 descending node.^[3]

Octon series with 21 events between May 21, 1993 and August 2, 2065
May 20–21	March 8–9	December 25–26	October 13–14	August 1–2
98	100	102	104	106
May 21, 1955	March 9, 1959	December 26, 1962	October 14, 1966	August 2, 1970
108	110	112	114	116
May 21, 1974	March 9, 1978	December 26, 1981	October 14, 1985	August 1, 1989
118	120	122	124	126
May 21, 1993	March 9, 1997	December 25, 2000	October 14, 2004	August 1, 2008
128	130	132	134	136
May 20, 2012	March 9, 2016	December 26, 2019	October 14, 2023	August 2, 2027
138	140	142	144	146
May 21, 2031	March 9, 2035	December 26, 2038	October 14, 2042	August 2, 2046
148	150	152	154	156
May 20, 2050	March 9, 2054	December 26, 2057	October 13, 2061	August 2, 2065
158	160	162	164	166
May 20, 2069	March 8, 2073	December 26, 2076	October 13, 2080	August 1, 2084

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solar eclipse of 2000 December 25.

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by
  GSFC
  • Besselian elements

• On Christmas Day, 2000, alert sky watchers across North America can enjoy a partial solar eclipse.
• Second Millennium, Last Eclipse, May 1, 2001
  APOD, from Cary, North Carolina