An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 31, 2003, with a magnitude of 0.9384. 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 2.6 days after apogee (on May 28, 2003, at 14:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Annularity was visible across central Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Jan Mayen and northern Scotland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern Europe, North Asia, West Asia, Middle East, Alaska, Greenland, and northwestern Canada.

People from around the world traveled to see the eclipse from the small portion of Britain from which it could be seen, with the Independent saying: "A timely gap in the clouds was all it took to make the arduous journey to the northernmost reaches of Scotland worthwhile". In the village of Durness, the eclipse was observed by Patrick Moore and Brian May. However, viewing parties in Orkney saw "just another grey morning in the far north of Scotland". In India, hundreds of thousands of Hindus carried out a tradition of bathing in sacred rivers during the eclipse, with queues as long as . A partial eclipse was observed in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including Greece.

Images

Eclipse timing Places experiencing annular eclipse Solar Eclipse of May 31, 2003(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of annular eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of annular eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of annularity (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Fort William 04:38:23 (sunrise) 04:44:49 04:45:17 04:45:43 05:42:15 0:54 1:04 88.04% Inverness 04:29:58 (sunrise) 04:44:59 04:45:32 04:46:06 05:42:50 1:07 1:13 88.08% Portree 04:38:20 (sunrise) 04:45:44 04:46:42 04:47:40 05:43:42 1:56 1:05 88.05% Kirkwall 04:12:41 (sunrise) 04:45:54 04:46:43 04:47:31 05:44:38 1:37 1:32 88.16% Lerwick 03:54:39 (sunrise) 04:46:37 04:47:16 04:47:56 05:45:48 1:19 1:51 88.23% Stornoway 04:32:53 (sunrise) 04:46:38 04:47:49 04:48:59 05:45:00 2:21 1:12 88.08% Tórshavn 03:56:52 (sunrise) 04:51:18 04:52:52 04:54:26 05:51:06 3:08 1:54 88.22% Klaksvík 03:56:42 04:51:29 04:53:03 04:54:36 05:51:22 3:07 1:58 88.23% Höfn 03:04:13 03:58:38 04:00:26 04:02:13 04:58:14 3:35 1:54 88.20% Egilsstaðir 03:04:33 03:59:23 04:01:10 04:02:57 04:59:24 3:34 1:55 88.25% Kirkjubæjarklaustur 03:17:13 (sunrise) 03:59:46 04:01:34 04:03:22 04:58:55 3:36 1:42 88.15% Vestmannaeyjar 03:31:27 (sunrise) 04:00:45 04:02:32 04:04:20 04:59:32 3:35 1:28 88.11% Húsavík 03:07:04 04:01:55 04:03:43 04:05:30 05:01:51 3:35 1:55 88.25% Akureyri 03:07:15 04:01:55 04:03:43 04:05:31 05:01:40 3:36 1:54 88.23% Reykjavík 03:26:44 (sunrise) 04:02:30 04:04:18 04:06:06 05:01:21 3:36 1:35 88.12% Keflavík 03:31:38 (sunrise) 04:02:44 04:04:31 04:06:19 05:01:28 3:35 1:30 88.11% Borgarnes 03:19:07 (sunrise) 04:02:55 04:04:42 04:06:30 05:31:53 3:35 1:43 88.14% Jan Mayen 05:06:36 06:04:38 06:05:41 06:06:45 07:06:24 2:07 2:00 88.54% Hólmavík 03:09:33 04:03:59 04:05:47 04:07:35 05:03:21 3:36 1:54 88.19% Ísafjörður 03:10:44 04:05:12 04:07:00 04:08:48 05:04:33 3:36 1:54 88.19% Ittoqqortoormiit 03:13:13 04:09:25 04:11:08 04:12:50 05:10:16 3:25 1:57 88.39% Daneborg 01:15:21 02:14:12 02:14:48 02:15:24 03:15:23 1:12 2:00 88.56% Tasiilaq 01:59:07 (sunrise) 02:13:43 02:15:31 02:17:18 03:11:43 3:35 1:13 88.06% Summit Camp 01:23:09 02:19:41 02:21:07 02:22:34 03:19:48 2:53 1:57 88.37% Kangerlussuaq 02:00:21 (sunrise) 02:23:14 02:25:39 02:26:22 03:20:46 3:08 1:20 88.06% Ilulissat 01:29:38 02:24:35 02:26:01 02:27:28 03:22:48 2:53 1:53 88.16% Aasiaat 01:30:42 02:25:30 02:26:53 02:28:15 03:23:23 2:45 1:53 88.13% Uummannaq 01:30:18 02:26:03 02:27:15 02:28:26 03:24:31 2:23 1:54 88.22% Qeqertarsuaq 01:31:06 02:26:13 02:27:29 02:28:46 03:24:11 2:33 1:53 88.15%References:

Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of May 31, 2003(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Sofia 05:52:12 (sunrise) 06:08:26 07:06:05 1:14 66.28% Bucharest 05:35:09 (sunrise) 06:09:28 07:08:18 1:33 66.76% Belgrade 04:56:20 (sunrise) 05:13:08 06:11:02 1:15 70.47% Sarajevo 05:08:01 (sunrise) 05:16:54 06:10:12 1:02 69.08% Kyiv 05:19:27 06:17:12 07:19:01 2:00 70.28% Zagreb 05:10:35 (sunrise) 05:17:14 06:14:38 1:04 73.87% Budapest 04:51:42 (sunrise) 05:17:49 06:16:21 1:25 74.13% Ljubljana 05:15:34 (sunrise) 05:19:10 06:15:42 1:00 74.76% Bratislava 04:56:45 (sunrise) 05:19:53 06:18:15 1:22 75.76% Vienna 04:59:28 (sunrise) 05:20:23 06:18:38 1:19 76.17% Warsaw 04:27:11 05:24:04 06:24:28 1:57 77.38% Minsk 05:25:48 06:24:12 07:26:26 2:01 75.00% Prague 04:58:58 (sunrise) 05:24:13 06:22:40 1:24 78.78% Moscow 06:24:23 07:24:56 08:29:49 2:05 69.86% Vilnius 05:28:04 06:26:21 07:28:19 2:00 76.85% Berlin 04:51:04 (sunrise) 05:28:21 06:27:18 1:36 81.15% Riga 05:31:55 06:30:41 07:33:01 2:01 78.89% Amsterdam 05:25:44 (sunrise) 05:33:09 06:30:30 1:05 84.09% Copenhagen 04:36:49 05:33:31 06:33:12 1:58 83.46% Tallinn 05:35:17 06:34:53 07:37:57 2:03 79.80% Helsinki 05:36:18 06:36:08 07:39:25 2:03 80.01% Stockholm 04:38:24 05:36:58 06:38:40 2:00 82.90% Luxembourg 05:34:18 (sunrise) 05:38:37 06:25:29 0:51 69.58% Brussels 05:35:37 (sunrise) 05:39:46 06:28:19 0:53 73.33% Oslo 04:43:16 05:40:57 06:41:25 1:58 85.86% Edinburgh 04:36:46 (sunrise) 04:42:57 05:39:59 1:03 87.74% London 04:50:16 (sunrise) 04:57:26 05:31:37 0:41 46.99% Danmarkshavn 03:16:50 04:17:18 05:18:50 2:02 87.68% Pituffik 00:37:17 01:36:39 02:35:54 1:59 85.09% Pond Inlet 23:43:34 00:41:33 01:39:08 1:56 84.31%References:

Gallery

Eclipse details Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

+May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 01:47:21.0 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 03:45:50.6 UTC First Central Line 2003 May 31 at 04:03:10.1 UTC Greatest Duration 2003 May 31 at 04:08:58.5 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2003 May 31 at 04:09:22.5 UTC Last Central Line 2003 May 31 at 04:15:15.4 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2003 May 31 at 04:20:57.2 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 04:32:33.6 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2003 May 31 at 04:39:20.5 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2003 May 31 at 06:31:08.5 UTC

+May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.93842 Eclipse Obscuration 0.88064 Gamma 0.99597 Sun Right Ascension 04h30m33.5s Sun Declination +21°50'57.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'46.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 04h29m35.5s Moon Declination +22°43'13.1" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'48.1" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'19.3" ΔT 64.5 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

+ Eclipse season of May 2003 May 16Descending node (full moon) May 31Ascending node (new moon) Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 121 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 147

Related eclipses Eclipses in 2003 A total lunar eclipse on May 16. An annular solar eclipse on May 31. A total lunar eclipse on November 9. A total solar eclipse on November 23.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1996 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 25, 1994 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1992 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014

Solar Saros 147 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1985 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 10, 2021

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1974 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 2032

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 30, 1916 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 31, 2090

Solar eclipses of 2000–2003

Saros 147

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

See also List of solar eclipses visible from the United Kingdom 1000–2090 AD

Notes

References

External links

Photos: Spaceweather.com solar eclipse gallery Czech Republic. Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site Eclipse in the Mist, APOD 6/4/2003, Dawn partial from Charneux, Belgium Ring of Fire from Cape Wrath, APOD 6/5/2003, Annular eclipse from Cape Wrath, northwestern coast of Scotland Sun, Moon, Hot Air Balloon, APOD 6/6/2003, partial eclipse from Bonn, Germany Clouds and the Moon Move to Block the Sun, APOD 6/18/2003, partial eclipse from Vienna, Austria Photos of solar eclipse around the world