A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, December 4, 2002, with a magnitude of 1.0244. 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's apparent diameter 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. Occurring about 1.9 days after perigee (on December 2, 2002, at 8:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

The eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor in parts of Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, the Indian Ocean and South Australia. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Africa and Australia in addition to parts of Indonesia and Antarctica. During the sunset after the eclipse many observers in Australia saw numerous and unusual forms of a green flash.

In some parts of Angola, it was the second total eclipse of the Sun within 18 months, following the solar eclipse of June 21, 2001.

Observations

The Chinese Academy of Sciences sent a team to Australia, to study the gravity anomalies first recorded by Indian scientists during the total solar eclipse of October 24, 1995. The Chinese Academy of Sciences also studied it during previous total solar eclipses of March 9, 1997 in Mohe County and June 21, 2001 in Zambia. With continuous observation for more than 10 years after that, China obtained the first observational evidence that the gravity field propagates at the speed of light.

Eclipse timing Places experiencing total eclipse Solar Eclipse of December 4, 2002(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of total eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of total eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of totality (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum magnitude Huambo 05:59:17 06:57:34 06:57:58 06:58:23 08:03:55 0:49 2:05 1.0047 Ceduna 18:40:12 19:40:08 19:40:24 19:40:41 20:29:20 (sunset) 0:33 1:49 1.005References:

Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of December 4, 2002(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Yaoundé 06:06:40 (sunrise) 06:43:05 07:39:52 1:33 54.58% Malabo 06:17:26 (sunrise) 06:43:24 07:39:56 1:23 59.19% Libreville 06:09:15 (sunrise) 06:45:24 07:44:12 1:35 69.50% São Tomé 05:20:04 (sunrise) 05:45:44 06:43:53 1:24 73.94% Lagos 06:43:38 (sunrise) 06:47:49 07:37:02 0:53 56.60% Porto-Novo 06:46:35 (sunrise) 06:48:56 07:37:07 0:51 56.87% Brazzaville 05:52:53 06:49:09 07:52:05 1:59 75.25% Kinshasa 05:52:54 06:49:12 07:52:11 1:59 75.40% Luanda 05:56:10 06:53:15 07:57:05 2:01 93.78% Gitega 06:55:58 07:53:26 08:58:26 2:02 45.12% Lomé 05:51:35 (sunrise) 05:53:56 06:37:43 0:46 55.70% Accra 05:56:20 (sunrise) 05:58:40 06:38:32 0:42 53.35% Jamestown 05:42:22 (sunrise) 06:01:56 06:54:54 1:13 58.21% Rundu 07:04:42 08:05:47 09:14:42 2:10 93.36% Lusaka 07:02:37 08:07:08 09:20:49 2:18 85.36% Lilongwe 07:03:43 08:09:32 09:25:02 2:21 69.29% Windhoek 07:11:43 08:11:11 09:17:43 2:06 75.11% Harare 07:06:17 08:12:47 09:28:54 2:23 86.88% Gaborone 07:14:36 08:19:18 09:32:29 2:18 86.26% Johannesburg 07:17:27 08:23:27 09:38:06 2:21 86.23% Mbabane 07:18:26 08:26:24 09:43:29 2:25 92.17% Maputo 07:18:21 08:27:11 09:45:25 2:27 96.11% Maseru 07:22:49 08:28:08 09:41:32 2:19 76.60% Antananarivo 08:22:24 09:35:16 10:58:32 2:36 54.51% Toliara 08:22:20 09:36:39 11:01:28 2:39 76.57% Port-aux-Français 11:38:56 12:56:50 14:13:50 2:35 75.45% Île Amsterdam 11:41:25 13:08:19 14:30:59 2:50 80.40% Sydney 19:12:04 19:50:08 19:53:28 (sunset) 0:41 56.12% Melbourne 19:09:07 20:03:30 20:29:04 (sunset) 1:20 68.51% Eucla 16:53:28 17:55:44 18:52:04 1:59 93.25%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.

+December 4, 2002 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2002 December 4 at 04:52:27.3 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2002 December 4 at 05:51:24.0 UTC First Central Line 2002 December 4 at 05:51:38.6 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2002 December 4 at 05:51:53.2 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 2002 December 4 at 06:56:18.4 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2002 December 4 at 07:32:15.7 UTC Greatest Duration 2002 December 4 at 07:33:01.0 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2002 December 4 at 07:35:26.3 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2002 December 4 at 07:39:48.9 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 2002 December 4 at 08:08:01.3 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2002 December 4 at 09:12:35.9 UTC Last Central Line 2002 December 4 at 09:12:48.5 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2002 December 4 at 09:13:01.0 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2002 December 4 at 10:12:05.5 UTC

+December 4, 2002 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.02437 Eclipse Obscuration 1.04934 Gamma −0.30204 Sun Right Ascension 16h41m50.9s Sun Declination -22°13'29.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.6" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 16h41m32.9s Moon Declination -22°31'05.2" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'21.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'02.3" ΔT 64.4 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 November–December 2002 November 20Ascending node (full moon) December 4Descending node (new moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 116 Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 142

Related eclipses Eclipses in 2002 A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 26. An annular solar eclipse on June 10. A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 24. A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 20. A total solar eclipse on December 4.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1999 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 22, 2006

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 24, 1995 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 15, 2010

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1993 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 2013

Solar Saros 142 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 22, 1984 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2020

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 14, 2031

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 3, 1916 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 4, 2089

Solar eclipses of 2000–2003

Saros 142

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2002 December 4". NASA, November 2004.

Google Map

Photos: Spaceweather.com: Dec. 4, 2002, Solar Eclipse Gallery and Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Australia Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. South Africa and Mozambique KryssTal - Eclipse from Botswana. Images from Australia by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Total Solar Eclipse of 4 December 2002 seen in EUMETSAT satellite imagery . Zimbabwe Solar Eclipse, APOD 12/6/2002, Corona from Zimbabwe-South Africa border The Crown of the Sun, APOD 12/13/2002, Corona of total eclipse from Musina, South Africa Shadow Cone of a Total Solar Eclipse, APOD 1/6/2003, totality from South Australia