Nature Total Magnitude 1.0367 Max. width of band 419 km (260 mi) Start date December 4, 2021 | Gamma -0.9526 Duration 114 sec (1 m 54 s) Greatest eclipse 7:34:38 | |
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A total solar eclipse will occur on December 4, 2021. 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. This eclipse will be unusual as the path of the total eclipse will move from east to west across Antarctica, while most eclipse paths move from west to east. This reversal is only possible in polar regions.
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Solar eclipses of 2018-2021
Each member 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.
Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 15, 2018, and August 11, 2018, occur during the previous semester series.
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).