A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, January 4, 2011,[1] [2] [3] with a magnitude of 0.8576. 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.
This was the first of four partial solar eclipses in 2011, with the others occurring on June 1, July 1, and November 25.
The greatest eclipse occurred at 08:51 UTC in northern Sweden. At that time, the axis of the Moon's shadow passed a mere 510 km above Earth's surface.[4]
The eclipse was visible near sunrise over most of Europe before moving over central Asia. It ended at sunset over east Asia. It was visible as a minor partial eclipse over north Africa and the Middle East.
Animated path
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.[5]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2011 January 04 at 06:41:18.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2011 January 04 at 08:51:42.4 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2011 January 04 at 09:03:43.1 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2011 January 04 at 09:16:20.6 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2011 January 04 at 11:02:01.4 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.85759 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.79839 | |
| Gamma | 1.06265 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 18h59m14.9s | |
| Sun Declination | -22°44'21.1" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'15.9" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 18h58m23.8s | |
| Moon Declination | -21°46'01.2" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'18.1" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'09.6" | |
| ΔT | 66.3 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. 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.