Eclipse Search (original) (raw)

Want to do some eclipse research of your own? Well, now it's easy! Our entire database of eclipses can be searched right here.

Don't forget that you can also directly browse the solar and lunareclipse catalogs; and we have a page of statistics of eclipse occurrences.

Query the Eclipse Database

To do a search, pick a range of years to search, or leave those fields blank to search the whole database. Then pick parameters to narrow down your search.

Any field left blank will match all possible values for that field. Leaving all the fields blank, and selecting all the eclipse types, will return the whole database; since this is huge, the results are broken up into pages.

Note that all eclipses are identified by their date in UT; also, all dates in the database up to Oct 04, 1582 are in the Julian calendar, and all dates from Oct 15, 1582 are Gregorian. SeeWhat's the Time for more information on dates and times.

Key to Fields

UT Date / Time

The date and time of the moment of greatest eclipse, in UT. This is the instant when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to the Earth's center. For total eclipses, this is virtually identical to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration.

Local Time

The date and time of the moment of greatest eclipse, in your chosen time zone; this is present for eclipses in the Gregorian calendar era, i.e. from October 1582 onwards. This will be blank if you haven'tset a timezone.

Month / Day

You can search the database for eclipses occurring on a particular month and/or day in Universal Time. Bear in mind that an eclipse may be on a different day in your timezone; so it might be worth searching a day or two on either side of the date you're interested in.

Type

The type of the eclipse.

Saros Series (SS)

The Saros series of the eclipse. When searching for a given Saros, bear in mind that if a Saros started before 2000 BC, or ends after 3000 AD, only part of the series will be shown.

Magnitude

The penumbral and umbral magnitudes of the eclipse. Note that penumbral magnitude only applies to a lunar eclipse. For a lunar eclipse, the magnitude is the fraction of the Moon's diameter which is obscured by the penumbra or umbra; for a solar eclipse, the umbral magnitude is the fraction of the Sun's diameter which is obscured at the moment of greatest eclipse.

Gamma (Gam)

The distance of the the axis of the Moon's shadow from the Earth's center at maximum eclipse (the Earth's shadow axis from the Moon's centre in a lunar eclipse), measured as a fraction of the Earth's radius. A negative value indicates that the eclipse is below the centre of the Earth as seen from the Sun; this is not necessarily the same as being centred south of the equator, due to the Earth's tilt. The search form looks at absolute value of gamma — ie. it treats all values as positive — so that you can search for eg. all marginal eclipses without having to do two searches. Hence searching for values < 0 will return nothing.

Duration

The durations of the partial and total phases of the eclipse. Note that partial duraton is only given for a lunar eclipse. For a solar eclipse, the total duration is the duration of the total or annular eclipse (if any) at the point of greatest eclipse.

Caveat

This search engine is derived from the5,000 year eclipse catalogs from NASAGSFC Eclipse Web Site
The primary source of all the information on eclipses presented here at Hermit Eclipse. (NASA Goddard Space flight Center)
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html; however, any bugs in the results are almost certainly mine, for which I apologise in advance. If you see anything wrong, feel free tocontact us.