Are you ready for SIX eclipses in 2019?
The next 12 months are a ‘chocolate box’ of all kinds of solar and lunar eclipses
2019 will kick-off with a partial solar eclipse on January 6, and be followed two weeks later by a total lunar eclipse ‘Super Blood Wolf Moon’. However, July has the most beautiful type – a total solar eclipse – as well as a partial lunar eclipse, and December has an annular solar eclipse. And don’t forget the transit of Mercury in November! There’s a lot in 2019 for eclipse-chasers to plan for. Here’s everything you need to know.
1 – Partial Solar Eclipse, January 6
Visible from Russia, China and Japan, this partial solar eclipse will peak in northeast Russia when 60% of the Sun will be blocked by the Moon.
2 – Total Lunar Eclipse, January 20/21
Often called a ‘Blood Moon’ despite the moon actually going a reddish copper color, this total lunar eclipse is also being called a ‘Super Blood Wolf Moon’ because (a) it’s a supermoon full moon (when the moon being at its nearest point to Earth in its monthly orbital path coincides with a full moon) and (b) January’s full moon is called a Wolf Moon in North America.
Visible from start to finish on January 20/21 from North and South America, plus Western Europe, this Total Lunar Eclipse will be the last until 2021 for North America, and 2022 for Europe.
3 – Total Solar Eclipse, July 2, 2019
The eyes of the world will turn to Chile, as the Moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking out the light of our Sun”
The headline act. WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com will be near Vicuna in Chile to see the first Total Solar Eclipse since August 21, 2017 in the U.S. Visible from the South Pacific, Chile and Argentina, a celestial coincidence means that totality will strike above some of the most famous astronomy sites in the world. “The eyes of the world will turn to Chile, as the Moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking out the light of our Sun,” says Claudio Melo, ESO Representative in Chile. “Astronomy and the beauty of the pristine Chilean skies will be showcased to the entire world, as the rarity of the total eclipse will attract thousands of people, from both Chile and further afield, to the north of the country.”
4 – Partial Lunar Eclipse, July 16, 2019
Exactly two weeks after the Total Solar Eclipse, most of the moon will pass into the Earth’s deep shadow and be partially eclipsed. This one is not visible from North America, with Africa, Europe and Asia all getting a view of what promises to be a very strange-looking full moon. It should be possible to see a reddish color on one side of the moon; the top of the moon will be dark, and the bottom will be lit-up. The greatest eclipse occurs in U.K at about 22:30 p.m.
5 – Transit of Mercury, November 11
Eclipses mostly refer to when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, or the Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow, but they also describe when a planet appears to cross the disk of the Sun. In November that will happen to Mercury, an event that occurs only 13 times per century. The best places to watch will be from the eastern U.S., Central America, and South America. The next Transit of Mercury after November 2019 is not until 2032.
6 – Annular Solar Eclipse, December 26
The ultimate Christmas wreath? On Boxing Day, Christmas 2019 there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse, often referred to as a ‘Ring of Fire’. A kind of Partial Solar Eclipse that occurs when a micro-moon (when the moon is at the furthest point from Earth in its monthly orbital path coincides with a New Moon). It will be viewable Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, southern India, northern Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and ending at sunset in Guam.
If you can only get to one of these events, make it July’s Total Solar Eclipse, but whatever you do you can read all about 2019’s chocolate box of eclipses right here on WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com
Photo credit: C00 Creative Commons
