Solar eclipse of May 1, 2079

A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, May 1, 2079, with a magnitude of 1.0512. 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 1.2 days before perigee (on May 2, 2079, at 14:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.

The path of totality will be visible from parts of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in the United States, eastern Canada (including Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), and Greenland. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of eastern North America, the eastern Caribbean, Northwest Africa, Europe, and much of Russia.

This will be the first total eclipse visible from New York City since January 24, 1925, and unlike the previous eclipse, the city will experience totality across the entire city limits.

Visible cities

The path of totality will start in eastern Pennsylvania. A total eclipse will be visible along the path of Philadelphia, New York City, Hartford, Providence, Rhode Island, Boston, and Portland, Maine in the United States. Partial eclipses will be visible in Charlotte, Richmond, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Buffalo. In Canada, the total eclipse can be visible in Halifax, and Saint John, while the partial eclipse can be seen in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and most of northern Canada. The path then passes directly through Nuuk, making it visible to most of Greenland. The path will end near the Bering Strait. A partial eclipse can be visible in a very small part of South America, Northern Africa, Europe and Northern Asia (Mostly Russia). The path of totality barely misses the North Pole by about 100 miles (160 km).

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.

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2079

• A partial lunar eclipse on April 16.
• A total solar eclipse on May 1.
• A total lunar eclipse on October 10.
• An annular solar eclipse on October 24.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 13, 2075
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 2083

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2072
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 2086

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 25, 2070
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 5, 2088

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2068
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 31, 2090

Solar Saros 149

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2061
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 11, 2097

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2050
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 11, 2108

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1992
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 2, 2166

Solar eclipses of 2076–2079

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse 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.

The partial solar eclipses on January 6, 2076 and July 1, 2076 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 149

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 149, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 21, 1664. It contains total eclipses from April 9, 2043 through October 2, 2331; hybrid eclipses from October 13, 2349 through November 3, 2385; and annular eclipses from November 15, 2403 through July 13, 2800. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 28, 2926. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 31 at 4 minutes, 10 seconds on July 17, 2205, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 62 at 5 minutes, 6 seconds on June 21, 2764. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

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). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.

Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Notes

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC