Solar eclipse of May 11, 2078

A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 11, 2078, with a magnitude of 1.0701. 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 16 hours after perigee (on May 11, 2078, at 2:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.

The path of totality will be visible from parts of Kiribati, Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the western Florida panhandle, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, in the United States, and the eastern Canary Islands. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of Oceania, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America, Western Europe, and Northwest Africa.

Path description

The path of totality will begin over the Pacific Ocean near Caroline Island, Kiribati. From there, it will track northeast towards North America, making landfall on the Mexican coast. In Mexico, totality will be visible in the cities of Manzanillo, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Ciudad Victoria, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The path then briefly crosses into the United States in southern Texas, including McAllen and Brownsville before crossing the Gulf of Mexico. It then re-enters the United States, passing through Louisiana (including New Orleans and Baton Rouge), Mississippi (including Biloxi), Alabama (including Mobile and Montgomery), far northwestern Florida, Georgia (including Atlanta, Athens, and Augusta), South Carolina (including Columbia and Greenville), North Carolina (including Charlotte and Raleigh), and Virginia (including Virginia Beach). It then passes over the Atlantic Ocean and ends near the Canary Islands.

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 2078

• A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 27.
• A total solar eclipse on May 11.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 21.
• An annular solar eclipse on November 4.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 19.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 24, 2074
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 27, 2082

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 31, 2071
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 22, 2085

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 6, 2069
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 17, 2087

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 2067
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 10, 2089

Solar Saros 139

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2060
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 22, 2096

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2049
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 23, 2107

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 12, 2165

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 139

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses from August 11, 1627 through December 9, 1825 and total eclipses from December 21, 1843 through March 26, 2601. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. 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 61 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000. 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