Solar eclipse of November 25, 2011

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, November 25, 2011, with a magnitude of 0.9047. 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 last of four partial solar eclipses in 2011, with the others occurring on January 4, June 1, and July 1.

This eclipse was visible across Antarctica in its summer 24-hour day sunlight, and New Zealand at sunset with less than 20% of the Sun obscured. Parts of the western Antarctic Peninsula experienced nearly 90% obscuration of the Sun, while South Africa and Tasmania experienced a very small partial eclipse.

Images

Animated path

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing partial eclipse

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 2011

• A partial solar eclipse on January 4.
• A partial solar eclipse on June 1.
• A total lunar eclipse on June 15.
• A partial solar eclipse on July 1.
• A partial solar eclipse on November 25.
• A total lunar eclipse on December 10.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2004
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 6, 2019

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 20, 2002
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 30, 2020

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 25, 2022

Solar Saros 123

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 1993
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 5, 2029

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 15, 1982
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 4, 2040

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 24, 1925
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 25, 2098

Solar eclipses of 2011–2014

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 4, 2011 and July 1, 2011 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 123

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 123, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 29, 1074. It contains annular eclipses from July 2, 1182 through April 19, 1651; hybrid eclipses from April 30, 1669 through May 22, 1705; and total eclipses from June 3, 1723 through October 23, 1957. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on May 31, 2318. 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 annularity was produced by member 19 at 8 minutes, 7 seconds on November 9, 1398, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 42 at 3 minutes, 27 seconds on July 27, 1813. 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

• APOD December 2, 2011