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Astrological
Events
Northern Hemisphere
Solar Eclipse- October 14, 2004
A solar eclipse occurs when the sun,moon and the earth align in
the same line.This eclipse can be termed as total,annual or partial
depending on the distance between the sun and the moon.Solar Eclipses
occur only on a New Moon Day.But due to the five-degree tilt of
the moon's orbit to the earth's orbit,the moon passes above or below
the direct line of sight between the earth and the sun and that
is why the eclipses do not occur every month.
The
first solar eclipse of 2004 was a southern hemisphere event which
was visible from southern Africa and parts of Antarctica. It was
on April 19th, 2004. This was the 65th eclipse of the Saros series
119, an old series which produced its last central eclipse on 1950
Mar 18. The series will continue to produce partial eclipses of
decreasing magnitude until the final event on 2112 June 24.
The
second partial solar eclipse of 2004 will begin around 6 hours 24.5
minutes on the 14th of October, 2004.The phenomenon will end at
10 hours 34.2 minutes.The period of greatest eclipse will occur
at 8 hours 29.2 minutes. But this will be a less picturesque event
than a total eclipse as the whole of the sun's bright surface will
not be hidden.During this event,the dark shadow cone of the moon
known as the umbra will completely miss the earth pass above the
north pole and out into space.Meanwhile,the moon's outer shadow,
known as the penumbra, from where the moon will appear to eclipse
the sun partially, will slice into a part of the northern hemisphere.
This
partial solar eclipse can be witnessed around a belt of 5,000 km
on each side of the eclipse path.It can be observed from the northern
hemisphere and will be visible in the northeastern parts of Asia(China,Japan,North
Korea), the United States, the Pacific Ocean and parts of Alaska.
Where the point of greatest eclipse can be seen, about 92 percent
of the sun's diameter will be eclipsed.This will be the 54th eclipse
of the Saros series 124. Saros 124 will continue to produce partial
eclipses of decreasing magnitude until 2347, May 11th.
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