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.
