Sky & Telescope July 1979 [antikvár]

Next Februarys Total Solar EclipseJUST one year minus 10 days after western North America enjoyed a widely observed total eclipse of the sun, it becomes the turn of Africa and India, on February 16. 1980. As the large map shows, the moon's shadow first touches Earth at sunrise in the South Atlantic Ocean and races eastward across Africa, through Angola, Zaire, Tanzania, and Kenya. Bending northeasterly over the Indian Ocean, the path of totality continues across central India, the Bay of Bengal, and Burma, to end at sunset in Szechwan (Sichuan) Province, China.The maximum duration of totality will be four minutes 12.4 seconds, in the Indian Ocean, but totality will exceed four minutes on the central line in coastal Kenya, north of Malindi. However, when the moon's shadow first touches India about I'/i hours later in latitude +14/2°, the duration will have dropped to just under three minutes; it continues to lessen east-4 Sky and Telescope, July, 1979ward, being less than two minutes north of Mandalay, Burma.The coming eclipse is one of a saros series that began with a small partial eclipse visible from Antarctica on August 20. 1096. Beginning with 1475, the eclipses of this series have been total, and this will continue until the year 2232. The saros will end on October 25, 2394, with apartial eclipse (maximum magnitude only 0.031) near the North Pole.Expeditions to observe the 1980 eclipse have had to weigh the relative merits of East Africa's longer totality against India's prospect of clearer skies. On the facing page, Edward M. Brooks of Boston College provides an overview of cloudiness along the eclipse path.PREDICTED TIMES FOR TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, FEBRUARY 16, 1980PlaceLat.Long.1IIIIIIVAlt.Cabinda, Angola- 5° 33'-i2°ir6:18.97:26.27:28.48:46.731°Arusha, Tanzania- 3° 22'-36° 40'6:50.18:18.48:20.19:55.866°Malindi, Kenya-3° 14'-40° 06'6:57.38:27.28:31.010:05.771°Karwar, India+ 14° 49'-74° 08'8:47.310:08.610:11.311:22.239°Kurnool. India+ 15° 50'-78° 04'8:56.310:15.410:16.111:25.234°Berhampur, India+ 19° 18'-84° 48'9:10.310:22.910:25.311:29.225°Chittagong, Bangladesh+ 22° 21'-91° 49'9:20.810:29.110:30.111:30.917°For each place are given the latitude and longitude; the Universal times of Contact I (beginning of partial eclipse). II (beginning of totality), 111 (end of totality), and IV (end of partial eclipse); and the altitude of the sun at mid-totality.