Solar Eclipse Search Engine

Search the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses


Introduction

This page allows you to search the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 (2000 BCE to 3000 CE) for all eclipses over a specified date range and that possess certain characteristics. Enter a date range, choose the eclipse type(s) and select any of the optional parameters.

Note: Your web browser must have Javascript turned on in order to use this page. See compatible browsers for more information.

Inclusive Year Range

Starting year: Ending year:

Solar Eclipse Type

Total Hybrid Annular Partial

Optional Eclipse Parameters

Enter values in any of the fields below to narrow the search.

Saros series:
Month: Day:
Central Duration: ≥ minutes seconds and ≤ minutes seconds
Eclipse Magnitude: ≥ and ≤
Abs(Gamma): ≥ and ≤
Number of Eclipses per Year: ≥ and ≤

Search

Links to Additional Solar Eclipse Predictions

Calendar

The Gregorian calendar (also called the Western calendar) is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named for Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in 1582. On this website, the Gregorian calendar is used for all calendar dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used. For more information on this topic, see Calendar Dates.

The Julian calendar does not include the year 0. Thus the year 1 BCE is followed by the year 1 CE (See: BCE/CE Dating Conventions). This is awkward for arithmetic calculations. Years in this catalog are numbered astronomically and include the year 0. Historians should note there is a difference of one year between astronomical dates and BCE dates. Thus, the astronomical year 0 corresponds to 1 BCE, and astronomical year -1 corresponds to 2 BCE, etc..

Predictions

The solar eclipse predictions were made using the VSOP87/ELP2000-82 solar and lunar ephemerides. The resulting Besselian elements from these ephemerides were originally generated for the NASA technical publication Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.

The accuracy of the northern and southern edges of an eclipse path is limited to approximately 1-2 kilometers due to the lunar limb profile. For eclipses five centuries or more centuries in the past or future, the largest uncertainty in the predictions is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to the tidal friction of the Moon. The resultant drift in apparent clock time is expressed as ΔT and is is based on the work of Morrison and Stephenson [2004].

The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used (see Calendar Dates).

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to National Space Club summer intern Sumit Dutta for his assistance in preparing the solar eclipse search engine (July 2007). The mySQL database software was designed by Xavier Jubier and the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses web tool. Xavier's help was indispensable in developing this version of the Solar Eclipse Search Engine.

Some of the content on this web site is based on the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Permission is granted to reproduce data from this page when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, www.EclipseWise.com"

The use of diagrams and maps is permitted provided that they are NOT altered (except for re-sizing) and the embedded credit line is NOT removed or covered.