- List of solar eclipses in the 20th century
This is a list of solar eclipses in the 20th century. During the period 1901 to 2000 there were 228 solar eclipses of which 78 were partial, 73 were annular (2 of which were off centre), 71 were total (3 of which were off centre) and 6 were hybrids between total and annular eclipses.cite web |url=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/catalog.html |title=NASA — Five Million Catalog of Solar Eclipses |publisher=
NASA |accessdate=2008-08-02]The table gives the date and time of the greatest eclipse (in
dynamical time , which in this case is the time when the axis of the Moon's shadow cone passes closest to the centre of Earth).cite web |url=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SEcatkey.html |title=NASA — Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipses |publisher=NASA |accessdate=2008-08-02] It also gives the type of eclipse (either Total, Annular, Partial or Hybrid) and for total and annular eclipses it gives the duration of the eclipse. The location of the greatest eclipse and the path width are also given, as well as the geographical areas affected.Notable eclipses of the 20th century include:
* 29 May 1919: this total eclipse was photographed byArthur Eddington to verifygeneral relativity ,Fact|date=August 2008
* 14 December 1955: longest annular eclipse between 1001 and 2000 AD,Fact|date=August 2008
* 20 July 1963: plays a role in theStephen King novels "Gerald's Game " and "Dolores Claiborne ",Fact|date=August 2008
* 10 July 1972: referred to inCarly Simon 's #1 hit single "You're So Vain ",Fact|date=August 2008
* 30 June 1973: aConcorde jet flew along the path, thereby extending the length of totality to 72 min,Fact|date=August 2008
* 29 March 1987: second hybrid eclipse in less than one year,Fact|date=August 2008
* 11 July 1991: subject of an episode of the TV series "Nova" entitled "Eclipse of the Century." Passed over major observatories in Hawaii,Fact|date=August 2008
* 10 May 1994: reached 99.9% totality momentarily over Atlanta, Georgia,Fact|date=August 2008
* 26 February 1998: several Haitians were killed after trying to avoid the eclipse by taking overextensive measuresFact|date=August 2008
* 31 July 2000: the second solar eclipse within one calendar monthFact|date=August 2008References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.