An eclipse is identified in output by the DateObject expression of its maximum eclipse instant:

Dates in input can be given as DateObject expressions or date strings:

Find all solar eclipses between two given dates:

Plot their magnitudes:

Find the general properties, or circumstances, of the eclipse used by Eddington to confirm gravitational bending:

It was a total eclipse:

It had a magnitude of 1.0728, so that the Moon's apparent diameter was 7.28% larger than that of the Sun at maximum eclipse:

It had obscuration 1, meaning that the full disk of the Sun was covered by the Moon:

It belonged to Saros series 136:

It was eclipse number 32 in that Saros series:

Find general properties of a partial eclipse:

A total of 62.87% of the diameter of the Sun was covered by the Moon as observed at maximum eclipse:

A total of 52.47% of the area of the Sun's apparent disk was covered by the disk of the Moon:

This eclipse will happen in lunation 447:

The eclipse will happen around 14 minutes before the instant of the new moon:

Find the date and position of maximum eclipse:

Find the dates of penumbral contact with that location:

Simulate the eclipse as observed from the location of maximum eclipse between those two instants:

Eclipses can be classified in different ways. An eclipse is central if the shadow axis touches the Earth:

A central eclipse can be total, annular or hybrid (i.e. change between annular and total):

This is a partial eclipse, so the shadow axis will not intersect the Earth:

Therefore, this property cannot be computed:

There can be total or annular solar eclipses that are not central. The last one happened in 2014:

The shadow axis does not intersect the Earth:

But the umbra cone (actually the antumbra part) does intersect the Earth:

It was an annular eclipse:

Show the evolution of the eclipse near the instant of maximal eclipse, zooming in on the umbra on the right:

Jean Meeus proposed a classification for seven types of eclipse. Find out the Meeus types of eclipses in the next four years:

In a partial eclipse, no Earth observer sees totality. The location and instant observing highest magnitude is called the maximum eclipse:

The eclipse identifier uses precisely the instant of maximum eclipse:

This is the location observing maximum eclipse:

This is the magnitude observed from that location:

It coincides with the computation of magnitude from that location at that instant:

For a partial eclipse, maximum eclipse always happens near the horizon:

This map shows the location of maximum eclipse at the center, in white, on the yellow line of maximum eclipse in horizon:

Find the next annular eclipse:

Compute the dates and locations of some of the four umbral contact points for this eclipse:

Find the first total eclipse after the beginning of the year 2030:

Compute the instantaneous position of the shadow axis at any given instant:

Compute the path of the shadow axis for this whole eclipse:

Compute the envelope polygon for the umbra:

Represent those elements on a map:

Zoom in around the selected instantaneous position:

Take the first solar eclipse of the year 2024 and compute the dates of its first and last shadow axis contacts:

Compute the speed of the shadow axis as a function of the number of hours from maximum eclipse:

This is the speed at the instant of maximum eclipse:

The speed diverges near the contact points of the shadow axis with the Earth:

Compute the width of the central path at any time during an eclipse:

Only eclipses with all four umbral contact points have a well-defined central path. For example, partial eclipses do not have a central path:

Find the rise/set curve for the next eclipse, describing the positions that see the beginning or end of the eclipse at sunrise or sunset:

This eclipse has all four penumbral contact points, so the penumbra shadow is interior to the Earth at some point. Therefore, the rise/set line has two separate lobes:

Find the rise/set curve for an eclipse in which contact points P2 and P3 do not exist:

Then the rise/set line self-intersects at a node point:

Find the locus of the observers that see maximum eclipse with the Sun on the horizon:

Note the relation with the rise/set line of the eclipse:

Find the date of the total solar eclipse of April 2024, which will be visible from the US:

Select a location in the US:

It will not be possible to observe totality from this location. This is the magnitude at the instant of local maximum eclipse, and it is smaller than 1:

It will happen at this instant:

Plot the evolution of the magnitude at this location:

The magnitude is zero outside of this date interval:

That is the duration of the contact with the penumbra:

For the eclipse of April 2024, select a location that will observe totality:

It will observe totality because the magnitude at the local maximum eclipse is larger than 1:

Plot the evolution of the magnitude at this location. The totality phase is clear:

Compute the penumbra and umbra contacts:

Therefore, these are the durations of partiality and totality:

Find the Inex and Saros numbers of an eclipse:

Find both properties together:

Highlight an eclipse in a 3000-year Saros–Inex panorama, with each eclipse being a point {saros,inex}:

Use 30,000 years of eclipses:

Other possible eclipse cycles include:

Compute the Besselian element coefficients for the first solar eclipse of the year 2024:

This is the time selected as the origin of time:

Construct the standard Besselian functions as functions of time in hours from T0:

From these functions, compute all circumstances of the eclipse. For example, find the instant of maximum eclipse:

Compare to the reported value after changing to the "TT" time system:

By default, SolarEclipse finds the next eclipse of any type:

Find the next eclipse of a different type:

Check that the intermediate eclipses are not partial:

By default, SolarEclipse finds the next eclipse:

Find the previous eclipse instead:

Find the first eclipse after a given date:

Find the first eclipse before the same date:

By default, SolarEclipse returns dates in the default Wolfram Language time system, an implementation of UTC extended to follow UT1 in the far past and future:

Specify that the result should be given in a different time system:

Find an eclipse in the far past. Note that DateObject uses by default a proleptic Gregorian calendar without year zero:

Changing to the "TT" time system shifts the date representation by several days:

It is still the same date:

By default, SolarEclipse returns dates in your local time zone:

Return the same date in a different time zone: