When was the eclipse for May 31 found out about, I heard that up until the middle of 2002 it was not shown on any calanders is this true, I thought they new of these things in advance.

Also they was a link a while back showing every time this special link date (18 years) on a pages past and future anyone know the link.

My book Observe Eclipses lists this eclipse, complete with the exact same shadow path given on the various websites, and it was published in 1995.

Solar eclipses of Saros 147

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It's also possible you saw a list of TOTAL solar eclipses. If that is the case, the upcoming eclipse would not have been listed as it is an annular eclipse.

Rob

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"Crackpot theories 1 : Regular theories a billion." Fry

Not so, Hale-Bopp. An annular eclipse is one of two kinds of total solar eclipse.

A solar eclipse is total when the Moon completely overlays the Sun, regardless of whether it's annular or not. It's only a partial eclipse if you're situated such that the Moon never completely covers the Sun.

I don't think so. It's the Sun that's being eclipsed, and in an annular eclipse it is not totally eclipsed. Mr. Eclipse seems to agree that annular eclipses are not total: "Unfortunately, not every eclipse of the Sun is a total eclipse. Sometimes, the Moon is too small to cover the entire Sun's disk."

My eclipse book lists total and annular eclipses separately, and I would go along with that. If the Sun's not completely obscured, it's not a total eclipse.

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AFAIK, a total eclipse is one where the solar disc is totally eclipsed. Hence the name.

Just for clarification - the difference has to do with the distance between the Earth and the Sun (aphelion vs perihelion) and the distance between the Earth and the Moon (apigee vs perigee) or both?

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"As I lay beneath the Southern Cross, the stars tell more than I could" . . . David Meece

'apogee' that would be. But it isn't just about those extremes. Generally, the further away Sol is and the nearer Luna is, the more likely a total eclipse will occur. So the most extreme case is when Earth is at aphelion and Luna is at perigee.

And the longer it will last if it does occur.

I would say, too, that the distance of the Moon is far more significant than that of the Sun, since the former varies much more than the latter.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.