Sunrise Partial Eclipse
June 17, 2003
Provided by: Anthony Ayiomamitis
Summary authors & editors: Anthony Ayiomamitis; Jim Foster
The above photo of a partial solar eclipse on May 31, 2003 was captured near Athens, Greece. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow began over northern Scotland and swept across Iceland and portions of Greenland. In this region of the globe, the eclipse was annular. In an annular eclipse, the Moon is at apogee, and thus its disk doesn't completely cover the Sun, as it does during a total eclipse -- a ring of sunlight surrounds the Moon. A partial eclipse was seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, including most all of Europe.
Although the weather didn't fully cooperate in Greece, the partially eclipsed Sun (near sunrise) was still visible. The clouds seemed to have been a blessing in disguise as they, together with aerosols such as dust, provided wonderful color effects.
Photo specifications: Canon EOS 3 camera with 100-300 mm zoom (set at 300 mm).
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