On March 20, 2015 a supermoon total solar eclipse occurs in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard (Norway), and a partial solar eclipse in Europe, northern and eastern Asia and northern and western Africa. The eclipse starts at 07:41 UT and ends at 11:50 UT. To top it all off, the event happens on the day of the March Equinox for 2015.
Never look at the sun or an eclipse directly!
Eye safety during solar eclipses
Read more about this eclipse from the perspective of our very own eclipse chaser Dr. Ryan Milligan.
What will it look like?
A collection of 4 total eclipses observed by Ryan.
Photo of partial solar eclipse as seen near sunset on May 20, 2012, from Austin, Texas. credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/7239061514/
When and where can you see it?
The central path of March 20th’s total solar eclipse crosses only a few bits of land: all of the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. Red lines show the moment of mid-eclipse in Universal Time; blue lines show the fraction of the Sun’s diameter covered by the Moon.
Sky & Telescope illustration; source: Fred Espenak – See more at: http://bit.ly/1H9J2q8
An animation of the March 20, 2015 solar eclipse. The black spot is the total eclipse and the gray shaded area is the partial eclipse. Night is shown with dark blue shading. credit: http://eclipse.nasa.gsfc.gov
The solar eclipse of March 20, 2015. Map by Larry Koehn from shadowandsubstance.com. An animated version is on the website
Time Listings
Eclipse times for European time zones (from EarthSky.org)
All times are in local time, so no conversion is necessary!
March 20, 2015 total eclipse times from land
Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Partial solar eclipse begins: 8:39 a.m. Western European Time (WET)
Total solar eclipse begins: 9:41 a.m. WET
Maximum eclipse: 9:42 a.m. WET
Total solar eclipse ends: 9:43 a.m. WET
Partial solar eclipse ends: 10:48 a.m. WET
Longyearbyen, Svalbard
Partial solar eclipse begins: 10:12 a.m. Central European Time (CET)
Total solar eclipse begins: 11:11 a.m. CET
Maximum eclipse: 11:12 a.m. CET
Total solar eclipse ends: 11:13 a.m. CET
Partial solar eclipse ends: 12:12 a.m. CET
Source: TimeandDate.com
March 20, 2015 partial eclipse times
Reykjavik, Iceland
Solar eclipse begins: 8:38 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Greatest eclipse: 9:37 a.m. GMT
Solar eclipse ends: 10:39 a.m. GMT
Maximum obscuration of solar disk: 98%
London, England
Solar eclipse begins: 8:25 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Greatest eclipse: 9:31 a.m. GMT
Solar eclipse ends: 10:41 a.m. GMT
Maximum obscuration of solar disk: 84%
Algiers, Algeria
Solar eclipse begins: 9:06 a.m. Central European Time (CET)
Greatest eclipse: 10:11 a.m. CET
Solar eclipse ends: 11:20 a.m. CET
Maximum obscuration of solar disk: 53%
Istanbul, Turkey
Solar eclipse begins: 10:53 a.m. Eastern European Time (EET)
Greatest eclipse: 11:57 a.m. EET
Solar eclipse ends: 1:02 p.m. EET
Maximum obscuration of solar disk: 32%
Moscow, Russia
Solar eclipse begins: 12:13 p.m. Moscow Standard Time (MST)
Greatest eclipse: 1:20 p.m. MST
Solar eclipse ends: 2:27 p.m. MST
Maximum obscuration of solar disk: 58%
