Book Description

During the 5,000-year period from -1999 to +3000 (2000 BCE to 3000 CE), Earth will experience 11,898 eclipses of the Sun. The eclipses are distributed as follows: 4200 partial eclipses, 3956 annular eclipses, 3173 total eclipses, and 569 hybrid eclipses.The "Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000" contains a catalog listing the date, eclipse type, and principal characteristics of every eclipse during this period. Tabulated data for each eclipse includes the catalog number, canon plate number, calendar date, Terrestrial Dynamical Time of greatest eclipse, ?T, lunation number, Saros number, eclipse type, Quincena Lunar Eclipse parameter, gamma, eclipse magnitude, geographic coordinates of greatest eclipse (latitude and longitude), and the circumstances at greatest eclipse (i.e., Sun altitude and azimuth, path width, and central line duration).The statistics of the solar eclipse distribution over 5,000 years are investigated in detail. This includes eclipse types by month and by century, eclipse frequency in the calendar year, extremes in eclipse magnitude for all eclipse types, maximum durations of total, annular, and hybrid eclipses, and eclipse duos (two eclipses within 30 days of each other).A discussion of the major cycles in the Moon's orbit and their role in the occurrence of solar eclipses is presented. These include the synodic, the anomalistic, and the draconic months.Finally, the periodicity of solar eclipses is investigated with particular attention to the Saros cycle. Tables list the start and end dates, number, and type of eclipses of every Saros series in progress during the 5,000-year period covered by the Five Millennium Canon.The Catalog serves as a supplement to the "Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses" which contains a map of every eclipse. The Canon and the Catalog both use the same solar and lunar ephemerides as well as the same value of ?T. This 1-to-1 correspondence between them enhances the value of each. The researcher may now search, evaluate, and compare eclipses graphically (Canon) or textually (Catalog).