A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 11, 1999, with a magnitude of 1.0286. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into night. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth’s surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 3.5 days after perigee (on August 8, 1999, at 0:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. It was the first total eclipse visible from Europe since July 22, 1990, and the first visible in the United Kingdom since June 29, 1927. The path of the Moon's shadow began in the Atlantic Ocean and was later traversing the southern United Kingdom, northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and northern FR Yugoslavia (Vojvodina). The eclipse's maximum was at 11:03 UTC at 45.1°N, 24.3°W in Romania and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, the northeastern tip of Syria, northern Iraq, Iran, southern Pakistan and Srikakulam in India and ended in the Bay of Bengal. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and China.

Observations

<mapframe width=300 height=250 text="Interactive map of the path of the Umbral Shadow"> { "type": "ExternalData", "service": "page", "title": "SE1999Aug11T.map" } Because of the high population densities in areas of the path, this was one of the most-viewed total solar eclipses in [human history](https://bliptext.com/articles/human-history); although some areas in the path of totality (mainly in Western Europe) offered impaired visibility due to adverse weather conditions. Some of the organized eclipse-watching parties along the path of totality set up video projectors on which people could watch the moon's shadow as it raced towards them. There was substantial coverage on international TV stations of the progress of the eclipse shadow. The moon's shadow was also observed from the Russian [Mir](https://bliptext.com/articles/mir) space station; during the eclipse, video from [Mir](https://bliptext.com/articles/mir) was broadcast live on television. # [The eclipse as seen from France | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Film///eclipse///soleil///1999.jpg]

Gallery

Notable times and coordinates

Eclipse details

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1999

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 145

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1997–2000

Saros 145

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Popular culture