THE LONGEST SOLAR ECLIPSE IN THE WORLD

Did you know that the longest historical total eclipse in the world which occurred on June 15, 743 BC lasted for 7 minutes 27.54 seconds, and that in the 21st century, there will be 224 solar eclipses?

According to scientists, a total solar eclipse will occur on July 16, 2186, which will be the longest total eclipse for thousands of years. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. 

Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season in its new moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth's orbit. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured. Unlike a lunar eclipse, which may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth, a solar eclipse can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world. As such, although total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, they recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years.

According to Fred Espenak of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, during the 21st century, there will be 224 solar eclipses of which 77 will be partial, 73 will be annular, 68 will be total and 7 will be hybrids between total and annular eclipses. Of these, two annular and one total eclipse will be non-central, in the sense that the very center (axis) of the Moon's shadow will miss the Earth. In the 21st century, the greatest number of eclipses in one year is four, in 2011, 2029, 2047, 2065, 2076, and 2094.

At this point, the longest measured duration in which the Moon completely covered the Sun, known as totality, was during the solar eclipse of July 22, 2009. This total solar eclipse had a maximum duration of 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds. The longest possible duration of a total solar eclipse is 7 minutes and 32 seconds. The longest annular solar eclipse of the 21st century took place on January 15, 2010, with a duration of 11 minutes and 7.8 seconds. The maximum possible duration is 12 minutes and 29 seconds. The eclipse of May 20, 2050, will be the second hybrid eclipse in the span of less than one year, the first one being on November 25, 2049.

The eclipse of July 16, 2186 will pass over the southern Galápagos Islands (with a total eclipse of 4 minutes occurring over the southern tip of Española Island), the northern tip of Ecuador (with a total eclipse of 3 minutes and 26 seconds on Isla Santa Rosa), central Colombia (4 minutes and 50 seconds over Bogota), central Venezuela, and northern Guyana (7 minutes and 4 seconds just north of Anna Regina).

This will be the longest total solar eclipse between the dates of 4000 BC and at least AD 6000 (10,000 years), lasting a maximum of 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds. The factors that will make this such a long eclipse are:

▪️The Earth being very near aphelion (furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible). This occurs around July 6th.

▪️The Moon being almost exactly at perigee (making its angular diameter as large as possible). The moment of greatest eclipse will be just 50 minutes after perigee.

▪️The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to the Earth's equator, where the Earth's rotational velocity is greatest.

▪️The midpoint of the eclipse being near the subsolar point (the part of the Earth closest to the Sun, and therefore also closest to the Moon during an eclipse).

▪️The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of the Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east). For solar eclipses at the ascending node (odd numbered saros) this occurs approximately 12 days after the summer solstice.

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_July_16,_2186