Totality observed from France.

The eclipse as seen from France.

On August 11, 1999, a total eclipse of the Sun, with an eclipse magnitude of 1.029, occurred.

The path of the moon's shadow began in the Atlantic Ocean and, before noon, was traversing Cornwall, Devon, northern France, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, and northern Serbia. Its maximum was at 11:03 UTC at 45°06′N 24°18′E / 45.1, 24.3 in Romania (next to a town called Ocnele Mari near Râmnicu Vâlcea); and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, Iran, southern Pakistan and India and ended in the Bay of Bengal.

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.

Observations

Because of the high density populated in the areas of the path (see just on top), there is only little doubt that this was the most-viewed total solar eclipse in all 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 organised eclipse-watching parties along the path of totality set up video projectors on which people could watch the shadow as it raced towards them¹. There was substantial coverage on European TV stations of the progress of the eclipse shadow. The moon's shadow was also observed from the Russian Mir space station; during the eclipse, video from Mir was broadcast live on television.

• The BBC concentrated its coverage efforts on the first landfall of the shadow across the western end of Cornwall (St Ives -> Lizard), which was packed with an extraordinary number of British visitors. The seasoned veteran eclipse-watcher, Patrick Moore, was brought in to head a live programme, but was unfortunate to be clouded out.
• Some of the best viewing conditions were to be had in mid-Channel, where ferries were halted in calm conditions to obtain an excellent view.
• A gathering of several thousand people at the airport in Soissons, France, which was on the path of totality, were denied all but a few fleeting glimpses of the eclipse through the overcast sky. Ironically, the clouds cleared completely just a few minutes after the eclipse was over.
• Further inland, viewing conditions were also perfect at Vouziers, a French country town which was gridlocked by Belgian cars from day-visitors. The patchy cloud covering cleared a short time before the shadow arrived. Some photos from Vouziers were used on the subsequent BBC Sky at Night programme.
• The San Francisco Exploratorium featured a live webcast from a crowded town square in Amasya, Turkey.

Notable times and coordinates

Special 2,000 Romanian leu note made for the 1999 total eclipse of the Sun, showing the eclipse path over the country's map.

Type of the eclipse

References

• View of eclipse from the Mir space station.
• Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson. Total Solar Eclipse of 1999 August 11.. NASA, November 2004.
• The Total Solar Eclipse of 1999 August 11.
• Eclipse at hermit.org
• Exploratorium Webcast: Solar Eclipse August 11, 1999.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Solar eclipse of 1999 August 11

• KryssTal - Eclipse in Cornwall (UK) - totality not seen but scene photogrpahed.
• Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Romania, shown in Romanian Maximum Card
• Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 Romania, shown in Romanian Maximum Card

	Solar eclipses
Previous eclipse February 16, 1999 (annular)	Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 (total)	Next eclipse February 5, 2000 (partial)
Previous total eclipse February 26, 1998		Next total eclipse June 21, 2001

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