There will be a rare Solar eclipse on June 1. that can be observed during the Midnight Sun in the Northern parts of Norway. 60% of the Solar disc will be covered by the Moon, which is an unusual large amount to be a Midnight Solar Eclipse, says astronomer Knut J?rgen Roed Larsen to Aftenposten. The last one occurred on July 31. 2000, but then only 40% of the Solar disc was covered.

When a Solar eclipse occurs and can be observed at midnight, this means that we are observing it across the North Pole and the top of the World. These partial eclipses can only occur toward the beginning or the end of a Saros cycle. The eclipse on June 1. 2011 belongs to the Saros Cycle 118 according to Espenak, or 13S according to Jansky (Here is a rather useful table at LunarLiving for those wanting to check the Saros). The Saros of the Solar eclipse on June 1. started in 803 AD at the South Pole and will be completed at the North Pole in 2083.

These partial eclipses can only occur toward the beginning or the end of a Saros cycle.

I've sent Espenak (the astronomer) an email regarding this problem since there is something that needs explaining. A midnight sun eclipse can only occur with the Sun close to the Summer or Winter Solstice, yet this eclipse can be either total or partial. It would then be observed as a midnight sun eclipse. Saros series do start with partial eclipses at either the North or South pole, but these series are not commited to begin with the nodes close to a Solstice.

Does anyone cotton on to the problem?

Andrew Bevan wrote:Saros series do start with partial eclipses at either the North or South pole, but these series are not commited to begin with the nodes close to a Solstice.

Not sure if I understand your question/problem you're dealing with Andrew, but what you say here above is indeed the case. Saros series indeed start with partial eclipses and end with them. This because 19 eclipse years (Sun returning to lunar node, ca. 346days) is 0.46 days longer than 235 synodic months (= 1 Saros). Causing the slight shift of phase every following Saros. I got a 2nd hand book of this book http://www.amazon.com/Totality-Eclipses ... 0199532095 in which it's explained on p.24.

Thanks Andrew,

Very interesting. I am doing a talk on eclipses soon and the implications of eclipses near the poles had slipped me by.

Thanks

Mark

Eddy wrote:Not sure if I understand your question/problem you're dealing with Andrew, but what you say here above is indeed the case. Saros series indeed start with partial eclipses and end with them.

It is a theoretical problem. Upon first thoughts, a Solar Eclipse occuring close to the Vernal or Autumn Equinox would appear to be closer commited to the Equator than an eclipse occuring at either Solstice. Yet the the band of the Moon's penumbra (partial shadow) is so wide, and secondly, the partial eclipses do occur when the orb between the Moon's node and the luninaries are stretched toward their outer bounds. During the initiating eclipse of a Saros cycle that occurs at either the South or the North Pole the Moon's penumbra does only slightly make contact with the Earth surface.

Jansky on eclipse limits: For a total eclispe to occur, the Sun and Moon may not deviate more than 9?55' from the Moons' nodal point. It must occur if they are within this orb. It can, but does not always occur, when the orb is between 9?55' and 11?15'. A solar eclipse can occur when the orb from the Moon's node is 18?31. It must occur if the orb is 15?21. If the orb is 9?55 or less the eclipse will be total. Between 9?55' and 11?15' it can either be partial or total. From 11?15' to 18?31 it must be a partial eclipse.

Great if you do perform a study on the Eclipses, Mark! We certainly need more knowledge in this area and on the Saros in particular!

Great if you do perform a study on the Eclipses, Mark! We certainly need more knowledge in this area and on the Saros in particular!

Hi Andrew,

Nothing cutting edge I am afraid. Its only a facilitated discussion rather than a formal talk. Just covering for a colleague who preferred doing Neptune in Pisces. I am going to have to get myself up to speed pretty fast.

I am struggling to think of good examples. Like many astrology students my group are primarily into their natal charts and those of friends and family. Its sometimes tough getting them to to look at mundane astrology.
I suppose an obvious example is linking the Arab spring to the eclipse in January. I will try and find a few good natal examples of people affected by that eclipse. Actually, I am one of them as it was close to my MC!

Mark

I am struggling to think of good examples. Like many astrology students my group are primarily into their natal charts and those of friends and family.

I would be only too please to fetch an example or two out of my files, whether applying to the natal or mundane. Yesterdays client will have the June 1. eclipse on the cusp of her 8th in an opposition to her natal Moon, orb 20'. The doctors have discovered she has a broken nose with a splinter inside. She had no idea. She will have an operation within one month of the eclipse to remove the splinter and repair the damage. Her natal Moon is in Sagittarius - yes, it effects her sence of smell. She has Scorpio on the ascendant.

Hi Andrew,

I dont want to derail your thread. However, I would deeply appreciate anything you could send me privately. Not being a professional astrologer I dont get any client work. I will obviously scan celebrity charts for any recent eclipse 'hits'. I see the fashion designer John Galliano is a good example. The January eclipse fell close to his natal Venus/Saturn conjunction. It also fell quite close to the UK Liberal Democratic party Mars (ASC ruler). Working with whole sign houses I dont just look at planets or angles. I would consider the general house placement of eclipses where planets are located.

Thanks

Matk

The 'trouble' with eclipses is that although we can treat them in a general way, they do actually require some work and research - because the effects of one eclipse 'for good or for ill' cannot be fully grasped without looking into the initiating eclipse of the Saros Cycle.

Also, the Saros Cycle goes through various phases, from partial, to total, annular, both annular and partial. I think that the various phases of a Saros should be examined - and naturally the great expectation would be connected to that time of a Saros Cycle where the Cycle 'peeked' producing a Total Solar Eclipse of the longest duration.

I'll sort through a few charts and send them across, anyhow.

The 'trouble' with eclipses is that although we can treat them in a general way, they do actually require some work and research - because the effects of one eclipse 'for good or for ill' cannot be fully grasped without looking into the initiating eclipse of the Saros Cycle.

Yes. Good point. Bernadette Brady's book Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and The Lark heavily focused on the Saros cycle. Plus the NASA website is very good on this point too. Just found out the SNP chart was hit by the January eclipse too. I must check this Saros cycle out in Scottish history.

Mark

Andrew Bevan wrote:It is a theoretical problem. Upon first thoughts, a Solar Eclipse occuring close to the Vernal or Autumn Equinox would appear to be closer commited to the Equator than an eclipse occuring at either Solstice.

It still mainly depends on the lunar parallax and the therefore distance of the eclipse degree to the nodal axis. The parallax of the Moon is biggest when the Moon is on the horizon and smallest when in zenith. The latter namely means that geocenter, observer and Moon are in one line. The highest value of lunar parallax is ca. 1? (the inverse tangens of Earth radius divided by distance to the Moon). With this maximum lunar parallax of 1? and an eclipse at the same time, it means that the Sun is also on the horizon and furthermore that the orbit of the Moon is thus 1? north or south of the ecliptic. So the lunar node is still over some 10? away. The more the node is close the more the eclipses will occur in the tropical area. Note that when the Moon is on the horizon in the tropics the parallax is 1? too, yet rather than being 1? off the ecliptic in latitude (as in the polar regions), the Moon is further back or forth in longitude. Back to the poles now. So with the required parallax of 1? (mainly in latitude) at the poles for an eclipse to occur this means that not only the Moon is on the horizon but also the Sun and therefore the ecliptic is always close. Also in the polar regions there?s always a point on the ecliptic which is on the horizon (Ascendant/Descendant), on the polar circles the ecliptic coincides with the horizon one time per day. Since the required 1? parallax in latitude for the polar regions, the most ideal situation is when the ecliptic makes an astute angle with the horizon and best when ecliptic coincides with the horizon. This is not totally dependent of whether the eclipse takes place at solstice or equinox. Just imagine the Earth in its orbit around the Sun and the plane of the ecliptic as a disc through Earth and Sun. A line perpendicular through the Ecliptic and geocenter (the line which forms the poles) always has the ecliptic pole somewhere on the north and south polar circle. At the beginning of a Saros-cycle, the shadow cone of totality is still above this pole in space, many (hundreds/thousands)miles above Earth. Imagining this it will become clear that it?s not relevant if the Sun is on a solstice point. Perhaps the question of the highest parallax of 1? when Moon is on the horizon is more relevant when the eclipse is exactly on one of the Earth?s poles. On the poles only 0 Aries and 0 Libra are on the horizon so the lunar node has to be close to the equinox for the northern(or southern)most eclipse. Looking in the eclipse lists for years like 1988, 1997, 2006 and 2015 etc when the nodes coincided the equinoxes might show this. I hope my alinealess mess is more or less readable, but this is how I believe the case is. Any reply of Espenak yet?

Mark wrote:Like many astrology students my group are primarily into their natal charts and those of friends and family. Its sometimes tough getting them to to look at mundane astrology.

Focussing on your own chart can make you somewhat mad. At least that how I experience it, and sometimes urges me to put astrology aside for a long while. There's also the risk of indulgence in navel-gazing, while the mundane astrology is a more 'social' activity which I think is to be preferred above the former.

The interesting thing astrologically, with a Midnight Sun Eclipse - is that the Sun is in the North on the IC, and at it's lower Midheaven, yet the Eclipse is still in the nonagesimal and above the horizon at this latitude.

Assuming that you were on your way North, riding your bike up from Scotland as it were, do you think the Solar Eclipse would have a different meaning, in either a mundane or natal sense, at the time you crossed the Arctic Circle and the eclipse became visible?