# Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 31, 2003, with a magnitude of 0.9384. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2.6 days after apogee (on May 28, 2003, at 14:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible across central Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Jan Mayen and northern Scotland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern Europe, North Asia, West Asia, Middle East, Alaska, Greenland, and northwestern Canada.
People from around the world traveled to see the eclipse from the small portion of Britain from which it could be seen, with the Independent saying: "A timely gap in the clouds was all it took to make the arduous journey to the northernmost reaches of Scotland worthwhile". In the village of Durness, the eclipse was observed by Patrick Moore and Brian May. However, viewing parties in Orkney saw "just another grey morning in the far north of Scotland". In India, hundreds of thousands of Hindus carried out a tradition of bathing in sacred rivers during the eclipse, with queues as long as 3 mi (4.8 km). A partial eclipse was observed in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including Greece.

## Images

* Chassepierre, Belgium
* From Belfort, France
* Wonneberg, Germany
* From Oria, Italy
* From Venice, Italy
* Willeskop, Netherlands
* From Oslo, Norway
* From Ringerike, Norway
* Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland

## 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.
May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2003 May 31 at 01:47:21.0 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2003 May 31 at 03:45:50.6 UTC |
| First Central Line | 2003 May 31 at 04:03:10.1 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 2003 May 31 at 04:08:58.5 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2003 May 31 at 04:09:22.5 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 2003 May 31 at 04:15:15.4 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2003 May 31 at 04:20:57.2 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2003 May 31 at 04:32:33.6 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2003 May 31 at 04:39:20.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2003 May 31 at 06:31:08.5 UTC |
May 31, 2003 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.93842 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.88064 |
| Gamma | 0.99597 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 04h30m33.5s |
| Sun Declination | +21°50'57.1" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'46.5" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 04h29m35.5s |
| Moon Declination | +22°43'13.1" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'48.1" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'19.3" |
| ΔT | 64.5 s |

## 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.
Eclipse season of May 2003 :
| May 16 Descending node (full moon) | May 31 Ascending node (new moon) |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 121 | Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 147 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 2003

* A total lunar eclipse on May 16.
* An annular solar eclipse on May 31.
* A total lunar eclipse on November 9.
* A total solar eclipse on November 23.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1996
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 2010

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 25, 1994
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1992
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014

### Solar Saros 147

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1985
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 10, 2021

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1974
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 2032

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 30, 1916
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 31, 2090

### Solar eclipses of 2000–2003

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 2000 to 2003 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 117 | July 1, 2000 Partial | −1.28214 | 122 Partial projection in Minneapolis, MN, USA | December 25, 2000 Partial | 1.13669 |
| 127 Totality in Lusaka, Zambia | June 21, 2001 Total | −0.57013 | 132 Partial in Minneapolis, MN, USA | December 14, 2001 Annular | 0.40885 |
| 137 Partial in Los Angeles, CA, USA | June 10, 2002 Annular | 0.19933 | 142 Totality in Woomera, South Australia | December 4, 2002 Total | −0.30204 |
| 147 Annularity in Culloden, Scotland | May 31, 2003 Annular | 0.99598 | 152 | November 23, 2003 Total | −0.96381 |

### Saros 147

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 147, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 12, 1624. It contains annular eclipses from May 31, 2003 through July 31, 2706. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 24, 3049. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 38 at 9 minutes, 41 seconds on November 21, 2291. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Series members 11–32 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 11 | 12 | 13 |
| January 30, 1805 | February 11, 1823 | February 21, 1841 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 |
| March 4, 1859 | March 15, 1877 | March 26, 1895 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 |
| April 6, 1913 | April 18, 1931 | April 28, 1949 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 |
| May 9, 1967 | May 19, 1985 | May 31, 2003 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 |
| June 10, 2021 | June 21, 2039 | July 1, 2057 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 |
| July 13, 2075 | July 23, 2093 | August 4, 2111 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 |
| August 15, 2129 | August 26, 2147 | September 5, 2165 |
| 32 |
| September 16, 2183 |

### Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018 :
| January 4–5 | October 23–24 | August 10–12 | May 30–31 | March 18–19 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
| January 5, 1935 | | August 12, 1942 | May 30, 1946 | March 18, 1950 |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
| January 5, 1954 | October 23, 1957 | August 11, 1961 | May 30, 1965 | March 18, 1969 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
| January 4, 1973 | October 23, 1976 | August 10, 1980 | May 30, 1984 | March 18, 1988 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
| January 4, 1992 | October 24, 1995 | August 11, 1999 | May 31, 2003 | March 19, 2007 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 |
| January 4, 2011 | October 23, 2014 | August 11, 2018 |

### Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipses on December 18, 2188 (part of Saros 164) and November 18, 2199 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
Series members between 1801 and 2134 :
| December 10, 1806 (Saros 129) | November 9, 1817 (Saros 130) | October 9, 1828 (Saros 131) | September 7, 1839 (Saros 132) | August 7, 1850 (Saros 133) |
| July 8, 1861 (Saros 134) | June 6, 1872 (Saros 135) | May 6, 1883 (Saros 136) | April 6, 1894 (Saros 137) | March 6, 1905 (Saros 138) |
| February 3, 1916 (Saros 139) | January 3, 1927 (Saros 140) | December 2, 1937 (Saros 141) | November 1, 1948 (Saros 142) | October 2, 1959 (Saros 143) |
| August 31, 1970 (Saros 144) | July 31, 1981 (Saros 145) | June 30, 1992 (Saros 146) | May 31, 2003 (Saros 147) | April 29, 2014 (Saros 148) |
| March 29, 2025 (Saros 149) | February 27, 2036 (Saros 150) | January 26, 2047 (Saros 151) | December 26, 2057 (Saros 152) | November 24, 2068 (Saros 153) |
| October 24, 2079 (Saros 154) | September 23, 2090 (Saros 155) | August 24, 2101 (Saros 156) | July 23, 2112 (Saros 157) | June 23, 2123 (Saros 158) |
| May 23, 2134 (Saros 159) |

### Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1801 and 2200 :
| September 28, 1829 (Saros 141) | September 7, 1858 (Saros 142) | August 19, 1887 (Saros 143) |
| July 30, 1916 (Saros 144) | July 9, 1945 (Saros 145) | June 20, 1974 (Saros 146) |
| May 31, 2003 (Saros 147) | May 9, 2032 (Saros 148) | April 20, 2061 (Saros 149) |
| March 31, 2090 (Saros 150) | March 11, 2119 (Saros 151) | February 19, 2148 (Saros 152) |
| January 29, 2177 (Saros 153) | | |