Annular eclipse — Maldives, longest of the millennium (2010)
At 11 min 8 s the longest annular eclipse in three millennia — from Africa across the Indian Ocean, the Maldives and southern India to China.
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The moment of Annular eclipse — Maldives, longest of the millennium (2010): https://nowsky.org/e/annular-eclipse-2010 — opens at the right place and time, replayable, no login.
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The story
The annular eclipse of 15 January 2010 kept its ring closed for 11 minutes 8 seconds — the longest annular eclipse between 1000 BC and AD 3000, a record that stands until 3043. The reason is pure geometry: the Moon was near apogee and looked small, while Earth had just passed perihelion in early January, so the Sun looked large.
The path began in central Africa, crossing Chad, the Central African Republic, the DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya before heading out over the Indian Ocean. The longest ring formed above the atolls of the Maldives; the shadow then ran across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, northern Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and ended at sunset in the Chinese interior. The track was up to 333 km wide, unusually broad for an annular.
At Malé the ring closed with the morning Sun still low. Ninety-two percent of the disk was covered, yet the remaining eight percent shone hard enough that the sky dimmed to something like a hazy afternoon rather than the darkness of totality. Eleven minutes left ample time to swap filters, adjust a camera and look up again.
January is the dry season over the Indian Ocean and along the south Indian coast, so the skies were dependable. Record length and good weather together drew eclipse chasers from around the world to the Maldives and Kerala. The sky replay shows that morning over Malé; the orbit view shows an apogee Moon crawling across a perihelion Sun.
Why it matters
The length of an annular eclipse is set by the difference in apparent size between Moon and Sun. The nearer the Moon to apogee, the smaller it looks; the nearer Earth to perihelion, the larger the Sun. January 2010 lined both up at once, which is why such a thick ring stayed open so long. One eclipse made the abstract number "lunar orbital eccentricity" visible to the eye.
With no corona to see, the scientific prize was Baily's beads: sunlight cut into strings of points by lunar valleys at the moments the ring closed and opened, unusually prolonged here. The pattern of the beads is used to measure the lunar limb profile and the Sun's radius to high precision.
Because the path crossed densely populated southern India and Sri Lanka, tens of millions saw a deep partial eclipse. ISRO and universities ran large public viewing programmes — a once-in-a-generation record turned into a teaching moment.
How to watch
The annular track ran from central Africa to the Maldives (maximum at Malé around 11:20 local), across Kerala and Tamil Nadu near midday, northern Sri Lanka, Myanmar and south-western China at sunset. Most of East Africa, the Middle East, South and South-East Asia saw a partial eclipse.
An annular eclipse is never safe to view unfiltered — the surviving ring is full photospheric light, and there is no "filters off" moment as in totality. Certified eclipse glasses or an ND5 filter must stay on throughout, and any telescope, binoculars or camera needs a front-mounted solar filter.
The sky replay follows the Sun over Malé and slows down as the ring closes; change the location to Kerala or Sri Lanka and the times and solar altitude are recomputed for that city.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Background
The eclipse belongs to Saros series 141. Its predecessor was 4 December 1991 over the Pacific; its successor is 26 January 2028, an annular crossing South America and the Iberian peninsula. Each return of the series is a little shorter, and series 141 will never again produce a ring this long.
Eleven-minute annulars are exceptionally rare. Nothing in the past three thousand years beats this one, and the next longer ring is computed for 23 December 3043 at 12 minutes 8 seconds. Total eclipses, by contrast, top out near seven and a half minutes — totality needs a large Moon, annularity a small one, so the geometries pull in opposite directions.
Six months later, on 11 July 2010, a 5 minute 20 second total eclipse crossed the South Pacific. The year is remembered for placing the longest ring and a long totality only half a year apart.
FAQ
Why was this annular eclipse so long?
The Moon was near apogee and looked small, while Earth had just passed perihelion so the Sun looked large. A small Moon takes longer to cross a large Sun, and the ring stays closed the whole way.
Did the sky go dark?
No. Even with 92% covered, the remaining 8% is bright enough that the sky only dims to a hazy-afternoon level. Stars and the corona do not appear.
Where was the ring longest?
In the middle of the Indian Ocean south of the Maldives: 11 min 8 s. On land the Maldives came closest, at roughly ten minutes.
When is the next longer annular eclipse?
Computed for 23 December 3043. Until then the January 2010 record stands.
Related
- The 2028 annular over South America and Iberia
- The 2012 annular over Tokyo
- The 2027 total eclipse — six minutes of darkness
- The Moon — object index
- The Sun — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.