Astronomical Theory Section - Eclipses


Ecliptic limits   (4)

  • Limits in Latitude - lunar eclipses
  • Limits for solar eclipses
  • The influence of atmospheric refraction
  • Determination of maximum limit
  • Maximum limits at full Moon
  • Limits in Longitude
  • Determination of values to use in the calculations
  • The results
This article describes my work to calculate how far the Moon can be out of alignment with the Sun-Earth line before an eclipse is no longer possible: note that it is at a "higher degree of difficulty" than the other articles at this level of the index! The basic geometry of the calculation is first defined and formulae giving the limits are derived. I then describe a couple of minor but important nuances that must be taken into account, before using spherical geometry with the best available data to work out the numerical values of the limits (noting the errors in other such calculations along the way!). The final results are then tabulated for reference.

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