CRISS-CROSSING THE CONTINENT - SOLAR ECLIPSES IN AUSTRALIA 2000-2040

April 20, 2023
A hybrid eclipse, clips the Australian coast at Exmouth & the North West Cape National Park. The eclipse is total at this location with around 1 minute of totality, annular at other earlier parts of the track and total along the track to the north in Indonesia. Accommodation in Exmouth is limited. Exmouth is a small town, population 2200. Depending upon the number of eclipse chasers that land on their door resources could be stretched. Camping may possible but you would be wise to be completely self-reliant water/food /stove etc. The local govt in the area does not allow roadside camping nor sleeping in cars so bookings, even for campgrounds are essential.
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July 22, 2028
There will be a long duration total solar eclipse visible from a large swathe of Australia on July 22, 2028. The shadow crosses the coast in the Kimberley's where up to 5 minutes of totality can be observed. In this region the eclipse passes across the north part of Purnululu National Park. The eclipse is total at Devils Marbles, 130km sth of Tennent Creek in the NT with 4m50s of totality. It crosses the Simpson Desert heading south east passing a bit south of Bedourie (4m35s), crosses the Cooper just west of Thargomindah (4m15s) crosses into NSW near Hungerford (4m10s). The center line passes near Bourke (4m05s), then crosses the Newell between Gilgandra/Dubbo (3m54s), Mudgee (3m50s), & Wiruna Observatory (3m45s). Bathurst is well off the centre line (2m58s) and the centreline crosses the Blue mountains finally leaving Australia at Sydney with 3m45s of totality. The path covers a long length of the coast from 10km sth of Newcastle to 20km sth of Wollongong. Siding Spring Observatory is near the north limit and gets 1m55s totality.
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November 25, 2030
This total eclipse crosses the Australian Coast at Streaky Bay on the east side of the Great Australian Bight where totality is approximately 2 minutes long. This late afternoon low altitude eclipse heads northeast finishing as a shorter duration (90s) sunset totality in SE Queensland. The sunset end of track is 70km northwest of Kingaroy.
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March 10, 2035
An annular eclipse path passes less than 50km south of the south coast of Tasmania. A high percentage partial eclipse will be visible from southern Tasmania(Hastings, Rechearche). Magnitude(diametric obstruction): 0.978 Obscuration(area obstruction): 0.960 The centre line is only 120km south of Hobart, 60km south of Hastings. With the eclipse so close to Tasmania, a small boat charter may be tempting. However, seas are typically very rough to the south of Tasmania making anything other than naked eye shipboard observations problematic. On land south of Hobart, the Sun rises at 7:00am local time, the eclipse begins at 7:25 with the Sun < 4^o above the horizon and maximum eclipse occurs at just 15^o, ideal for mixed eclipse/ landscape photography.
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July 13, 2037
This total eclipse crosses Australia from west to east beginning a few hundred km north of Perth just south of Geraldton(2m55s). The 160km wide path makes a huge arc across central Australia. Greatest eclipse occurs in the Simpson Desert 55km southwest of Bedourie in southwest Qld (3m57s). The track continues toward Southeast Qld passing near the towns of Charlevile, Roma, Miles, Condamine, Dalby, Warwick, and Toowoomba. The centreline is near these towns but does not pass over these towns. All these towns experience off centreline totality. Finally, the eclipse path crosses the NSW/QLD border 95km south of Brisbane. The north limit covers the southern part of Brisbane though the centre line passes well to the south leaving the continient near Byron Bay in Northern NSW (3m30s).
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December 26, 2038
The umbra crosses the west Australian coast near Onslow, WA (1m05s). The umbra travels south east crossing the Great Northern Highway south of Capricorn Roadhouse (1m14s). It then crosses some 2000km of the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts, two places accessible only by the some of the roughest, suspension and tyre destroying roads in Australia and places to definitely avoid in the heat of December. The eclipse path clips the south end of Lake Gairdner north of Ceduna the next major road crossing after the Great Northern Highway is the Eyre Highway in South Australia southwest of the small town of Iron Knob. At the crossing duration is 1m 49s. The path next crosses Whyalla (1m50s) then St Vincents Gulf the centre line passes just south of Port Pirie(1m51s). Crossing north of Adelaide, the centreline follows the Goyder Highway passing quite near to towns such as Burra, Waikerie, and Morgan, Kingston on Murray, Berri (1m54s) and Renmark (1m39s). It crosses the border and then follows the Murray River along the NSW/VIC border, more in Victoria than NSW with the centre line passing near Ouyen, Lake Tyrell, Swan Hill, Echuca, Benalla, Shepparton, and Glenrowan (2m04s) near Wangaratta. The path crosses the Victorian Alpine region, the cntreline passing near Myrtleford, Bright, Mt Beauty, and Falls Creek (2m06s). From here, it crosses mountainous relatively inaccessible country until reaching the high country in the north part of East Gippsland eventually departing the Australian Continent near Mallacoota Inlet (2m09s). It is worth noting that in Summer, southeastern Australian has relatively clear cloudless weather but also prone to severe wildfires during periods of high heat and low humidity. Be sure to have escape paths in multiple directions and access to communication to monitor emergency warnings from authorities in those areas.
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October 14, 2042
A broad track annular eclipse crossing Australia northwest to southeast from the Kimberley to SE NSW and NE Victoria. The track passes directly over Canberra. Though the duration is long, this is not necessarily a plus. Long duration annular eclipses are long because obscuration is less. Short, high obscuration annular eclipses are generally more interesting to watch with wispy thin annulus and major displays of Baily Beads.
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February 16, 2045
This eclipse is somewhat similar to but unrelated to the annular of March 10, 2035. The two eclipses belong to quite different Saros series. A Saros series is a family of eclipses. An annular eclipse path passes about 800km south of Hobart and 670km south of the south coast of Tasmania(Recherche). A high percentage partial eclipse will be visible from southern Tasmania (Hastings, Rechearche). Magnitude(diametric obstruction): 0.87 Obscuration(area obstruction): 0.80 The centre line is 800km south of Hobart, 660km south of Recherche. However, seas are typically very rough south of Tasmania making anything other than naked eye shipboard observations problematic. On land south of Hobart, the Sun rises at 5:35am local time, the eclipse begins at 7:57 with the Sun 14^o above the horizon and maximum eclipse occurs at just 28^o, ideal for mixed eclipse/ landscape photography.
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This article has been prepared referencing data and resources provided from the following sources-
Xavier Jubier http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipsesGoogleEarth.html
Fred Espenak http://eclipsewise.com/solar/solar.html
I wish to acknowledge and thank my friends Fred and Xavier for use of data on their amazing websites.

First published 2002, revised 2008, 2015, 2021. � Joseph Cali

Eclipse Type	Year	Date	Duration	Best Location
Annular	1999	Feb 16th	40s	Geraldton, WA
Total	2002	December 4th	0m 32s	Ceduna ,SA
Total	2012	November 14th	2m 05s	Cairns, QLD
Annular	2013	May 10th	4m26s	nth of Tennant Creek, NT
Hybrid	2023	April 20th	1m 03s	Exmouth, WA
Total	2028	July 22nd	5m 08s	North WA
Total	2030	November 25th	2m 02s	Streaky Bay, SA
Annular	2035	March 9th	Partial	Catamaran, Tasmania
Total	2037	July 13th	3m 58s	South Central Queensland
Total	2038	December 26th	2m 10s	Eden, NSW
Annular	2042	October 14th	7m45s	Birdsville, Qld
Annular	2045	February 16th	Partial	Catamaran, Tasmania

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CRISS-CROSSING THE CONTINENT
SOLAR ECLIPSES IN AUSTRALIA 1999-2045

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