of the full moon (near apogee) to the nearly new moon (visible by
earthshine) on the day before the solar eclipse near lunar perigee. This solar eclipse was the longest total solar eclipse to occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassed in duration until
13 June 2132 (Saros 139, ascending node) which will last for 6 minutes and 55 seconds. Totality lasted for up to 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds (0.14 seconds shorter than 6 minutes and 39 seconds), with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21
UTC about 100 km south of the
Bonin Islands, southeast of
Japan. The uninhabited
North Iwo Jima island was the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point was
Akusekijima, where the eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 26 seconds. The cruise ship
Costa Classica was chartered specifically to view this eclipse and by viewing the eclipse at the point of maximum duration and cruising along the centerline during the event, duration was extended to 6 minutes, 42 seconds. The eclipse was part of
Saros series 136, descending node, as was the
solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, which was slightly longer, lasting up to 6 minutes 53.08 seconds (previous eclipses of the same saros series on June 30, 1973, and June 20, 1955, were longer, lasting 7 min 03.55 and 7 min 07.74, respectively). The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027 (6 minutes and 22.64 seconds). The exceptional duration was a result of the
Moon being near
perigee, with the apparent diameter of the Moon 7.991% larger than the
Sun (
magnitude 1.07991) and the Earth being near
aphelion where the Sun appeared slightly smaller. In contrast the
annular solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 (Saros 131, ascending node) occurred 3.3 days after lunar
apogee and 7.175% smaller apparent diameter to the Sun. And the next
solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 (Saros 141, ascending node) was also annular, 1.8 days before lunar apogee, with the Moon 8.097% smaller than the Sun. == Eclipse timing ==