Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986-2035

The primary purpose of the Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986 - 2035 is to provide a reference of moderately detailed eclipse predictions and maps for use by the professional astronomical community. Such a work should be useful in identifying the most favorable eclipse opportunities, taking into account the celestial mechanics and geographic locations which are paramount in addressing the scientific goals, the issue of funding and the logistical problems of organizing an expedition to remote destinations. The U. S. Naval Observatory publishes special circulars containing eclipse predictions in the greatest detail. However. the USNO eclipse circulars only become available 6 to 12 months before each event and cannot be of assistance to long range planning. Jean Meeus's Canon of Solar Eclipses covers eclipses over a broad 612 year period from 1898 through 2510. Because of the sheer number of eclipses covered in this work (1448). the details for any one event must be rather brief. For instance. Meeus gives only the center line coordinates of each eclipse using a fairly coarse time interval of every 12 minutes. Northern and southern limits of the path over shorter time intervals as well as detailed maps of each path would be of great value to planners, Thus, the Fifty Year Canon fills a void in the published literature on eclipses.