The first total solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium was visible from the south Atlantic and sub-Saharan Africa on June 21, 2001. It was the dry season in Africa, and the weather was excellent! Eric observed and photographed the eclipse from a site north of Lusaka, Zambia at latitude 15° 00' S, longitude 28° 11' E. The total phase of the eclipse lasted for about three and one-half minutes.

Click on thumbnails to see larger versions of these pictures.

This sequence of nine photos shows the progress of the eclipse.
Top row - Partial phases at 2:00, 2:30 and 3:00 PM local time (UTC+2) before totality. Note the sunspots in the first photo that were subsequently covered up by the moon.
Middle row - diamond ring effects at the beginning and end of totality, with the center photo showing the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, during totality at about 3:10 PM local time. The right-hand photo also shows a reddish "prominence" at about the 2 o'clock position on the edge of the sun's disk.
Bottom row - Partial phases at 3:15, 3:45 and 4:15 PM local time after totality.

There was another total solar eclipse over Africa, the Indian Ocean and southern Australia in December of 2002, however the eclipse was shorter and the weather not as favorable in Africa. For complete information about future eclipses, see the NASA eclipse web site.

African dancers and musicians celebrate the successful observation of the eclipse, on-site before tour participants ate dinner and returned to the hotel in Lusaka.

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