Appears 18h51m13s 3.5mag az:271.0° W horizon
Culmination 18h56m32s -4.0mag az:186.1° S h:66.4°
distance: 442.9km height above Earth: 408.3km elevation of Sun: -15°
Disappears 18h57m45s -3.5mag az:114.5° ESE h:34.1°
Solar Eclipse Calendar for 15 February
February 15, 0538 The first solar eclipse recorded in Britain, described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; it occurred four years after the death of Cerdic, first king of the West Saxons. The Sun was two-thirds eclipsed in London.
February 15, 1564 Birth of Galileo Galilei in Pisa. During a short stop of his parents in Pisa, Galileo was born. His father, Florentine Vincenso Galilei was musician. He died in 1642 on 8 January.
February 15, 1858 Birth of W. Pickering, American astronomer. Discovered satellite of Saturn Phoebe. Predicted in 1909 the existence of Pluto, observed also the Moon, Mars and Solar Eclipses.
February 15, 1961 Dr. Menzel notes that television coverage was excellent, and almost everyone in Europe could view the eclipse in one way or another. It was Galileo’s birthday, and a 45 minute television program reviewed his contributions and those of other Italian and European scientists toward our present understanding of the sun. (ref. SaT 4/1961p191) See 1961 Romania solar eclipse stamp picture.
February 15, 1961 Russians studied for the first time the solar corona and upper-atmosphere phenomena during an eclipse from high-altitude stabilized platforms. On eclipse day, about noon, Russian scientists launched a series of rockets from an undisclosed base in the zone of totality.
February 15, 1961 The first attempt to show a total solar eclipse on television from several stations along the track was made by the BBC at the eclipse of February 15, 1961. The track passed from France through Italy and former Yugoslavia, and thence into Russia. The attempt was successful and totality was shown from France, Italy and Yugoslavia. In eastern Yugoslavia, the place Nis, a TV camera was placed at 4900 foot. Patrick Moore failed to broadcast the event.
February 15, 1961 The German astronomer K. O. Kiepenheuer, who was director of the Fraunhofer Institute at Freiburg, went to Laigueglia, Italy, a little village not far from Imperia. He had 3 small cameras for studying the structure of the inner corona, which he wished to correlate with surface features on the sun. His party had a dictaphone on which to record their impressions, but during totality the observers were so preoccupied they forgot to talk! Later, when the recording was played back, it had one startling feature: Birds twittered distinctly in the background up to the beginning of totality, when these sounds stopped suddenly. Immediately after totality, the birds became active again.
February 15, 1961 Widely viewed through southern Europe. Observed Total Eclipse by W. Carton, J. Meeus, Partial phase observed by F. Verbelen. F. Schmeidler (Germany) tried again in Italy on deflection of starlight (relativity tests). Sun was too low. Tried in earlier and later Eclipses. Poland observed during Part (94%) with reaction of bees, masse, moths, butterflies (confirmation of earlier Eclipse observations) by Wojtusiak and Majlert.
February 15, 1973 Launch of Prognoz 3, Russian mission for research of Solar and röntgenrays.