2019

Daylight saving time by:
The Royal Decree of 19 December 2001, published in the Belgian official journal of 28 December 2001.
This Royal Decree follows Directive 2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 January 2001.

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, we switch from winter time to summer time.
At 2:00 in the morning we advance the clock by one hour (3:00).

On Sunday, October 27, 2019, we switch from summer time to winter time.
At 3:00 in the morning we move the clock back one hour (2:00).

In 2019, there will be five eclipses: three solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses

Date	Type	Visibility
5 – 6 January 2019	Partial solar eclipse	Invisible in Belgium
21 January 2019	Total lunar eclipse	Partially visible in Belgium
2 July 2019	Total solar eclipse	Not visible in Belgium
16 – 17 July 2019	Partial lunar eclipse	Partially visible in Belgium
26 December 2019	Annular solar eclipse	Not visible in Belgium

I – 5/6 January 2019 – Partial solar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal time	Longitude	Latitude
Beginning of the eclipse	5 January 2019 23:34.1	119 04 E	41 36 N
Maximum of the eclipse	6 January 2019 01:41.4	153 35 E	67 19 N
End of the eclipse	6 January 2019 03:48.8	168 19 W	43 13 N

Magnitude of the eclipse: 0.715, the diameter of the solar disk being taken as the unit.

The map below shows the region where the eclipse is observable. The explanation of the codes used can be found at the bottom of the page.

II – 21 January 2019 – Total lunar eclipse, partially visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	02:35.0	037 34 W	20 32 N	110 E	+45
The Moon enters the shadow	03:33.5	051 35 W	20 28 N	118 E	+36
Full eclipse begins	04:40.8	067 41 W	20 23 N	147 E	+26
Maximum of the eclipse	05:12.3	075 14 W	20 20 N	187 E	+21
Full eclipse ends	05:43.8	082 47 W	20 18 N	226 E	+16
The Moon comes out of the shadow	06:51.0	098 53 W	20 12 N	256 E	+07
Moonset at Uccle/Ukkel	07:39.3	110 27 W	20 08 N	262 E	0
Penumbral eclipse ends	07:49.5	112 54 W	20 07 N	263 E	–

The longitude and the latitude refer to the point on Earth where the Moon is at that time at its zenith. The position angle is defined from the imaginary line that connects the center of the lunar disc to the center of the Earth’s shadow. It is measured at the center of the lunar disc, from the North, in an anti-clockwise direction. At the beginning and at the end of the penumbra and shadow phases, it is the position angle of the contact point. The altitude and times of the Moon’s rise and fall are calculated for its center, without taking refraction into account.

Magnitude of the eclipse: 1.201, the diameter of the solar disk being taken as the unit.

The map below shows the region where the eclipse is observable. The explanation of the codes used can be found at the bottom of the page.

III – 2 July 2019 – Total solar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal time	Longitude	Latitude
Partial eclipse begins	16:55.2	152 13 W	23 58 S
Full eclipse begins	18:01.1	160 06 W	37 10 S
Central eclipse begins	18:02.3	160 25 W	37 40 S
Central eclipse at the local solar noon	19:21.7	109 24 W	17 25 S
Maximum of the eclipse	19:26.0	108 01 W	17 23 S
Central eclipse ends	20:43.6	057 42 W	35 48 S
Full eclipse ends	20:44.8	058 02 W	35 18 S
Partial eclipse ends	21:50.6	066 13 W	22 02 S

The map below shows the region where the eclipse is observable. The explanation of the codes used can be found at the bottom of the page.

The duration of the totality phase along the centrality line will reach a maximum of 4m38s at a point located at 109° of longitude west and 17° of latitude south.

IV – 16/17 July 2019 – Partial lunar eclipse, partially visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal time	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	16 July 2019 18:42.1	079 38 E	22 00 S	062 E	–
Moonrise at Uccle/Ukkel	16 July 2019 19:51.2	062 56 E	21 57 S	049 E	0
The Moon enters the shadow	16 July 2019 20:01.3	060 29 E	21 57 S	046 E	+01
Maximum of the eclipse	16 July 2019 21:30.7	038 54 E	21 53 S	356 E	+10
The Moon comes out of the shadow	16 July 2019 23:00.1	017 19 E	21 49 S	306 E	+16
Moon at the Uccle/Ukkel solar noon	16 July 2019 23:53.7	004 21 E	21 46 S	293 E	+17
Penumbral eclipse ends	17 July 2019 00:19.4	001 51 W	21 45 S	290 E	+16

The longitude and the latitude refer to the point on Earth where the Moon is at that time at its zenith. The position angle is defined from the imaginary line that connects the center of the lunar disc to the center of the Earth’s shadow. It is measured at the center of the lunar disc, from the North, in an anti-clockwise direction. At the beginning and at the end of the penumbra and shadow phases, it is the position angle of the contact point. The altitude and times of the moon’s rise and fall are calculated for its center, without taking refraction into account.

Magnitude of the eclipse: 0.658, the diameter of the solar disk being taken as the unit.

The map below shows the region where the eclipse is observable. The explanation of the codes used can be found at the bottom of the page.

V – 26 December 2019 – Annular solar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal time	Longitude	Latitude
Partial eclipse begins	02:29.8	060 18 E	17 52 N
Annular eclipse begins	03:34.5	048 10 E	25 49 N
Central eclipse begins	03:36.0	048 13 E	25 59 N
Maximum of the eclipse	05:12.7	100 57 E	1 11 N
Central eclipse at the local solar noon	05:14.5	101 26 E	01 07 N
Central eclipse ends	06:59.4	156 43 E	18 54 N
Annular eclipse ends	07:01.0	156 44 E	18 43 N
Partial eclipse ends	08:05.7	144 16 E	10 42 N

Magnitude of the eclipse: 0.971, the diameter of the solar disk being taken as the unit.

The map below shows the region where the eclipse is observable. The explanation of the codes used can be found at the bottom of the page.

The duration the annular phase along the centrality line will reach a maximum of 3m34s at a point located at 105° of longitude east and 1° of latitude north.

Explanations:

The codes used on the maps to indicate the moon eclipse visibility are: entry into the darkness is visible in regions 1 to 6, entry into the darkness in regions 2 to 7, the beginning of the totality in regions 3 to 8. The exits of the totality, the shadow and the penumbra are respectively observable in regions 4 to 9, 5 to 10, and 6 to 11. In region 6, the entire eclipse can be observed, in regions 5 to 7 the umbral phases are observable; in regions 4 to 8 the totality is fully visible.

On solar eclipse visibility maps, the following codes are used:

“P”: Partial eclipse of the Sun, visible.
“p”: Partial eclipse of the Sun, partly visible.
“R”: Annular eclipse, whose annular phase is fully observable.
“r”: Annular eclipse, whose annular phase is partially observable.
“T”: Total eclipse, whose totality phase is fully observable.
“t”: Total eclipse, whose totality phase is partially observable.

The basic data used to write the eclipse chapter were borrowed from the DE405 digital integration, kindly provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To move from Terrestrial Time (TT) to Universal Time (UT), the following provisional relationship was used:

UT = TT – 70.0 s