2020

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 29, 2020, 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 25, 2020, we switch from summer time to winter time.
At 3:00 in the morning we move the clock back one hour (2:00).

In 2020, there will be six eclipses: two solar eclipses and four lunar eclipses

Date	Type	Visibility
10 January 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse	Visible in Belgium
5 June 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse	Partially visible in Belgium
21 June 2020	Annular solar eclipse	Not visible in Belgium
5 July 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse	Partially visible in Belgium
30 November 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse	Not visible in Belgium
14 December 2020	Total solar eclipse	Not visible in Belgium

I – 10 January 2020 – Penumbral lunar eclipse, visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	17h05.7	104 15 E	23 04 N	136 E	+11
Maximum of the eclipse	19h10.1	074 23 E	23 00 N	183 E	+29
Penumbral eclipse ends	21h14.4	044 33 E	22 56 N	230 E	+48

 

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: 0.921, the diameter of the lunar 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 – 5 June 2020 – Penumbral lunar eclipse, partially visible in Belgium

 

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	17h43.4	093 05 E	21 15 S	154 E	–
Maximum of the eclipse	19h24.9	068 42 E	21 27 S	192 E	–
Moonrise at Uccle/Ukkel	19h46.3	063 33 E	21 30 S	201 E	0
Penumbral eclipse ends	21h06.5	044 18 E	21 39 S	229 E	+08

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: 0.593, the diameter of the lunar 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 – 21 June 2020 – Annular solar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude
Eclipse begins	03h46.0	034 10 E	01 08 S
Annular eclipse begins	04h47.7	017 45 E	01 07 N
Central eclipse begins	04h48.4	017 48 E	01 16 N
Central eclipse at the local solar noon	06h41.4	080 07 E	30 35 N
Maximum of the eclipse	06h45.4	081 28 E	30 46 N
Central eclipse ends	08h31.7	147 35 E	11 28 N
Annular eclipse ends	08h32.3	147 39 E	11 19 N
Eclipse ends	09h34.1	131 12 E	09 03 N

Magnitude of the eclipse: 0.,995, 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 of the annular phase along the centrality line will reach its maximum at the beginning of the eclipse (1m 20s) and will reach a minimum of 33s at a point located at 82° of longitude east and 31° of latitude south.

 

IV – 5 July 2020 – Penumbral lunar eclipse, partially visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	03h04.3	045 44 W	24 04 S	029 E	+02
Moonset at Uccle/Ukkel	03h23.9	050 26 W	24 04 S	024 E	0
Maximum of the eclipse	04h29.8	066 17 W	24 03 S	360 E	–
Penumbral eclipse ends	05h55.5	086 53 W	24 02 S	330 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: 0.380, the diameter of the lunar 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. – 30 November 2020 – Penumbral lunar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Temps universel	Longitude	Latitude	Position angle	Altitude at Uccle/Ukkel
Penumbral eclipse begins	07h30.0	116 05 W	20 28 N	030 E	–
Maximum of the eclipse	09h42.9	148 16 W	20 45 N	345 E	–
Penumbral eclipse end	11h55.8	179 36 E	21 01 N	300 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: 0.854, the diameter of the lunar 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.

VI – 14 December 2020 – Total solar eclipse, not visible in Belgium

Phase	Universal Time	Longitude	Latitude
Eclipse begins	13h33.9	115 54 W	02 00 S
Total eclipse begins	14h32.5	132 30 W	07 50 S
Central eclipse begins	14h32.8	132 50 W	07 46 S
Maximum of the eclipse	16h10.1	069 29 W	39 59 S
Central eclipse at the local solar noon	16h18.2	065 49 W	40 46 S
Central eclipse ends	17h54.1	011 03 E	23 37 S
Total eclipse ends	17h54.3	010 42 E	23 42 S
Eclipse ends	18h53.1	006 15 W	17 53 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 2m 14s at a point located at 68° of longitude west and 40° of latitude south.

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