Santa

Can a total solar eclipse happen directly over the north pole?

I'm just curious as to whether this can happen and, if it can't, how close the total eclipse would be the the north pole.

Public Comments

1. Sure. The shadow of the Moon can fall on the north pole. Why didn't you think that would be possible?
2. No, for the Sun is never directly over the pole. You can see one obliquely, clouds permitting.
3. Any randomly selected point on the Earth can experience an eclipse on an average of once every 320 years or so. (Obviously the Sun need not be directly overhead or no spot in the USA or Canada would ever have a solar eclipse--I've seen them in North Carolina, Maine, Quebec, etc). That includes both poles. June 17, 1909 saw one at the North Pole. So did Aug 31, 1932.
4. yes, but they are rare. look at the eclipse maps. see, for example, 20 march 2015.
5. The north pole is tilted towards the Sun between March and September, so there's no reason why the Moon's shadow can't fall on the north pole during that period. The shadow would have to fall at a slanting angle because the Sun and Moon can never be overhead at the north pole. Here is a map showing 1000 years of total eclipse tracks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Total_Solar_Eclipse_Paths-_1001-2000.gif You can see that many of them cover the north pole. Antarctica isn't quite so well covered because total eclipses are more common during the northern hemisphere summer, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, thus the Sun appears smaller and is more likely to be completely covered by the Moon.