# Solar Eclipse timings

**URL:** <https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884>\
**Category:** SunPy\
**Tags:** sunpy, question\
**Created:** [January 23, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884 "2024-01-23T12:27:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![deepskywim](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.openastronomy.org/deepskywim/32/496_2.png) [@deepskywim](https://community.openastronomy.org/u/deepskywim)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884/1 "2024-01-23T12:27:42Z")

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Hi all,  
I’m trying to create a python application to automatically take pictures during the next solar eclipse. One of the things I still need to implement is to find the times of first contact (C1), start of totality (C2), maximun eclipse (M), end of totality (C3) and end of eclipse (C4).  
Is there an easy way in sunpy to calculate these times accurately?

Thanks a lot!

Wim

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**Author:** ![deepskywim](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.openastronomy.org/deepskywim/32/496_2.png) [@deepskywim](https://community.openastronomy.org/u/deepskywim)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:33pm UTC](https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884/2 "2024-01-23T12:33:59Z")

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I guess the example at [Obtaining solar-eclipse information — sunpy 5.1.1 documentation](https://docs.sunpy.org/en/stable/generated/gallery/showcase/eclipse_amount.html)  
shows everything I need. I guess the maximum eclipse is exactly in the middle of the start and end of the total phase.

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**Author:** ![ayshih](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.openastronomy.org/ayshih/32/84_2.png) [@ayshih](https://community.openastronomy.org/u/ayshih)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884/3 "2024-01-23T14:52:46Z")

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Glad you found that example!

I’ll just warn you that I have checked sunpy’s calculations against what’s computed by various eclipse websites, and the contact times can be discrepant by up to a few seconds. I don’t know who is more accurate, and of course the true contact times can be tricky anyway due to the irregularity of the lunar limb profile. Please do account for some uncertainty when using sunpy’s output to set up your automatic picture taking.

Good luck!

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**Author:** ![deepskywim](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.openastronomy.org/deepskywim/32/496_2.png) [@deepskywim](https://community.openastronomy.org/u/deepskywim)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.openastronomy.org/t/solar-eclipse-timings/884/4 "2024-01-23T15:10:45Z")

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I was indeed interested in the accuracies of the timings. I also found them to be a few seconds off, and I don’t know why that is the case.