Eclipses

Maximum eclipse is defined as the instant when the Moon passes closest to the axis of Earth's shadow, or when the Moon’s shadow passes closest to the Earth’s center.

The exact lunar phase (i.e. exact conjunction of Sun and Moon around a solar eclipse or their exact opposition around a lunar eclipse) is defined by their exact aspect in longitude alone.

The time of maximum eclipse is generally different from the exact time of the associated lunar phase.  However, because the Moon generally has non-zero latitude, the time of closest approach between the two bodies (maximum eclipse) is slightly different. The difference between the time of maximum eclipse and exact lunar phase can vary by 15 minutes or more.

In the "Preferences" dialog, "Eclipses" tab, Solar Fire offers the choice of which time to use for its eclipse calculations...

•Use exact lunar phase - when this option is selected, eclipse titles always have "(NM)" or "(FM)" as a suffix to indicate that they are the times of the exact new moon or full moon respectively e.g. "Solar Partial Eclipse (NM)"

•Use maximum eclipse time - when this option is selected, there is no suffix on eclipse titles e.g. "Solar Partial Eclipse"

Note: Earlier versions of Solar Fire only calculated maximum eclipse times, and did not have an exact lunar phase option. Hence if you keep the default setting of using exact lunar phase, the eclipse times you obtain will be different from the eclipse times in earlier versions. If you want to replicate the results from earlier versions, select the maximum eclipse time option.