Solar eclipse of November 20, 1873

Last updated
Solar eclipse of November 20, 1873
Partial eclipse
SE1873Nov20P.png
Map
Gamma −1.2625
Magnitude 0.5138
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates 63°12′S9°30′W / 63.2°S 9.5°W / -63.2; -9.5
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse3:22:52
References
Saros 150 (9 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9219
← May 26, 1873

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, November 20, 1873, with a magnitude of 0.5138. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.

Contents

It was the last of two partial eclipses that took place in 1873. [1]

Description

The eclipse took place in almost the whole of Antarctica (much of it in areas that had a 24-hour daylight at the time) except for areas within the separation of the Indian and Pacific Ocean and the northernmost of its peninsula with its islands which was nighttime, it also occurred largely in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean along with Prince Edward and Kerguelen Islands. The rim of the eclipse included modern-day South Africa and the south of Madagascar, the eclipse was close to Maputo (then Lourenço Marques), Mozambique.

The eclipse went as far as hundreds of miles (or kilometers) south of East London, South Africa and around the same parallel with Cape Town. The eclipse started at sunrise in the Indian Ocean and ended at sunset in Antarctica. A very small part occurred on the location of the previous eclipse, many areas occurred on the opposite side.

As the moon moved towards the left on Earth in Africa, at the peninsular portion, in Northern and Peninsular Antarctica, it was seen as it was moved towards the bottom right, then right then top as the axis spun at around the 70th parallel south.

The center of the Moon's shadow was missed by about 1,300 km above the area (69 S) south of the Antarctic Circle.

The eclipse began at sunrise southeast of Madagascar and ended at sunset in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. The greatest eclipse was in the Atlantic off the shore of Antarctica at 63.2 S & 9.5 W at 3:22 UTC and occurred after sunrise. [1]

It showed up to 25% obscuration of the sun at the middle of the Antarctic Peninsula at the 110th meridian and around 30% in the area of the South Pole, at the northern shore by the 20th meridian, it was close to 50% obscured. The subsolar marking was in Brazil.

Eclipse details

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse. [2]

November 20, 1873 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1873 November 20 at 01:38:06.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1873 November 20 at 03:22:52.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1873 November 20 at 03:36:46.9 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1873 November 20 at 04:10:56.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1873 November 20 at 05:07:13.1 UTC
November 20, 1873 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.51380
Eclipse Obscuration0.39899
Gamma−1.26246
Sun Right Ascension15h42m38.2s
Sun Declination-19°42'44.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'11.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.9"
Moon Right Ascension15h41m02.2s
Moon Declination-20°49'41.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'17.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°56'05.5"
ΔT-2.5 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

Eclipse season of November 1873
November 4
Ascending node (full moon)
November 20
Descending node (new moon)
SE1873Nov20P.png
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 124
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 150

Eclipses in 1873

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 150

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1870–1873

This eclipse is a member of a semester series . An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit. [3]

The partial solar eclipses on January 31, 1870 and July 28, 1870 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1870 to 1873
Ascending node Descending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
115June 28, 1870
SE1870Jun28P.gif
Partial
−1.1949120 December 22, 1870
SE1870Dec22T.png
Total
0.8585
125June 18, 1871
SE1871Jun18A.gif
Annular
−0.4550130 December 12, 1871
SE1871Dec12T.png
Total
0.1836
135June 6, 1872
SE1872Jun06A.gif
Annular
0.3095140November 30, 1872
SE1872Nov30H.gif
Hybrid
−0.5081
145May 26, 1873
SE1873May26P.gif
Partial
1.0513150 November 20, 1873
SE1873Nov20P.png
Partial
−1.2625

Saros 150

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 150, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 24, 1729. It contains annular eclipses from April 22, 2126 through June 22, 2829. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 29, 2991. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 45 at 9 minutes, 58 seconds on December 19, 2522. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit. [4]

Series members 5–27 occur between 1801 and 2200:
567
SE1801Oct07P.png
October 7, 1801
SE1819Oct19P.gif
October 19, 1819
SE1837Oct29P.gif
October 29, 1837
8910
SE1855Nov09P.gif
November 9, 1855
SE1873Nov20P.gif
November 20, 1873
SE1891Dec01P.gif
December 1, 1891
111213
SE1909Dec12P.png
December 12, 1909
SE1927Dec24P.png
December 24, 1927
SE1946Jan03P.png
January 3, 1946
141516
SE1964Jan14P.png
January 14, 1964
SE1982Jan25P.png
January 25, 1982
SE2000Feb05P.png
February 5, 2000
171819
SE2018Feb15P.png
February 15, 2018
SE2036Feb27P.png
February 27, 2036
SE2054Mar09P.png
March 9, 2054
202122
SE2072Mar19P.png
March 19, 2072
SE2090Mar31P.png
March 31, 2090
SE2108Apr11P.gif
April 11, 2108
232425
Saros150 23van71 SE2126Apr22A.jpg
April 22, 2126
Saros150 24van71 SE2144May03A.jpg
May 3, 2144
Saros150 25van71 SE2162May14A.jpg
May 14, 2162
2627
Saros150 26van71 SE2180May24A.jpg
May 24, 2180
Saros150 27van71 SE2198Jun04A.jpg
June 4, 2198

Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.

22 eclipse events between September 8, 1801 and September 7, 1877
September 7–8June 26–27April 14–15January 31–February 1November 19–20
112114116118120
SE1801Sep08P.png
September 8, 1801
SE1805Jun26P.gif
June 26, 1805
SE1809Apr14A.gif
April 14, 1809
SE1813Feb01A.gif
February 1, 1813
SE1816Nov19T.png
November 19, 1816
122124126128130
SE1820Sep07A.png
September 7, 1820
SE1824Jun26T.png
June 26, 1824
Saros126 37van72 SE1828Apr14H.jpg
April 14, 1828
SE1832Feb01A.gif
February 1, 1832
SE1835Nov20T.gif
November 20, 1835
132134136138140
SE1839Sep07A.png
September 7, 1839
SE1843Jun27H.gif
June 27, 1843
SE1847Apr15T.gif
April 15, 1847
SE1851Feb01A.gif
February 1, 1851
SE1854Nov20H.png
November 20, 1854
142144146148150
SE1858Sep07T.png
September 7, 1858
SE1862Jun27P.gif
June 27, 1862
SE1866Apr15P.gif
April 15, 1866
SE1870Jan31P.gif
January 31, 1870
SE1873Nov20P.png
November 20, 1873
152
SE1877Sep07P.gif
September 7, 1877

Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 1928
SE1808May25P.gif
May 25, 1808
(Saros 144)
SE1819Apr24P.gif
April 24, 1819
(Saros 145)
SE1830Mar24P.gif
March 24, 1830
(Saros 146)
SE1841Feb21P.gif
February 21, 1841
(Saros 147)
SE1852Jan21P.png
January 21, 1852
(Saros 148)
SE1862Dec21P.gif
December 21, 1862
(Saros 149)
SE1873Nov20P.png
November 20, 1873
(Saros 150)
SE1884Oct19P.gif
October 19, 1884
(Saros 151)
SE1895Sep18P.gif
September 18, 1895
(Saros 152)
SE1906Aug20P.png
August 20, 1906
(Saros 153)
SE1917Jul19P.png
July 19, 1917
(Saros 154)
SE1928Jun17P.png
June 17, 1928
(Saros 155)

Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
SE1815Dec30P.gif
December 30, 1815
(Saros 148)
SE1844Dec09P.gif
December 9, 1844
(Saros 149)
SE1873Nov20P.png
November 20, 1873
(Saros 150)
SE1902Oct31P.png
October 31, 1902
(Saros 151)
SE1931Oct11P.png
October 11, 1931
(Saros 152)
SE1960Sep20P.png
September 20, 1960
(Saros 153)
SE1989Aug31P.png
August 31, 1989
(Saros 154)
SE2018Aug11P.png
August 11, 2018
(Saros 155)
SE2047Jul22P.png
July 22, 2047
(Saros 156)
SE2076Jul01P.png
July 1, 2076
(Saros 157)
Saros158 03van70 SE2105Jun12P.jpg
June 12, 2105
(Saros 158)
Saros159 01van70 SE2134May23P.jpg
May 23, 2134
(Saros 159)
Saros161 02van72 SE2192Apr12P.jpg
April 12, 2192
(Saros 161)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Solar eclipse of November 20, 1873". NASA. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  2. "Partial Solar Eclipse of 1873 Nov 20". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  3. van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  4. "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 150". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.