Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875

Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma−0.1292
Magnitude1.0547
Maximum eclipse
Duration277 s (4 min 37 s)
Coordinates0°12′S 84°48′E / 0.2°S 84.8°E / -0.2; 84.8
Max. width of band182 km (113 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse6:37:26
References
Saros127 (50 of 82)
Catalog # (SE5000)9222

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, April 6, 1875, with a magnitude of 1.0547. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.2 days before perigee (on April 7, 1875, at 10:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[1]

The path of totality was visible from parts of the modern-day Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, northwestern Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and southern Hainan. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Southern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Observations

Astronomers J. N. Lockyer and Arthur Schuster traveled to observe the eclipse and measure spectral lines to determine the elemental contents of the solar corona.[2]

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.[3]

April 6, 1875 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1875 April 06 at 03:58:24.3 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1875 April 06 at 04:53:30.8 UTC
First Central Line 1875 April 06 at 04:54:30.3 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1875 April 06 at 04:55:29.9 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 1875 April 06 at 05:51:22.0 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1875 April 06 at 06:30:12.4 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1875 April 06 at 06:36:06.1 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1875 April 06 at 06:37:26.0 UTC
Greatest Duration 1875 April 06 at 06:41:48.9 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1875 April 06 at 07:23:40.2 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1875 April 06 at 08:19:24.7 UTC
Last Central Line 1875 April 06 at 08:20:25.7 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1875 April 06 at 08:21:26.7 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1875 April 06 at 09:16:27.4 UTC
April 6, 1875 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.05467
Eclipse Obscuration 1.11232
Gamma −0.12915
Sun Right Ascension 00h59m10.4s
Sun Declination +06°19'21.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'58.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 00h59m25.4s
Moon Declination +06°12'27.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'33.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'47.6"
ΔT -3.3 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 April 1875
April 6, 1875
Ascending node (new moon)
April 20
Descending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 127
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 139

Eclipses in 1875

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 127

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1874–1877

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.[4]

The partial solar eclipse on August 9, 1877 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1874 to 1877
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
117 April 16, 1874

Total
−0.8364 122 October 10, 1874

Annular
0.9889
127 April 6, 1875

Total
−0.1292 132 September 29, 1875

Annular
0.2427
137 March 25, 1876

Annular
0.6142 142 September 17, 1876

Total
−0.5054
147 March 15, 1877

Partial
1.3924 152 September 7, 1877

Partial
−1.1985

Saros 127

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 through August 15, 2091. There are no annular or hybrid eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. 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 totality was produced by member 31 at 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[5]

Series members 46–68 occur between 1801 and 2200:
46 47 48

February 21, 1803

March 4, 1821

March 15, 1839
49 50 51

March 25, 1857

April 6, 1875

April 16, 1893
52 53 54

April 28, 1911

May 9, 1929

May 20, 1947
55 56 57

May 30, 1965

June 11, 1983

June 21, 2001
58 59 60

July 2, 2019

July 13, 2037

July 24, 2055
61 62 63

August 3, 2073

August 15, 2091

August 26, 2109
64 65 66

September 6, 2127

September 16, 2145

September 28, 2163
67 68

October 8, 2181

October 19, 2199

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 ascending node.

25 eclipse events between April 5, 1837 and June 17, 1928
April 5–6 January 22–23 November 10–11 August 28–30 June 17–18
107 109 111 113 115

April 5, 1837

January 22, 1841

November 10, 1844

August 28, 1848

June 17, 1852
117 119 121 123 125

April 5, 1856

January 23, 1860

November 11, 1863

August 29, 1867

June 18, 1871
127 129 131 133 135

April 6, 1875

January 22, 1879

November 10, 1882

August 29, 1886

June 17, 1890
137 139 141 143 145

April 6, 1894

January 22, 1898

November 11, 1901

August 30, 1905

June 17, 1909
147 149 151 153 155

April 6, 1913

January 23, 1917

November 10, 1920

August 30, 1924

June 17, 1928

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 2200

October 9, 1809
(Saros 121)

September 7, 1820
(Saros 122)

August 7, 1831
(Saros 123)

July 8, 1842
(Saros 124)

June 6, 1853
(Saros 125)

May 6, 1864
(Saros 126)

April 6, 1875
(Saros 127)

March 5, 1886
(Saros 128)

February 1, 1897
(Saros 129)

January 3, 1908
(Saros 130)

December 3, 1918
(Saros 131)

November 1, 1929
(Saros 132)

October 1, 1940
(Saros 133)

September 1, 1951
(Saros 134)

July 31, 1962
(Saros 135)

June 30, 1973
(Saros 136)

May 30, 1984
(Saros 137)

April 29, 1995
(Saros 138)

March 29, 2006
(Saros 139)

February 26, 2017
(Saros 140)

January 26, 2028
(Saros 141)

December 26, 2038
(Saros 142)

November 25, 2049
(Saros 143)

October 24, 2060
(Saros 144)

September 23, 2071
(Saros 145)

August 24, 2082
(Saros 146)

July 23, 2093
(Saros 147)

June 22, 2104
(Saros 148)

May 24, 2115
(Saros 149)

April 22, 2126
(Saros 150)

March 21, 2137
(Saros 151)

February 19, 2148
(Saros 152)

January 19, 2159
(Saros 153)

December 18, 2169
(Saros 154)

November 17, 2180
(Saros 155)

October 18, 2191
(Saros 156)

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

May 16, 1817
(Saros 125)

April 25, 1846
(Saros 126)

April 6, 1875
(Saros 127)

March 17, 1904
(Saros 128)

February 24, 1933
(Saros 129)

February 5, 1962
(Saros 130)

January 15, 1991
(Saros 131)

December 26, 2019
(Saros 132)

December 5, 2048
(Saros 133)

November 15, 2077
(Saros 134)

October 26, 2106
(Saros 135)

October 7, 2135
(Saros 136)

September 16, 2164
(Saros 137)

August 26, 2193
(Saros 138)

Notes

  1. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  2. ^ Lockyer, J. N.; Schuster, Arthur (1878). "Report on the Total Solar Eclipse of April 6, 1875" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 169: 139–154. Bibcode:1878RSPT..169..139L. JSTOR 109303.
  3. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1875 Apr 06". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 127". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References