Solar eclipse of November 9, 1855

Solar eclipse of November 9, 1855
Solar eclipse of November 9, 1855
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Partial
Gamma	−1.2767
Magnitude	0.4892
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates	62°30′S 121°00′E / 62.5°S 121°E
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	19:17:51
References
Saros	150 (8 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9176

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, November 9, 1855, with a magnitude of 0.4892. 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.

The partial solar eclipse was visible for parts of southern Oceania and Antarctica.

Description

The eclipse was visible in Tasmania and the southeasternmost areas of Australia, New Zealand and its surrounding islands such as Chatham and Cook and much of Antarctica which most areas had a 24-hour daylight with the exception of the northernmost peninsular area (from the areas south of the Antarctic Circie) and its surrounding islands and the northernmost area at the 50th meridian east. It included a tiny southeast area of the Indian Ocean, the southwesternmost of the Pacific and the tiny portion of the southernmost Atlantic.^[1]

The eclipse started at sunrise west of New Zealand and ended at sunset off the coast of Antarctica. Areas that the eclipse ended slightly after or at sunrise included Sydney, Wollongong and Irvine in Australia. Areas that were in the rim of the eclipse included New Caledonia.

The greatest eclipse was in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles (or kilometers) north of Antarctica at 62.5 S & 121 E at 19:12 UTC (3:12 AM local time on November 10).^[1]

The eclipse showed 25% obscuration in the south of South Island, New Zealand and up to 48% at the area of the greatest eclipse.^[1]

The subsolar marking was in the Pacific Ocean around the Tropic of Capricorn.

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 9, 1855 Solar Eclipse Times
Event	Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact	1855 November 09 at 17:35:59.1 UTC
Greatest Eclipse	1855 November 09 at 19:17:51.3 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction	1855 November 09 at 19:31:50.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction	1855 November 09 at 20:16:28.7 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact	1855 November 09 at 20:59:14.5 UTC

November 9, 1855 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Eclipse Magnitude	0.48923
Eclipse Obscuration	0.37305
Gamma	−1.27668
Sun Right Ascension	14h57m33.1s
Sun Declination	-16°53'13.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'09.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	14h55m40.0s
Moon Declination	-17°59'34.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'19.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°56'14.8"
ΔT	7.1 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 October–November 1855
October 25 Ascending node (full moon)	November 9 Descending node (new moon)

Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 124	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 150

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1852–1855

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 eclipse on January 21, 1852 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1852 to 1855
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
115	June 17, 1852 Partial	−1.1111	120	December 11, 1852 Total	0.8551
125	June 6, 1853 Annular	−0.3686	130	November 30, 1853 Total	0.1763
135	May 26, 1854 Annular	0.3918	140	November 20, 1854 Hybrid	−0.5179
145	May 16, 1855 Partial	1.1249	150	November 9, 1855 Partial	−1.2767

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:
5	6	7
October 7, 1801	October 19, 1819	October 29, 1837
8	9	10
November 9, 1855	November 20, 1873	December 1, 1891
11	12	13
December 12, 1909	December 24, 1927	January 3, 1946
14	15	16
January 14, 1964	January 25, 1982	February 5, 2000
17	18	19
February 15, 2018	February 27, 2036	March 9, 2054
20	21	22
March 19, 2072	March 31, 2090	April 11, 2108
23	24	25
April 22, 2126	May 3, 2144	May 14, 2162
26	27
May 24, 2180	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.

24 eclipse events between August 28, 1802 and August 28, 1859
August 27–28	June 16	April 3–4	January 20–21	November 9
122	124	126	128	130
August 28, 1802	June 16, 1806	April 4, 1810	January 21, 1814	November 9, 1817
132	134	136	138	140
August 27, 1821	June 16, 1825	April 3, 1829	January 20, 1833	November 9, 1836
142	144	146	148	150
August 27, 1840	June 16, 1844	April 3, 1848	January 21, 1852	November 9, 1855
152
August 28, 1859

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 1888
April 13, 1801 (Saros 145)	March 13, 1812 (Saros 146)	February 11, 1823 (Saros 147)	January 9, 1834 (Saros 148)	December 9, 1844 (Saros 149)
November 9, 1855 (Saros 150)	October 8, 1866 (Saros 151)	September 7, 1877 (Saros 152)	August 7, 1888 (Saros 153)

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
November 29, 1826 (Saros 149)	November 9, 1855 (Saros 150)	October 19, 1884 (Saros 151)
September 30, 1913 (Saros 152)	September 10, 1942 (Saros 153)	August 20, 1971 (Saros 154)
July 31, 2000 (Saros 155)	July 11, 2029 (Saros 156)	June 21, 2058 (Saros 157)
June 1, 2087 (Saros 158)
April 1, 2174 (Saros 161)