A total solar eclipse took place at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on March 8–9, 2016. If viewed from east of the International Date Line (for instance from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

), the eclipse took place on March 8th (Tuesday) (local time) and elsewhere on March 9th (Wednesday). A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's

apparent diameter The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

is larger than the Sun's and the apparent path of the Sun and Moon intersect, blocking all direct sunlight and turning daylight into darkness; the sun appears to be black with a halo around it. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. The eclipse of March 8–9, 2016 had a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0450 visible across an area of

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, which started in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, and ended in the northern

. It was the 52nd eclipse of the 130th

Saros cycle The saros () is a period of exactly 223 synodic months, approximately 6585.3211 days, or 18 years, 10, 11, or 12 days (depending on the number of leap years), and 8 hours, that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One saros period ...

, which began with a partial eclipse on August 20, 1059 and will conclude with a partial eclipse on October 25, 2394. The eclipse was clearly visible in many parts of Indonesia, including

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi ( Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 fo ...

and

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

, but obscured by clouds and smokes in Palembang, the largest city on the path of totality. The eclipse coincided with

Nyepi Nyepi is a Balinese "Day of Silence" that is commemorated every ''Isakawarsa'' (Saka new year) according to the Balinese calendar (in 2023, it falls on March 22). It is a Balinese celebration mainly celebrated in Bali, Indonesia. Nyepi, a publi ...

, a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

in Indonesia and the end of the

Balinese saka calendar The Balinese saka calendar is one of two calendars used on the Indonesian island of Bali. Unlike the 210-day pawukon calendar, it is based on the phases of the Moon, and is approximately the same length as the tropical year (solar year, Gregoria ...

. Because Nyepi is normally a day of silence, Muslims in Bali had to be given special dispensation to attend special prayer services during the eclipse.

Path of the eclipse

On March 9, 2016, a large area of the Pacific, covering Indonesia,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, but also large parts of Southeast Asia and Australia, witnessed a partial solar eclipse. It was total in multiple islands of Indonesia, three atolls of the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...

( Eauripik, Woleai and Ifalik) and the central Pacific, starting at sunrise over Sumatra and ending at sunset north of Hawaii. In the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the totality exceeded a duration of more than 4 minutes. In most parts of India and Nepal, the sunrise was partially eclipsed, and much of East Asia witnessed more than 50% partial eclipse. The largest city along the path of totality was Palembang in southern Sumatra ( from Jakarta and from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

). In order to watch the total solar eclipse,

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the num ...

adjusted the flight plan for Flight 870. The flight passed through the umbral shadow about north of

Maps

Gallery

File:Partial solar eclipse at Jakarta, Indonesia - March 9 2016.JPG, Partial in Jakarta, Indonesia, 0:23 UTC File:Partial Solar Eclipse, 9 March 2016, from Singapore (editted and cropped).jpg, Partial in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 0:23 UTC File:SolarEclipse.jpg, Partial in

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, 0:26 UTC Eclipse IMG 6820 (25340012520).jpg, Partial in

Marina Bay, Singapore Marina Bay is a bay located in the Central Area of Singapore, surrounded by the perimeter of four other planning areas, the Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South and Straits View. The area surrounding the bay itself, also called Marina Ba ...

, 0:26 UTC File:Solar Eclipse (25333178700).jpg, Partial in

Dompu Dompu is a town and the administrative centre of the Dompu Regency, located in the eastern part of the island of Sumbawa, in central Indonesia's province of West Nusa Tenggara. It is the third largest town on the island of Sumbawa, with a populat ...

, Indonesia, 0:38 UTC File:Diamond Ring, Tanjung Pandan, Indonesia. (33311539925).jpg,

Diamond ring effect The Baily's beads effect or diamond ring effect is a feature of total and annular solar eclipses. As the Moon covers the Sun during a solar eclipse, the rugged topography of the lunar limb allows beads of sunlight to shine through in some places ...

in Tanjung Pandan, Indonesia. 0:42 UTC File:Solar Eclipse KKU (25261758439).jpg, Partial in

Khon Kaen University Khon Kaen University ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยขอนแก่น) or KKU (มข.) is a public research university, and it is one of the most prestigious universities in Thailand. The university was the first institution of highe ...

, Thailand, 0:46 UTC File:Partial Solar Eclipse 9 March 2016 from Nonthaburi, Thailand.JPG, Partial in

Nonthaburi Nonthaburi ( th, นนทบุรี, ) is the principal city of the district and province of the same name in Thailand. On 15 February 1936, Nonthaburi town municipality (''thesaban mueang'') was established, which only covered Suan Yai ...

, Thailand, 0:52 UTC File:Solar Eclipse 09-03-16 Brunei (25005063854).jpg, Partial in Jerudong, Brunei, 1:01 UTC File:XOKA1563-1024ss (25536509211).jpg, Partial in

Langkawi Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the Strait of Malacca) loc ...

, Malaysia, 1:16 UTC File:Partial Solar Eclipse in Hefei, Anhui, China.JPG, Partial in Hefei, China, 1:40 UTC

Related eclipses

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 * Followed: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023

Half-Saros cycle

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2007 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025

Tritos

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of February 6, 2027 An annular solar eclipse will occur on Saturday, February 6, 2027. 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. An annular solar eclipse oc ...

Solar Saros 130

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 * Followed:

Solar eclipse of March 20, 2034 A total solar eclipse will occur on March 20, 2034. 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 ...

Inex

* Preceded:

Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on March 29, 1987. It was a hybrid eclipse, with only a small portion of the central path as total, lasting a maximum of only 7.57 seconds. A solar eclipse occurs when the ...

* Followed: Solar eclipse of February 16, 2045

Triad

* Preceded: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1929 * Followed: Solar eclipse of January 8, 2103 This solar eclipse is related to other eclipses including in the current set predictions between 2015 and 2018. It is also a part of long period

130, and a 19-year

Metonic cycle The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from grc, ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίς, from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The rec ...

Eclipses of 2016

* A total solar eclipse on March 9. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18. * An annular solar eclipse on September 1. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16.

Solar eclipses descending node 2015-2018

* Saros 120: Total Solar Eclipse March 20, 2015 * Saros 130: Total Solar Eclipse March 8–9, 2016 * Saros 140: Annular Solar Eclipse February 26, 2017 * Saros 150: Partial Solar Eclipse February 15, 2018

Solar eclipses 2015–18

Saros 130

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 20, 1096. It contains total eclipses from April 5, 1475 through July 18, 2232. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on October 25, 2394. The longest duration of totality was 6 minutes, 41 seconds on July 11, 1619.

Metonic series

Notes

References

* F. Espenak, J. Meeus: Five Millennium Catalog of Solar eclipses, NASA/TP-2009-213174 *
hermit.org: Total Solar Eclipse: March 9 2016

* ttp://www.iac.es/divulgacion.php?op1=16&id=1035&lang=en EU project Stars4All: Eclipse online broadcast from Palu (Indonesia)*

External links

High-resolution animation of eclipse shadow
by Seán Doran from JAXA's Himawari imagery {{Solar eclipses 2016 in Asia 2016 in science 2016 3 9 2016 3 9 March 2016 events 2016 in Indonesia