An annular

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mo ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of refere ...

of orbit between Saturday, December 2 and Sunday, December 3, 1899, with a magnitude of 0.9836. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular 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 smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an

annulus Annulus (or anulus) or annular indicates a ring- or donut-shaped area or structure. It may refer to: Human anatomy * ''Anulus fibrosus disci intervertebralis'', spinal structure * Annulus of Zinn, a.k.a. annular tendon or ''anulus tendineus co ...

(ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 4.25 days before

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ell ...

(on December 7, 1899, at 6:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The path of annularity was visible from parts of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of southern Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, and

Description

The eclipse took place in much of the southeast part of the Indian Ocean and included some of the islands and all of Antarctica (many areas had a 24-hour daylight at the time) except for the

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula Cocos Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

and the southernmost of South America, it also included the southernmost portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The umbral portion crossed the middle of Antarctica which was close to the South Pole and the south part of the middle of the continent's peninsula, it lasted over a minute. The eclipse began at sunrise thousands of miles (or kilometers) offshore from Africa and west of Australia and ended at sunset at

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and ...

and thousands of kilometers offshore from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. The greatest eclipse was in the Antarctic Peninsula north of the South Pole at 86.6 S and 121.5 E at 0:57 UTC (8:57 AM local time). It was around 65% obscured in Antarctica where the Indian and the Pacific Oceans separates. As the moon moved towards the left on Earth in Australia and New Zealand, at the other side of Northern Antarctica that includes the 70th meridian, it was seen as it was moved towards the bottom right, in areas within the Prime Meridian, it moved right, at the peninsula, it then moved top right as the axis spun at around the 68th parallel south.

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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is the period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Moon's tilted orbital plane ( tilted five degrees to the Earth's orbital plane), just as Earth's we ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is h ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1899

* A partial solar eclipse on January 11. * A partial solar eclipse on June 8. * A total lunar eclipse on June 23. * An annular solar eclipse on December 3, 1899. * A partial lunar eclipse on December 17.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 13, 1896 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 21, 1903 A total solar eclipse occurred on September 21, 1903. 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 ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 20, 1892 Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of January 14, 1907 A total solar eclipse occurred on January 14, 1907. 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 ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 26, 1890 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 7, 1908

Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of November 2, 1910 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Tuesday, November 1 and Wednesday, November 2, 1910, with a magnitude of 0.8515. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby tot ...

Solar Saros 121

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of November 21, 1881 This is a list of solar eclipses in the 19th century. During the period 1801 to 1900 there were 242 solar eclipses of which 87 were partial, 77 were annular, 63 were total, and 15 were hybrids. The greatest number of eclipses in one year was fi ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1917

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 22, 1870 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of November 12, 1928 A partial solar eclipse occurred on November 12, 1928. A solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1813 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986 A hybrid solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, app ...

Solar eclipses of 1898–1902

Saros 121

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

Google interactive maps

Solar eclipse data
{{Solar eclipses 1899 12 3 Solar eclipse of 12 03 1899 in New Zealand 1899 12 03 December 1899 events