A partial

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 Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

descending 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 referenc ...

of orbit on Friday, November 9, 1855, with 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 0.4892. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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 Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

and

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

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

which most areas had a 24-hour daylight with the exception of the northernmost peninsular area (from the areas south of the Antarctic Circle) and its surrounding islands and the northernmost area at the

50th meridian east The meridian 50° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. 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. 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 New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. The greatest eclipse was in the

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

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

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

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

, 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 hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1855

* A total lunar eclipse on May 2. * A partial solar eclipse on May 16. * A total lunar eclipse on October 25. * A partial solar eclipse on November 9.

Metonic

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of January 21, 1852 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Wednesday, January 21, 1852, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.4577. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby to ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 28, 1859

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of September 27, 1848 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 t ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 21, 1862