A total

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

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 referenc ...

of orbit on Tuesday, September 8, 1885, 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 1.0332. 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

total 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 ...

occurs when the Moon's

apparent diameter The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

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 2.3 days after

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on September 6, 1885, at 14:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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. ...

. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of

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 southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Observations

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 1885

* An annular solar eclipse on March 16. * A partial lunar eclipse on March 30. * A total solar eclipse on September 8. * A partial lunar eclipse on September 24.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 21, 1881 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of June 28, 1889 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, June 28, 1889, with a magnitude of 0.9471. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 29, 1878 * Followed 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 t ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 3, 1876 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1894

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 10, 1874 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 August 9, 1896 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Sunday, August 9, 1896, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0392. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally o ...

Solar Saros 123

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 29, 1867 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1903

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 29, 1856 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 21, 1914 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, August 21, 1914, with a magnitude of 1.0328. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of t ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 8, 1798 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit between Monday, July 10 and Tuesday, July 11, 1972, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0379. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and t ...

Solar eclipses of 1884–1888

The partial solar eclipses on April 25, 1884 and October 19, 1884 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on July 9, 1888 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 123

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

NASA graphic
*
Googlemap
*
NASA Besselian elements
*
''Note on the track of the total phase in the solar eclipse of, September 8, 1885, in its passage across New Zealand''
Hind, J. R.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in astronomy, astrophysics and related fields. It publishes original research in two formats: papers (of any length) and letters (limited to ...

, Vol. 45, p. 126
Art. LIX.—The Total Eclipse of the Sun of the 9th September, 1885
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Second Meeting. 13th July, 1885. {{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of September 8, 1885 1885 09 08 1885 in science 1885 09 08 September 1885