An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 25, 1963,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9951. 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 occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 8.2 days after apogee (on January 17, 1963, at 8:00 UTC) and 3.7 days before perigee (on January 29, 1963, at 7:20 UTC).[2]
The moon's apparent diameter was 4.8 arcseconds larger than the July 20, 1963 total solar eclipse. This was an annular solar eclipse because it occurred in January and the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in January.
The path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa.
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.[3]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 10:57:14.2 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 12:01:54.0 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1963 January 25 at 12:03:18.1 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1963 January 25 at 13:29:27.8 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1963 January 25 at 13:37:11.7 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1963 January 25 at 13:42:27.8 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1963 January 25 at 15:11:13.0 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1963 January 25 at 15:11:52.2 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 15:12:31.4 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 16:17:06.6 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99511 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.99025 | |
| Gamma | −0.48984 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 20h28m50.7s | |
| Sun Declination | -19°03'07.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'14.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 20h29m08.2s | |
| Moon Declination | -19°31'24.1" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'56.3" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°58'29.7" | |
| ΔT | 34.5 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. 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.