A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 1857, with a magnitude of 1.0534. 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 apparent diameter 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 1.1 days before perigee (on March 26, 1857, at 23:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[1]
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day southeastern Australia, Niue, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Mexico. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Australia, Oceania, Hawaii, western North America, and Central America.
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.[2]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1857 March 25 at 19:50:30.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1857 March 25 at 20:45:26.6 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1857 March 25 at 20:46:23.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1857 March 25 at 20:47:20.8 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1857 March 25 at 21:42:38.0 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1857 March 25 at 22:24:29.2 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1857 March 25 at 22:28:42.5 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1857 March 25 at 22:29:37.6 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1857 March 25 at 22:31:46.5 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1857 March 25 at 23:16:44.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1857 March 26 at 00:11:55.9 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1857 March 26 at 00:12:54.3 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1857 March 26 at 00:13:52.8 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1857 March 26 at 01:08:43.7 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.05342 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.10969 | |
| Gamma | −0.08923 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 00h19m12.6s | |
| Sun Declination | +02°04'51.1" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'01.4" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 00h19m23.1s | |
| Moon Declination | +02°00'06.7" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'35.7" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'54.1" | |
| ΔT | 7.0 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.
The partial solar eclipses on February 3, 1859 and July 29, 1859 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1856 to 1859 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | April 5, 1856 Total | −0.7906 | 122 | September 29, 1856 Annular | 0.9420 | |
| 127 | March 25, 1857 Total | −0.0892 | 132 | September 18, 1857 Annular | 0.1912 | |
| 137 | March 15, 1858 Annular | 0.6461 | 142 | September 7, 1858 Total | −0.5609 | |
| 147 | March 4, 1859 Partial | 1.4192 | 152 | August 28, 1859 Partial | −1.2569 | |
All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
