A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, November 9, 1855, with a magnitude of 0.4892. 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 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 and Antarctica.
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 Antarctica 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. It included a tiny southeast area of the Indian Ocean, the southwesternmost of the Pacific and the tiny portion of the southernmost Atlantic.[1]
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.
The greatest eclipse was in the Pacific Ocean 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).[1]
The eclipse showed 25% obscuration in the south of South Island, New Zealand and up to 48% at the area of the greatest eclipse.[1]
The subsolar marking was in the Pacific Ocean around the Tropic of Capricorn.
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 | 1855 November 09 at 17:35:59.1 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1855 November 09 at 19:17:51.3 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1855 November 09 at 19:31:50.5 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1855 November 09 at 20:16:28.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1855 November 09 at 20:59:14.5 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.48923 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.37305 | |
| Gamma | −1.27668 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 14h57m33.1s | |
| Sun Declination | -16°53'13.5" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'09.4" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 14h55m40.0s | |
| Moon Declination | -17°59'34.7" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'19.5" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'14.8" | |
| ΔT | 7.1 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 eclipse on January 21, 1852 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1852 to 1855 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 115 | June 17, 1852 Partial | −1.1111 | 120 | December 11, 1852 Total | 0.8551 | |
| 125 | June 6, 1853 Annular | −0.3686 | 130 | November 30, 1853 Total | 0.1763 | |
| 135 | May 26, 1854 Annular | 0.3918 | 140 | November 20, 1854 Hybrid | −0.5179 | |
| 145 | May 16, 1855 Partial | 1.1249 | 150 | November 9, 1855 Partial | −1.2767 | |
All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
