An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, February 26, 2017,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9922. 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. Occurring about 4.9 days before perigee (on March 3, 2017, at 13:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
The eclipse was visible across southern Chile and Argentina in the morning and ended in Angola and southwestern Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo at sunset. In Argentina, the best places to see the eclipse were located in the south of the Chubut Province, in the towns of Facundo, Sarmiento and Camarones. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern South America, southern and western Africa, and Antarctica.
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 | 2017 February 26 at 12:11:56.1 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2017 February 26 at 13:16:26.6 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 2017 February 26 at 13:17:14.6 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 2017 February 26 at 13:17:14.6 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2017 February 26 at 13:18:02.7 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2017 February 26 at 14:39:54.4 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2017 February 26 at 14:54:32.8 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2017 February 26 at 14:59:31.7 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2017 February 26 at 16:31:16.0 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 2017 February 26 at 16:32:01.1 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2017 February 26 at 16:32:46.1 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2017 February 26 at 17:37:10.0 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99223 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.98451 | |
| Gamma | −0.45780 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 22h39m23.1s | |
| Sun Declination | -08°29'38.8" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'09.0" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 22h39m53.2s | |
| Moon Declination | -08°55'03.6" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'47.8" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'58.6" | |
| ΔT | 68.6 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.
