Solar eclipse of April 16, 1893

1°18′N 34°36′W / 1.3°N 34.6°W / 1.3; -34.6Max. width of band186 km (116 mi)Times (UTC)Greatest eclipse14:36:11ReferencesSaros127 (51 of 82)Catalog # (SE5000)9264

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, April 16, 1893, with a magnitude of 1.0556. 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 1.3 days before perigee (on April 17, 1893, at 21:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[1]

The path of totality was visible from parts of the modern-day countries of Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, southern Algeria, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of South America, Africa, and Southern Europe.

According to Edward S. Holden, John Martin Schaeberle discovered a comet like object on the plates of the eclipse from Chile. The comet was 0.8 Moon diameters from the Moon.^[2]

Schaeberle observed the eclipse and made drawings of the Corona:

Predicted by Schaeberle	Observed by Schaeberle
Observed by Schaeberle

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]

April 16, 1893 Solar Eclipse Times

Event	Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact	1893 April 16 at 11:57:24.1 UTC
First Umbral External Contact	1893 April 16 at 12:52:48.9 UTC
First Central Line	1893 April 16 at 12:53:50.7 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact	1893 April 16 at 12:54:52.6 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact	1893 April 16 at 13:51:45.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction	1893 April 16 at 14:26:54.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction	1893 April 16 at 14:34:21.8 UTC
Greatest Eclipse	1893 April 16 at 14:36:11.0 UTC
Greatest Duration	1893 April 16 at 14:42:16.8 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact	1893 April 16 at 15:20:49.8 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact	1893 April 16 at 16:17:33.4 UTC
Last Central Line	1893 April 16 at 16:18:36.8 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact	1893 April 16 at 16:19:40.1 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact	1893 April 16 at 17:14:58.4 UTC

April 16, 1893 Solar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Eclipse Magnitude	1.05562
Eclipse Obscuration	1.11434
Gamma	−0.17634
Sun Right Ascension	01h39m29.7s
Sun Declination	+10°20'33.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'55.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.8"
Moon Right Ascension	01h39m49.3s
Moon Declination	+10°11'02.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'32.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	1°00'40.6"
ΔT	-6.4 s

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.

Eclipse season of April 1893

April 16 Ascending node (new moon)	April 30 Descending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 127	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 139

• A total solar eclipse on April 16.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 30.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 25.
• An annular solar eclipse on October 9.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 25.

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 28, 1889
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1897

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 28, 1900

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 10, 1884
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1902

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 17, 1882
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 17, 1904

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 28, 1911

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 6, 1864
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 28, 1922

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 16, 1806
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.^[4]

The partial solar eclipse on August 20, 1895 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1892 to 1895
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
117	April 26, 1892 Total	−0.8870		122	October 20, 1892 Partial	1.0286
127	April 16, 1893 Total	−0.1764		132	October 9, 1893 Annular	0.2866
137	April 6, 1894 Hybrid	0.5740		142	September 29, 1894 Total	−0.4573
147	March 26, 1895 Partial	1.3565		152	September 18, 1895 Partial	−1.1469

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 through August 15, 2091. There are no annular or hybrid eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 31 at 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.^[5]

Series members 46–68 occur between 1801 and 2200:
46	47	48
February 21, 1803	March 4, 1821	March 15, 1839
49	50	51
March 25, 1857	April 6, 1875	April 16, 1893
52	53	54
April 28, 1911	May 9, 1929	May 20, 1947
55	56	57
May 30, 1965	June 11, 1983	June 21, 2001
58	59	60
July 2, 2019	July 13, 2037	July 24, 2055
61	62	63
August 3, 2073	August 15, 2091	August 26, 2109
64	65	66
September 6, 2127	September 16, 2145	September 28, 2163
67	68
October 8, 2181	October 19, 2199

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.

23 eclipse events between February 3, 1859 and June 29, 1946
February 1–3	November 21–22	September 8–10	June 28–29	April 16–18
109	111	113	115	117
February 3, 1859	November 21, 1862		June 28, 1870	April 16, 1874
119	121	123	125	127
February 2, 1878	November 21, 1881	September 8, 1885	June 28, 1889	April 16, 1893
129	131	133	135	137
February 1, 1897	November 22, 1900	September 9, 1904	June 28, 1908	April 17, 1912
139	141	143	145	147
February 3, 1916	November 22, 1919	September 10, 1923	June 29, 1927	April 18, 1931
149	151	153	155
February 3, 1935	November 21, 1938	September 10, 1942	June 29, 1946

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
December 21, 1805 (Saros 119)	November 19, 1816 (Saros 120)	October 20, 1827 (Saros 121)	September 18, 1838 (Saros 122)	August 18, 1849 (Saros 123)
July 18, 1860 (Saros 124)	June 18, 1871 (Saros 125)	May 17, 1882 (Saros 126)	April 16, 1893 (Saros 127)	March 17, 1904 (Saros 128)
February 14, 1915 (Saros 129)	January 14, 1926 (Saros 130)	December 13, 1936 (Saros 131)	November 12, 1947 (Saros 132)	October 12, 1958 (Saros 133)
September 11, 1969 (Saros 134)	August 10, 1980 (Saros 135)	July 11, 1991 (Saros 136)	June 10, 2002 (Saros 137)	May 10, 2013 (Saros 138)
April 8, 2024 (Saros 139)	March 9, 2035 (Saros 140)	February 5, 2046 (Saros 141)	January 5, 2057 (Saros 142)	December 6, 2067 (Saros 143)
November 4, 2078 (Saros 144)	October 4, 2089 (Saros 145)	September 4, 2100 (Saros 146)	August 4, 2111 (Saros 147)	July 4, 2122 (Saros 148)
June 3, 2133 (Saros 149)	May 3, 2144 (Saros 150)	April 2, 2155 (Saros 151)	March 2, 2166 (Saros 152)	January 29, 2177 (Saros 153)
December 29, 2187 (Saros 154)	November 28, 2198 (Saros 155)

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
June 16, 1806 (Saros 124)	May 27, 1835 (Saros 125)	May 6, 1864 (Saros 126)
April 16, 1893 (Saros 127)	March 28, 1922 (Saros 128)	March 7, 1951 (Saros 129)
February 16, 1980 (Saros 130)	January 26, 2009 (Saros 131)	January 5, 2038 (Saros 132)
December 17, 2066 (Saros 133)	November 27, 2095 (Saros 134)	November 6, 2124 (Saros 135)
October 17, 2153 (Saros 136)	September 27, 2182 (Saros 137)

• NASA graphics
  • Googlemap
  • NASA Besselian elements
• Fotos of Solar Corona April 16, 1893
• [1],[2], [3] Eclipse of April 16, 1893. Contact print from the original glass plate negative.] Lick Observatory Plate Archive, Mt. Hamilton.
• Mabel Loomis Todd (1900). Total Eclipses of the Sun. Little, Brown.