A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Tuesday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 9, 2016, with a magnitude of 1.045. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's and the apparent path of the Sun and Moon intersect, blocking all direct sunlight and turning daylight into darkness; the Sun appears to be black with a halo around it. 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 1.25 days before perigee (on March 10, 2016, at 7:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Totality was visible from parts of Indonesia and Micronesia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia, Alaska, northwestern Australia, and Hawaii. If viewed from east of the International Date Line (for instance from Hawaii), the eclipse took place on March 8 (Tuesday) (local time) and elsewhere on March 9 (Wednesday).
The eclipse was clearly visible in many parts of Indonesia, including Central Sulawesi and Ternate, but obscured by clouds and smokes in Palembang, the largest city on the path of totality. The eclipse coincided with Nyepi, a public holiday in Indonesia and the end of the Balinese saka calendar. Because Nyepi is normally a day of silence, Muslims in Bali had to be given special dispensation to attend special prayer services during the eclipse.
Path of the eclipse
On March 9, 2016, a large area of the Pacific, covering Indonesia, Borneo, but also large parts of Southeast Asia and Australia, witnessed a partial solar eclipse. It was total in multiple islands of Indonesia, three atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia (Eauripik, Woleai and Ifalik) and the central Pacific, starting at sunrise over Sumatra and ending at sunset north of Hawaii. In the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the totality exceeded a duration of more than 4 minutes. Much of East Asia witnessed more than 50% partial eclipse.
The largest city along the path of totality was Palembang in southern Sumatra ( from Jakarta and from Singapore).
In order to watch the total solar eclipse, Alaska Airlines adjusted the flight plan for Flight 870. The flight passed through the umbral shadow about north of Hawaii.
Maps Animation assembled from 13 images acquired by NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera atop the DSCOVR satellite.Path of the eclipse in Southeast AsiaPath of the eclipse in Indonesia
Eclipse timing Places experiencing total eclipse Solar Eclipse of March 9, 2016(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of total eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of total eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of totality (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum magnitude Palembang 06:20:32 07:20:53 07:21:49 07:22:45 08:31:33 1:52 2:11 1.0092 Palangka Raya 06:23:31 07:29:00 07:30:15 07:31:30 08:46:59 2:30 2:23 1.0163 Balikpapan 07:25:40 08:34:01 08:34:29 08:34:58 09:53:45 0:57 2:28 1.0015 Palu 07:27:52 08:37:49 08:38:51 08:39:54 10:00:37 2:05 2:33 1.0064 Ternate 08:36:06 09:51:42 09:53:03 09:54:24 11:20:55 2:42 2:45 1.0091 Sofifi 08:36:15 09:51:51 09:53:20 09:54:50 11:21:19 2:59 2:45 1.012References:
Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of March 9, 2016(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Cocos (Keeling) Islands Bantam 06:05:44 (sunrise) 06:45:13 07:45:43 1:40 64.54% Flying Fish Cove 06:19:57 07:19:17 08:26:13 2:06 71.73% Jakarta 06:19:55 07:21:38 08:31:50 2:12 89.09% Kuala Lumpur 07:24:26 08:23:51 09:31:09 2:10 79.38% Singapore 07:23:03 08:23:52 09:33:03 2:10 86.87% Port Blair 05:30:46 (sunrise) 05:56:37 06:53:58 1:23 48.95% Bangkok 06:38:52 07:32:33 08:32:29 1:54 41.86% Yangon 06:17:45 (sunrise) 07:03:21 07:57:31 1:40 32.57% Phnom Penh 06:36:05 07:33:40 08:38:33 2:02 49.33% Ho Chi Minh City 06:35:18 07:34:25 08:41:18 2:06 52.34% Bandar Seri Begawan 07:30:23 08:37:33 09:54:43 2:24 76.50% Dili 08:30:09 09:41:23 11:02:21 2:32 70.32% Hanoi 06:57:04 07:46:04 08:39:59 1:43 22.26% Darwin 09:07:32 10:17:15 11:35:04 2:28 50.21% General Santos 07:39:58 08:55:09 10:20:56 2:41 79.93% Davao City 07:41:49 08:57:10 10:23:00 2:41 76.89% Hong Kong 08:05:24 08:58:24 09:56:43 1:51 21.96% Manila 07:51:14 08:58:32 10:14:24 2:23 47.18% Ngerulmud 08:53:50 10:17:11 11:49:18 2:55 87.10% Mount Hagen 10:00:15 11:21:43 12:48:32 2:48 55.76% Port Moresby 10:08:20 11:24:07 12:43:39 2:35 38.36% Hagåtña 10:21:57 11:51:46 13:24:04 3:02 84.27% Saipan 10:27:17 11:56:57 13:28:08 3:01 80.36% Weno 10:28:21 12:01:09 13:33:19 3:05 88.22% Tokyo 10:12:16 11:08:25 12:05:15 1:53 15.30% Palikir 11:45:06 13:16:45 14:44:17 2:59 72.62% Majuro 13:27:30 14:48:32 16:01:44 2:34 46.94% Wake Island 13:22:30 14:51:28 16:12:10 2:50 99.54% Midway Atoll 15:04:03 16:20:43 17:29:11 2:25 97.15% Honolulu 16:33:28 17:36:35 18:33:19 2:00 63.40%References:
Gallery
Eclipse details 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.
+March 9, 2016 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2016 March 8 at 23:20:28.3 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2016 March 9 at 00:17:05.3 UTC First Central Line 2016 March 9 at 00:17:51.5 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2016 March 9 at 00:18:37.8 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 2016 March 9 at 01:18:48.1 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2016 March 9 at 01:55:37.5 UTC Greatest Duration 2016 March 9 at 01:57:59.8 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2016 March 9 at 01:58:19.5 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2016 March 9 at 02:06:49.1 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 2016 March 9 at 08:37:36.7 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2016 March 9 at 03:37:53.0 UTC Last Central Line 2016 March 9 at 03:38:40.8 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2016 March 9 at 03:39:28.6 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2016 March 9 at 04:36:03.3 UTC
+March 9, 2016 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.04499 Eclipse Obscuration 1.09200 Gamma 0.26092 Sun Right Ascension 23h19m17.6s Sun Declination -04°22'46.4" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'06.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 23h18m58.7s Moon Declination -04°07'40.6" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'33.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'46.2" ΔT 68.1 s
Eclipse season
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 March 2016 March 9Descending node (new moon) March 23Ascending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 130 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 142
Related eclipses Eclipses in 2016 A total solar eclipse on March 9. A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18. An annular solar eclipse on September 1. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2007 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 6, 2027
Solar Saros 130 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 20, 2034
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 2045
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1929 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 8, 2103
Solar eclipses of 2015–2018
Saros 130
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
External links
F. Espenak, J. Meeus: Five Millennium Catalog of Solar eclipses, NASA/TP-2009-213174
hermit.org: Total Solar Eclipse: March 9 2016 Interactive map of the eclipse with local circumstances and diagram EU project Stars4All: Eclipse online broadcast from Palu (Indonesia)
High-resolution animation of eclipse shadow by Seán Doran from JAXA's Himawari imagery