An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 25, 1963, with a magnitude of 0.9951. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 8.2 days after apogee (on January 17, 1963, at 8:00 UTC) and 3.7 days before perigee (on January 29, 1963, at 7:20 UTC).

The moon's apparent diameter was 4.8 arcseconds larger than the July 20, 1963 total solar eclipse. This was an annular solar eclipse because it occurred in January and the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in January.

The path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa.

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.

+January 25, 1963 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1963 January 25 at 10:57:14.2 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1963 January 25 at 12:01:54.0 UTC First Central Line 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC Greatest Duration 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1963 January 25 at 12:03:18.1 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1963 January 25 at 13:29:27.8 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1963 January 25 at 13:37:11.7 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1963 January 25 at 13:42:27.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1963 January 25 at 15:11:13.0 UTC Last Central Line 1963 January 25 at 15:11:52.2 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1963 January 25 at 15:12:31.4 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1963 January 25 at 16:17:06.6 UTC

+January 25, 1963 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.99511 Eclipse Obscuration 0.99025 Gamma −0.48984 Sun Right Ascension 20h28m50.7s Sun Declination -19°03'07.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'14.7" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 20h29m08.2s Moon Declination -19°31'24.1" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'56.3" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°58'29.7" ΔT 34.5 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 January 1963 January 9Ascending node (full moon) January 25Descending node (new moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 114 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 140

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1963 A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 9. An annular solar eclipse on January 25. A partial lunar eclipse on July 6. A total solar eclipse on July 20. A total lunar eclipse on December 30.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1966

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1972

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1952 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

Solar Saros 140 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1945 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1934 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 25, 1876 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 25, 2049

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

Saros 140

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References