An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Sunday, January 16 and Monday, January 17, 2056, with a magnitude of 0.9759. 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 will be near the average diameter because it will occur 6.25 days after perigee (on January 10, 2056, at 16:50 UTC) and 7.2 days before apogee (on January 24, 2056, at 2:20 UTC).
The path of annularity will be visible from parts of the Marshall Islands, northern Mexico, and Texas. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of Oceania, Hawaii, western and central North America, and Central America.
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 16, 2056 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 2056 January 16 at 19:30:21.0 UTC First Umbral External Contact 2056 January 16 at 20:34:43.8 UTC First Central Line 2056 January 16 at 20:36:03.0 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 2056 January 16 at 20:37:22.3 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 2056 January 16 at 22:02:03.4 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 2056 January 16 at 22:12:06.7 UTC Greatest Eclipse 2056 January 16 at 22:16:45.2 UTC Greatest Duration 2056 January 16 at 22:20:15.4 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 2056 January 16 at 22:21:03.0 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 2056 January 16 at 22:31:18.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 2056 January 16 at 23:56:02.7 UTC Last Central Line 2056 January 16 at 23:57:25.0 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 2056 January 16 at 23:58:47.2 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 2056 January 17 at 01:03:13.9 UTC
+January 16, 2056 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.97595 Eclipse Obscuration 0.95248 Gamma 0.41993 Sun Right Ascension 19h54m06.4s Sun Declination -20°50'41.3" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 19h53m57.0s Moon Declination -20°26'45.0" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'38.4" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'23.8" ΔT 87.8 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–February 2056 January 16Descending node (new moon) February 1Ascending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 132 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 144
Related eclipses Eclipses in 2056 An annular solar eclipse on January 16. A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 1. A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 27. An annular solar eclipse on July 12. A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 26. A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 22.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 30, 2052 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 5, 2059
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 5, 2048 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 28, 2063
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 12, 2047 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 22, 2065
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 2045 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 17, 2066
Solar Saros 132 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 5, 2038 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 27, 2074
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 6, 2027 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 27, 2084
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 17, 2142
Solar eclipses of 2054–2058
Saros 132
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
References
External links NASA graphics