A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Sunday, May 6, and Monday, May 7, 1883, with a magnitude of 1.0634. 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 1.1 days after perigee (on May 5, 1883, at 20:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

The path of totality was visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of eastern Australia, Oceania, Hawaii, Central America, and western South America.

Observations

An expedition of American astronomers traveled from Peru to Caroline Island aboard the to observe the total solar eclipse. A French expedition also observed the eclipse from Caroline, and the United States Navy mapped the atoll. Johann Palisa, a member of the expedition, discovered an asteroid later that year which he named Carolina "in remembrance of his visit to [the] island".

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.

+May 6, 1883 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1883 May 6 at 19:21:10.1 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1883 May 6 at 20:18:44.5 UTC First Central Line 1883 May 6 at 20:20:08.5 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1883 May 6 at 20:21:32.7 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1883 May 6 at 21:34:45.7 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1883 May 6 at 21:45:09.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1883 May 6 at 21:53:48.9 UTC Greatest Duration 1883 May 6 at 21:56:03.6 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1883 May 6 at 21:58:10.3 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1883 May 6 at 22:13:04.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1883 May 6 at 23:26:12.7 UTC Last Central Line 1883 May 6 at 23:27:35.7 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1883 May 6 at 23:28:58.4 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1883 May 7 at 00:26:34.2 UTC

+May 6, 1883 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.06341 Eclipse Obscuration 1.13085 Gamma −0.42503 Sun Right Ascension 02h54m04.8s Sun Declination +16°37'58.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'50.7" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 02h54m25.5s Moon Declination +16°12'38.1" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'35.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'53.6" ΔT -5.6 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 April–May 1883 April 22Ascending node (full moon) May 6Descending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 110 Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 136

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1883 A partial lunar eclipse on April 22. A total solar eclipse on May 6. A partial lunar eclipse on October 16. An annular solar eclipse on October 30.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 19, 1879 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 22, 1887

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 25, 1876 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 17, 1890

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 1, 1874 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 11, 1892

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1872 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1894

Solar Saros 136 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 25, 1865 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 18, 1901

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 26, 1854 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 4, 1796 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970

Solar eclipses of 1880–1884

The solar eclipses on January 11, 1880 (total), July 7, 1880 (annular), and December 31, 1880 (partial) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on March 27, 1884 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1880 to 1884 Ascending node  Descending node Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma 111 December 2, 1880Partial −1.5172 116 May 27, 1881Partial 1.1345 121 November 21, 1881Annular −0.8931 126 May 17, 1882Total 0.3269 131 November 10, 1882Annular −0.2056 136 May 6, 1883Total −0.4250 141 October 30, 1883Annular 0.5030 146 April 25, 1884Partial −1.1365 151 October 19, 1884Partial 1.1892

Saros 136

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

NASA graphic Googlemap NASA Besselian elements The Total Solar Eclipse of 16th April, 1893. Report on Results Obtained with the Slit Spectroscopes, by E. H. Hills, 1894, The Royal Society. Scientific American: The Solar Eclipse Of May 6, 1883, Professor C. S. Hastings, of the Johns Hopkins University, also includes many interesting details in his account of the trip The total solar eclipse of May 6, 1883, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 44, p. 180 Some of the Meteorological Results of the Total Solar Eclipse of May 6, 1883, Nature 31, 601–601 (30 April 1885)