A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, December 22, 1889, with a magnitude of 1.0449. 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 12.5 hours before perigee (on December 23, 1889, at 1:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day Trinidad and Tobago, northern French Guiana, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Somalia. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of the eastern Caribbean, northern and central South America, and Africa.
The eclipse was the focus of a 242-day United States scientific expedition, roughly 70 miles south of Luanda.
Observations The eclipse was the focus of a scientific expedition from the United States, led by David P. Todd of Amherst College and including a team of at least six. Among the members was E. J. Loomis from the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac office. It set sail October 16 on the USS Pensacola and set up the eclipse base camp in December, roughly 70 miles south of Luanda in Cape Ledo. Totality was completely obscured by cloud cover. The ship returned to New York after 242 days, with the expedition performing a variety of other scientific studies along the way.
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.
+December 22, 1889 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1889 December 22 at 10:16:37.8 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1889 December 22 at 11:12:11.2 UTC First Central Line 1889 December 22 at 11:12:55.8 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1889 December 22 at 11:13:40.4 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1889 December 22 at 12:10:55.7 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1889 December 22 at 12:52:18.2 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1889 December 22 at 12:52:26.5 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1889 December 22 at 12:54:14.4 UTC Greatest Duration 1889 December 22 at 12:56:22.0 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1889 December 22 at 13:37:36.0 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1889 December 22 at 14:34:48.8 UTC Last Central Line 1889 December 22 at 14:35:34.0 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1889 December 22 at 14:36:19.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1889 December 22 at 15:31:50.3 UTC
+December 22, 1889 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.04489 Eclipse Obscuration 1.09179 Gamma 0.18881 Sun Right Ascension 18h04m04.9s Sun Declination -23°26'59.9" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.7" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 18h04m09.5s Moon Declination -23°15'29.9" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'42.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'19.2" ΔT -6.2 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 December 1889–January 1890 December 22Descending node (new moon) January 6Ascending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 130 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 142
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1889 A total solar eclipse on January 1. A partial lunar eclipse on January 17. An annular solar eclipse on June 28. A partial lunar eclipse on July 12. A total solar eclipse on December 22.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 9, 1893
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 10, 1882 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1897
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 16, 1880 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 27, 1898
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 22, 1879 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 22, 1900
Solar Saros 130 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 12, 1871 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 11, 1861 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 3, 1918
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 21, 1803 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 23, 1976
Solar eclipses of 1888–1891
The partial solar eclipses on February 11, 1888 and August 7, 1888 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1888 to 1891 Ascending node Descending node Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma 115 July 9, 1888Partial −1.2797 120 January 1, 1889Total 0.8603 125 June 28, 1889Annular −0.5431 130 December 22, 1889Total 0.1888 135 June 17, 1890Annular 0.2246 140 December 12, 1890Hybrid −0.5016 145 June 6, 1891Annular 0.9754 150 December 1, 1891Partial −1.2515
Saros 130
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
References
NASA graphic Googlemap NASA Besselian elements Sketchs of Solar Corona December 22, 1889 Eclipse of December 21, 1889 (Cayenne). Contact print from the original glass negative. Lick Observatory Plate Archive, Mt. Hamilton. On Board the Pensacola--The Eclipse Expedition to the West Coast of Africa by Albert Bergman (A Man Before the Mast), New York, 1890