A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 1857, with a magnitude of 1.0534. 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 before perigee (on March 26, 1857, at 23:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day southeastern Australia, Niue, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Mexico. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Australia, Oceania, Hawaii, western 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.
+March 25, 1857 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1857 March 25 at 19:50:30.7 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1857 March 25 at 20:45:26.6 UTC First Central Line 1857 March 25 at 20:46:23.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1857 March 25 at 20:47:20.8 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1857 March 25 at 21:42:38.0 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1857 March 25 at 22:24:29.2 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1857 March 25 at 22:28:42.5 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1857 March 25 at 22:29:37.6 UTC Greatest Duration 1857 March 25 at 22:31:46.5 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1857 March 25 at 23:16:44.6 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1857 March 26 at 00:11:55.9 UTC Last Central Line 1857 March 26 at 00:12:54.3 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1857 March 26 at 00:13:52.8 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1857 March 26 at 01:08:43.7 UTC
+March 25, 1857 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.05342 Eclipse Obscuration 1.10969 Gamma −0.08923 Sun Right Ascension 00h19m12.6s Sun Declination +02°04'51.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'01.4" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 00h19m23.1s Moon Declination +02°00'06.7" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'35.7" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'54.1" ΔT 7.0 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–April 1857 March 25Ascending node (new moon) April 9Descending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 127 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 139
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1857 An total solar eclipse on March 25. A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 9. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 4. An annular solar eclipse on September 18. A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 3.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 20, 1854 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 27, 1862
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 12, 1850 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 6, 1864
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 19, 1848 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 31, 1866
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 25, 1846 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 23, 1868
Solar Saros 127 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 15, 1839 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 14, 1828 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 25, 1770 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1944
Solar eclipses of 1856–1859
The partial solar eclipses on February 3, 1859 and July 29, 1859 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1856 to 1859 Ascending node Descending node Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma 117 April 5, 1856Total −0.7906 122 September 29, 1856Annular 0.9420 127 March 25, 1857Total −0.0892 132 September 18, 1857Annular 0.1912 137 March 15, 1858Annular 0.6461 142 September 7, 1858Total −0.5609 147 March 4, 1859Partial 1.4192 152 August 28, 1859Partial −1.2569
Saros 127
Metonic series All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
24 eclipse events between March 25, 1819 and August 20, 1906March 25–26January 11–12October 30–31August 18–20June 6–7107109111113115March 25, 1819January 12, 1823October 31, 1826August 18, 1830June 7, 1834117119121123125March 25, 1838January 11, 1842October 30, 1845August 18, 1849June 6, 1853127129131133135March 25, 1857January 11, 1861October 30, 1864August 18, 1868June 6, 1872137139141143145March 25, 1876January 11, 1880October 30, 1883August 19, 1887June 6, 1891147149151153March 26, 1895January 11, 1899October 31, 1902August 20, 1906
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References NASA graphic Googlemap NASA Besselian elements
Observations made at Sydney during the Eclipse of the Sun, March 26, 1857 Clarke, W. B., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 18, p. 39–44