An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday January 22, 1879, with a magnitude of 0.9700. 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 8.1 days after perigee (on January 14, 1879, at 16:55 UTC) and 6.7 days before apogee (on January 29, 1879, at 5:10 UTC).

The path of annularity was visible from parts of modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, the southernmost Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Malawi, and Tanzania. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of South America, Antarctica, Africa, and the Middle East.

Observations On 22 January 1879, three battles were fought in the Anglo-Zulu War. During the Battle of Isandlwana, in which 1,300 British and over 1,000 Zulus were killed, at 2:29 PM there was a solar eclipse, and according to legend, this motivated the Zulus, who claimed that it was a sign that they would prevail. The Zulu name for the battle translates as "the day of the dead moon".

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 22, 1879 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1879 January 22 at 08:59:48.6 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1879 January 22 at 10:01:38.5 UTC First Central Line 1879 January 22 at 10:03:06.2 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1879 January 22 at 10:04:33.9 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1879 January 22 at 11:08:22.0 UTC Greatest Duration 1879 January 22 at 11:31:00.1 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1879 January 22 at 11:46:12.9 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1879 January 22 at 11:51:05.4 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1879 January 22 at 11:53:08.0 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1879 January 22 at 12:38:03.0 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1879 January 22 at 13:41:44.5 UTC Last Central Line 1879 January 22 at 13:43:15.1 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1879 January 22 at 13:44:45.8 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1879 January 22 at 14:46:36.9 UTC

+January 22, 1879 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.97002 Eclipse Obscuration 0.94094 Gamma −0.18240 Sun Right Ascension 20h17m38.7s Sun Declination -19°41'46.4" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'14.9" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 20h17m52.8s Moon Declination -19°51'35.0" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'31.0" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°56'56.8" ΔT -4.9 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

+ Eclipse season of January–February 1879 January 8Descending node (full moon) January 22Ascending node (new moon) February 7Descending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 103 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 129 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 141

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1879 A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 8. An annular solar eclipse on January 22. A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 7. A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 3. An annular solar eclipse on July 19. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 2. A partial lunar eclipse on December 28.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 10, 1882

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 12, 1871 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 17, 1870 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 28, 1888

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 23, 1868 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 22, 1889

Solar Saros 129 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 11, 1861 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1897

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 12, 1850 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 22, 1792 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 1965

Solar eclipses of 1877–1880

The partial solar eclipses on March 15, 1877 and September 7, 1877 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on December 2, 1880 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1877 to 1880 Descending node  Ascending node Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma 114 August 9, 1877Partial 1.3277 119 February 2, 1878Annular −0.9071 124 July 29, 1878Total 0.6232 129 January 22, 1879Annular −0.1824 134 July 19, 1879Annular −0.1439 139 January 11, 1880Total 0.6136 144 July 7, 1880Annular −0.9406 146 December 31, 1880Partial 1.1591

Saros 129

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References NASA graphic Googlemap NASA Besselian elements