Solar eclipse of April 3, 1848


A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Monday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 4, 1848, with a magnitude of 0.5834. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
This eclipse was the second of four partial solar eclipses in 1848, with the others occurring on March 5, August 28 and September 27.

Description

The eclipse was visible in the Pacific Ocean and included the northeast and northwestern Antarctica especially a part of the west of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The eclipse started at sunrise offshore from Antarctica where the Indian and the Pacific Ocean divide and ended at sunset in the peninsula and offshore from Chile.
It showed about up to 15-30% obscuration in northern Antarctica within the 180th meridian, and from 48% to 58% obscuration in the peninsular portion.
10% obscurity in northern Antarctica and 20% at the Antarctic peninsula. The greatest eclipse was at the Antarctic Peninsula at 71.8 S, 89 W at 22:49 UTC.
The subsolar marking was north of the 5th parallel north in the Pacific around the Palmyra Atoll.

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.
EventTime
First Penumbral External Contact1848 April 03 at 21:14:32.9 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1848 April 03 at 22:09:39.8 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1848 April 03 at 22:49:06.4 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1848 April 03 at 23:01:13.0 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1848 April 04 at 00:23:57.4 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.58339
Eclipse Obscuration0.49152
Gamma−1.22641
Sun Right Ascension00h52m39.7s
Sun Declination+05°38'38.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'58.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension00h54m09.3s
Moon Declination+04°27'04.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'41.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'16.4"
ΔT6.7 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months 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.
March 5
Descending node
March 19
Ascending node
April 3
Descending node
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 108
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 120
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 146

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1848

Metonic

Tzolkinex

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 21, 1841
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 16, 1855

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 30, 1839
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 9, 1857

Tritos

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 4, 1837
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 4, 1859

Solar Saros 146

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 24, 1830
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 15, 1866

Inex

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 24, 1819
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 15, 1877

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1844–1848

The partial solar eclipses on June 16, 1844 and December 9, 1844 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipses on March 5, 1848 and August 28, 1848 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Metonic series

All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.