Solar eclipse of August 17, 1803


An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 17, 1803, with a magnitude of 0.9657. 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. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 4.5 days before apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The path of annularity was visible from parts of modern-day Western Sahara, Mauritania, far northern Mali, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Europe, North Africa, Central Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It was the first solar eclipse to be subject to detailed spectroscopic study.

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 Contact1803 August 17 at 05:24:35.4 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1803 August 17 at 06:27:46.8 UTC
First Central Line1803 August 17 at 06:29:24.5 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1803 August 17 at 06:31:02.3 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact1803 August 17 at 07:34:15.4 UTC
Greatest Duration1803 August 17 at 07:56:21.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1803 August 17 at 08:25:03.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1803 August 17 at 08:25:06.3 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1803 August 17 at 08:25:18.6 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact1803 August 17 at 09:15:49.4 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1803 August 17 at 10:19:01.8 UTC
Last Central Line1803 August 17 at 10:20:42.0 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1803 August 17 at 10:22:22.3 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1803 August 17 at 11:25:36.2 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.96571
Eclipse Obscuration0.93259
Gamma−0.00483
Sun Right Ascension09h43m00.2s
Sun Declination+13°43'47.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'48.3"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.7"
Moon Right Ascension09h42m59.7s
Moon Declination+13°43'32.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'01.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°55'09.5"
ΔT12.4 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.
August 3
Ascending node
August 17
Descending node
September 1
Ascending node
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 106		Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 132		Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 144

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1803

Metonic

Tzolkinex

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 4, 1796
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 28, 1810

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 11, 1794
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 22, 1812

Tritos

Solar Saros 132

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 5, 1785
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 27, 1821

Inex

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 6, 1774
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 27, 1832

Triad

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 15, 1716
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 17, 1890

Solar eclipses of 1801–1805

The partial solar eclipses on April 13, 1801 and October 7, 1801 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on January 1, 1805 ; June 26, 1805 ; and December 21, 1805 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Metonic series

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