An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Saturday, December 2 and Sunday, December 3, 1899,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9836. 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. Occurring about 4.25 days before perigee (on December 7, 1899, at 6:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
The path of annularity was visible from parts of Antarctica. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of southern Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
The eclipse took place in much of the southeast part of the Indian Ocean and included some of the islands and all of Antarctica (many areas had a 24-hour daylight at the time) except for the South Orkney Islands, it also included most of the south of Western Australia, a part of the southwesternmost state of Victoria and much of Tasmania except for the northeasternmost part, most of New Zealand's South Island, particularly the southern part and a part of the southern portion of the Pacific Ocean. The rim of the eclipse included the area hundreds of miles (or kilometers) from Cocos Islands and the southernmost of South America, it also included the southernmost portion of the Atlantic Ocean.
The umbral portion crossed the middle of Antarctica which was close to the South Pole and the south part of the middle of the continent's peninsula, it lasted over a minute.
The eclipse began at sunrise thousands of miles (or kilometers) offshore from Africa and west of Australia and ended at sunset at Patagonia and thousands of kilometers offshore from Chile and Peru. The greatest eclipse was in the Antarctic Peninsula north of the South Pole at 86.6 S and 121.5 E at 0:57 UTC (8:57 AM local time).[3]
It was around 65% obscured in Antarctica where the Indian and the Pacific Oceans separates.
As the moon moved towards the left on Earth in Australia and New Zealand, at the other side of Northern Antarctica that includes the 70th meridian, it was seen as it was moved towards the bottom right, in areas within the Prime Meridian, it moved right, at the peninsula, it then moved top right as the axis spun at around the 68th parallel south.
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.[4]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1899 December 02 at 22:39:46.9 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1899 December 03 at 00:10:07.9 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1899 December 03 at 00:11:50.2 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1899 December 03 at 00:11:50.2 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1899 December 03 at 00:13:35.8 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1899 December 03 at 00:47:39.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1899 December 03 at 00:57:27.6 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1899 December 03 at 01:01:47.7 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1899 December 03 at 01:41:19.0 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1899 December 03 at 01:43:01.8 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1899 December 03 at 01:44:41.3 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1899 December 03 at 03:15:00.7 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.98358 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.96744 | |
| Gamma | −0.90612 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 16h36m20.0s | |
| Sun Declination | -22°03'32.4" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'13.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 16h36m10.0s | |
| Moon Declination | -22°56'05.9" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'51.6" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°58'12.6" | |
| ΔT | -2.9 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. 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.
