An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, May 26, 1854, with a magnitude of 0.9551. 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 3.2 days before apogee (on May 30, 1854, at 2:25 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[1]
The path of annularity was visible from parts of the modern-day Marshall Islands, southern Canada, Washington, northern Idaho, northern Montana, northern North Dakota, Minnesota, the upper peninsula of Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Northeast Asia, northern Oceania, Hawaii, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, far northern South America, and northern Scandinavia.
The annular path crossed close to the boundary between the United States and Canada.
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.[2]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1854 May 26 at 17:45:31.9 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1854 May 26 at 18:52:54.1 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1854 May 26 at 18:55:03.1 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1854 May 26 at 18:57:12.6 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1854 May 26 at 20:20:41.5 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1854 May 26 at 20:42:52.6 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1854 May 26 at 20:47:29.4 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1854 May 26 at 20:56:05.1 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1854 May 26 at 20:59:47.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1854 May 26 at 21:04:43.2 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1854 May 26 at 22:28:22.6 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1854 May 26 at 22:30:34.0 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1854 May 26 at 22:32:45.0 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1854 May 26 at 23:40:11.8 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.95510 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.91221 | |
| Gamma | 0.39177 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 04h13m05.4s | |
| Sun Declination | +21°11'11.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'46.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 04h12m40.1s | |
| Moon Declination | +21°31'39.9" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'51.7" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'32.6" | |
| ΔT | 7.1 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.
The partial solar eclipse on January 21, 1852 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1852 to 1855 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 115 | June 17, 1852 Partial | −1.1111 | 120 | December 11, 1852 Total | 0.8551 | |
| 125 | June 6, 1853 Annular | −0.3686 | 130 | November 30, 1853 Total | 0.1763 | |
| 135 | May 26, 1854 Annular | 0.3918 | 140 | November 20, 1854 Hybrid | −0.5179 | |
| 145 | May 16, 1855 Partial | 1.1249 | 150 | November 9, 1855 Partial | −1.2767 | |
All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.