A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, November 19, 1816, with a magnitude of 1.0233. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.7 days before perigee (on November 17, 1816, at 17:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[1]
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day Norway, Sweden, Poland, western Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, and western China. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Europe, North Africa, Northeast Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia.
From Germany, this total eclipse could not be seen with clouded sky except by few observers at Pomerania only.[2]
Capel Lofft observed this eclipse from Ipswich.[3]
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 | 1816 November 19 at 08:01:46.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1816 November 19 at 09:20:18.4 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1816 November 19 at 09:21:02.3 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1816 November 19 at 09:21:46.7 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1816 November 19 at 09:47:11.3 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1816 November 19 at 10:08:45.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1816 November 19 at 10:17:22.4 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1816 November 19 at 10:17:35.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1816 November 19 at 11:13:19.6 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1816 November 19 at 11:14:01.9 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1816 November 19 at 11:14:43.9 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1816 November 19 at 12:33:14.9 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.02326 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.04707 | |
| Gamma | 0.84075 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 15h38m54.9s | |
| Sun Declination | -19°30'48.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'11.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 15h40m03.9s | |
| Moon Declination | -18°42'56.6" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'25.6" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'17.2" | |
| ΔT | 12.2 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 eclipses on March 25, 1819 and September 19, 1819 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1816 to 1819 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 115 | May 27, 1816 Annular | −0.9492 | 120 | November 19, 1816 Total | 0.8408 | |
| 125 | May 16, 1817 Annular | −0.2049 | 130 | November 9, 1817 Total | 0.1487 | |
| 135 | May 5, 1818 Annular | 0.5440 | 140 | October 29, 1818 Total | −0.5524 | |
| 145 | April 24, 1819 Partial | 1.2579 | 150 | October 19, 1819 Partial | −1.3226 | |
All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
