An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday January 22, 1879, with a magnitude of 0.9700. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 8.1 days after perigee (on January 14, 1879, at 16:55 UTC) and 6.7 days before apogee (on January 29, 1879, at 5:10 UTC).
The path of annularity was visible from parts of modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, the southernmost Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Malawi, and Tanzania. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of South America, Antarctica, Africa, and the Middle East.
Observations
On 22 January 1879, three battles were fought in the Anglo-Zulu War. During the Battle of Isandlwana, in which 1,300 British and over 1,000 Zulus were killed, at 2:29 PM there was a solar eclipse, and according to legend, this motivated the Zulus, who claimed that it was a sign that they would prevail. The Zulu name for the battle translates as "the day of the dead moon".
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.
Eclipse season
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 first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
Eclipses in 1879
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 8.
- An annular solar eclipse on January 22.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 7.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 3.
- An annular solar eclipse on July 19.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 2.
- A partial lunar eclipse on December 28.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 10, 1882
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 12, 1871
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 17, 1870
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 28, 1888
Tritos
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 23, 1868
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 22, 1889
Solar Saros 129
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 11, 1861
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1897
Inex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 12, 1850
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908
Triad
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 22, 1792
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 1965
Solar eclipses of 1877–1880
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The partial solar eclipses on March 15, 1877 and September 7, 1877 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on December 2, 1880 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 129
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses from May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969; hybrid eclipses from March 29, 1987 through April 20, 2023; and total eclipses from April 30, 2041 through July 26, 2185. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 21, 2528. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 34 at 5 minutes, 10 seconds on October 4, 1698, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 58 at 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Metonic series
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.