A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, April 16, 1874, with a magnitude of 1.0569. 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 16 hours after perigee (on April 15, 1874, at 22:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day southern Namibia, South Africa, and Lesotho. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of southern South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Central Africa.

Observations

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.

April 16, 1874 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1874 April 16 at 11:48:36.3 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1874 April 16 at 13:02:40.7 UTC
First Central Line1874 April 16 at 13:04:57.8 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1874 April 16 at 13:07:19.0 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1874 April 16 at 13:17:18.5 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1874 April 16 at 13:52:28.7 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1874 April 16 at 14:00:52.7 UTC
Greatest Duration1874 April 16 at 14:01:57.1 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1874 April 16 at 14:54:54.7 UTC
Last Central Line1874 April 16 at 14:57:14.8 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1874 April 16 at 14:59:30.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1874 April 16 at 16:13:28.2 UTC
April 16, 1874 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.05692
Eclipse Obscuration1.11707
Gamma−0.83637
Sun Right Ascension01h37m54.7s
Sun Declination+10°11'33.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'55.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension01h39m28.1s
Moon Declination+09°25'57.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'40.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'12.9"
ΔT-2.8 s

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.

Eclipse season of April–May 1874
April 16, 1874 Ascending node (new moon)May 1 Descending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 117Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1874

  • A total solar eclipse on April 16.
  • A partial lunar eclipse on May 1.
  • An annular solar eclipse on October 10.
  • A total lunar eclipse on October 25.

Metonic

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 28, 1870
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 2, 1878

Tzolkinex

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 6, 1867
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 27, 1881

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 11, 1865
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1883

Tritos

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 17, 1863
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 16, 1885

Solar Saros 117

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1874–1877

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 eclipse on August 9, 1877 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1874 to 1877
Ascending nodeDescending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
117April 16, 1874 Total−0.8364122October 10, 1874 Annular0.9889
127April 6, 1875 Total−0.1292132September 29, 1875 Annular0.2427
137March 25, 1876 Annular0.6142142September 17, 1876 Total−0.5054
147March 15, 1877 Partial1.3924152September 7, 1877 Partial−1.1985

Saros 117

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 117, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 24, 792 AD. It contains annular eclipses from September 18, 936 AD through May 14, 1333; hybrid eclipses from May 25, 1351 through July 8, 1423; and total eclipses from July 18, 1441 through May 19, 1928. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on August 3, 2054. 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 16 at 9 minutes, 26 seconds on December 3, 1062, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 62 at 4 minutes, 19 seconds on April 26, 1892. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Series members 57–71 occur between 1801 and 2054:
575859
March 4, 1802March 14, 1820March 25, 1838
606162
April 5, 1856April 16, 1874April 26, 1892
636465
May 9, 1910May 19, 1928May 30, 1946
666768
June 10, 1964June 21, 1982July 1, 2000
697071
July 13, 2018July 23, 2036August 3, 2054

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.

23 eclipse events between February 3, 1859 and June 29, 1946
February 1–3November 21–22September 8–10June 28–29April 16–18
109111113115117
February 3, 1859November 21, 1862June 28, 1870April 16, 1874
119121123125127
February 2, 1878November 21, 1881September 8, 1885June 28, 1889April 16, 1893
129131133135137
February 1, 1897November 22, 1900September 9, 1904June 28, 1908April 17, 1912
139141143145147
February 3, 1916November 22, 1919September 10, 1923June 29, 1927April 18, 1931
149151153155
February 3, 1935November 21, 1938September 10, 1942June 29, 1946

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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
October 19, 1808 (Saros 111)September 19, 1819 (Saros 112)August 18, 1830 (Saros 113)July 18, 1841 (Saros 114)June 17, 1852 (Saros 115)
May 17, 1863 (Saros 116)April 16, 1874 (Saros 117)March 16, 1885 (Saros 118)February 13, 1896 (Saros 119)January 14, 1907 (Saros 120)
December 14, 1917 (Saros 121)November 12, 1928 (Saros 122)October 12, 1939 (Saros 123)September 12, 1950 (Saros 124)August 11, 1961 (Saros 125)
July 10, 1972 (Saros 126)June 11, 1983 (Saros 127)May 10, 1994 (Saros 128)April 8, 2005 (Saros 129)March 9, 2016 (Saros 130)
February 6, 2027 (Saros 131)January 5, 2038 (Saros 132)December 5, 2048 (Saros 133)November 5, 2059 (Saros 134)October 4, 2070 (Saros 135)
September 3, 2081 (Saros 136)August 3, 2092 (Saros 137)July 4, 2103 (Saros 138)June 3, 2114 (Saros 139)May 3, 2125 (Saros 140)
April 1, 2136 (Saros 141)March 2, 2147 (Saros 142)January 30, 2158 (Saros 143)December 29, 2168 (Saros 144)November 28, 2179 (Saros 145)
October 29, 2190 (Saros 146)

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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
May 27, 1816 (Saros 115)May 6, 1845 (Saros 116)April 16, 1874 (Saros 117)
March 29, 1903 (Saros 118)March 7, 1932 (Saros 119)February 15, 1961 (Saros 120)
January 26, 1990 (Saros 121)January 6, 2019 (Saros 122)December 16, 2047 (Saros 123)
November 26, 2076 (Saros 124)November 6, 2105 (Saros 125)October 17, 2134 (Saros 126)
September 28, 2163 (Saros 127)September 6, 2192 (Saros 128)
  • Mabel Loomis Todd (1900). . Little, Brown.