An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, December 16 and Monday, December 17, 2085, with a magnitude of 0.9971. 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 3.7 days before perigee (on December 20, 2085, at 14:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.

The path of annularity will be visible from parts of Micronesia and southwestern Mexico. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of northern Australia, Oceania, Hawaii, and western North America.

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.

December 16, 2085 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact2085 December 16 at 19:52:02.9 UTC
First Umbral External Contact2085 December 16 at 20:52:55.2 UTC
First Central Line2085 December 16 at 20:53:32.4 UTC
Greatest Duration2085 December 16 at 20:53:32.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact2085 December 16 at 20:54:09.7 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact2085 December 16 at 21:59:46.9 UTC
Greatest Eclipse2085 December 16 at 22:37:47.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction2085 December 16 at 22:39:48.7 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction2085 December 16 at 22:40:48.4 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact2085 December 16 at 23:15:46.8 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact2085 December 17 at 00:21:26.6 UTC
Last Central Line2085 December 17 at 00:22:01.1 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact2085 December 17 at 00:22:35.6 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact2085 December 17 at 01:23:25.8 UTC
December 16, 2085 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.99714
Eclipse Obscuration0.99428
Gamma0.27864
Sun Right Ascension17h41m09.8s
Sun Declination-23°21'25.3"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'15.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.9"
Moon Right Ascension17h41m05.1s
Moon Declination-23°05'11.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'57.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°58'32.5"
ΔT110.5 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 December 2085
December 1 Descending node (full moon)December 16 Ascending node (new moon)
Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 117Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 143

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2085

  • A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 10.
  • A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 8.
  • An annular solar eclipse on June 22.
  • A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 7.
  • A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 1.
  • An annular solar eclipse on December 16.

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 10, 2076
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 21, 2094

Tritos

Solar Saros 143

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 2083–2087

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 February 16, 2083 and August 13, 2083 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipses on May 2, 2087 and October 26, 2087 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2083 to 2087
Descending nodeAscending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
118July 15, 2083 Partial1.5465123January 7, 2084 Partial−1.0715
128July 3, 2084 Annular0.8208133December 27, 2084 Total−0.4094
138June 22, 2085 Annular0.0452143December 16, 2085 Annular0.2786
148June 11, 2086 Total−0.7215153December 6, 2086 Partial1.0194
158June 1, 2087 Partial−1.4186

Saros 143

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 7, 1617. It contains total eclipses from June 24, 1797 through October 24, 1995; hybrid eclipses from November 3, 2013 through December 6, 2067; and annular eclipses from December 16, 2085 through September 16, 2536. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on April 23, 2897. 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 totality was produced by member 16 at 3 minutes, 50 seconds on August 19, 1887, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 51 at 4 minutes, 54 seconds on September 6, 2518. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Series members 12–33 occur between 1801 and 2200:
121314
July 6, 1815July 17, 1833July 28, 1851
151617
August 7, 1869August 19, 1887August 30, 1905
181920
September 10, 1923September 21, 1941October 2, 1959
212223
October 12, 1977October 24, 1995November 3, 2013
242526
November 14, 2031November 25, 2049December 6, 2067
272829
December 16, 2085December 29, 2103January 8, 2122
303132
January 20, 2140January 30, 2158February 10, 2176
33
February 21, 2194

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.

21 eclipse events between July 23, 2036 and July 23, 2112
July 23–24May 11February 27–28December 16–17October 4–5
117119121123125
July 23, 2036May 11, 2040February 28, 2044December 16, 2047October 4, 2051
127129131133135
July 24, 2055May 11, 2059February 28, 2063December 17, 2066October 4, 2070
137139141143145
July 24, 2074May 11, 2078February 27, 2082December 16, 2085October 4, 2089
147149151153155
July 23, 2093May 11, 2097February 28, 2101December 17, 2104October 5, 2108
157
July 23, 2112

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
March 4, 1802 (Saros 117)February 1, 1813 (Saros 118)January 1, 1824 (Saros 119)November 30, 1834 (Saros 120)October 30, 1845 (Saros 121)
September 29, 1856 (Saros 122)August 29, 1867 (Saros 123)July 29, 1878 (Saros 124)June 28, 1889 (Saros 125)May 28, 1900 (Saros 126)
April 28, 1911 (Saros 127)March 28, 1922 (Saros 128)February 24, 1933 (Saros 129)January 25, 1944 (Saros 130)December 25, 1954 (Saros 131)
November 23, 1965 (Saros 132)October 23, 1976 (Saros 133)September 23, 1987 (Saros 134)August 22, 1998 (Saros 135)July 22, 2009 (Saros 136)
June 21, 2020 (Saros 137)May 21, 2031 (Saros 138)April 20, 2042 (Saros 139)March 20, 2053 (Saros 140)February 17, 2064 (Saros 141)
January 16, 2075 (Saros 142)December 16, 2085 (Saros 143)November 15, 2096 (Saros 144)October 16, 2107 (Saros 145)September 15, 2118 (Saros 146)
August 15, 2129 (Saros 147)July 14, 2140 (Saros 148)June 14, 2151 (Saros 149)May 14, 2162 (Saros 150)April 12, 2173 (Saros 151)
March 12, 2184 (Saros 152)February 10, 2195 (Saros 153)

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
June 16, 1825 (Saros 134)May 26, 1854 (Saros 135)May 6, 1883 (Saros 136)
April 17, 1912 (Saros 137)March 27, 1941 (Saros 138)March 7, 1970 (Saros 139)
February 16, 1999 (Saros 140)January 26, 2028 (Saros 141)January 5, 2057 (Saros 142)
December 16, 2085 (Saros 143)November 27, 2114 (Saros 144)November 7, 2143 (Saros 145)
October 17, 2172 (Saros 146)

Notes