Solar eclipse of September 1, 2016

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, September 1, 2016, with a magnitude of 0.9736. 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 5.4 days before apogee (on September 6, 2016, at 19:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Annularity was visible from parts of Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Réunion. A partial eclipse was visible for most of Africa and parts of Antarctica.

Images

Animated Path

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing annular eclipse

Places experiencing partial eclipse

Gallery

• Composition images from L'Étang-Salé, Réunion
• Annularity progression from Les Avirons, Réunion
• Partial from Walvis Bay, Namibia, 7:15 UTC
• From Kalemie, DR Congo, 7:46 UTC
• Partial from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 9:35 UTC
• Partial from Jakarta, Indonesia, 10:33 UTC

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2016

• A total solar eclipse on March 9.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18.
• An annular solar eclipse on September 1.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2020

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2023

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2007
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2025

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 2005
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 2, 2027

Solar Saros 135

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 22, 1998
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 12, 2034

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 23, 1987
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 1, 1929
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 4, 2103

Solar eclipses of 2015–2018

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 July 13, 2018 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 135

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 135, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 5, 1331. It contains annular eclipses from October 21, 1511 through February 24, 2305; hybrid eclipses on March 8, 2323 and March 18, 2341; and total eclipses from March 29, 2359 through May 22, 2449. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on August 17, 2593. 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 10 minutes, 41 seconds on December 24, 1601, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds on May 12, 2431. 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.

Notes

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC