A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, September 8, 1885, with a magnitude of 1.0332. 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 2.3 days after perigee (on September 6, 1885, at 14:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day New Zealand and Antarctica. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Oceania, Antarctica, and southern South 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.

September 8, 1885 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1885 September 8 at 18:35:56.3 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1885 September 8 at 19:54:54.3 UTC
First Central Line1885 September 8 at 19:56:11.9 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1885 September 8 at 19:57:30.8 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1885 September 8 at 20:43:07.3 UTC
Greatest Duration1885 September 8 at 20:50:23.2 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1885 September 8 at 20:51:51.9 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1885 September 8 at 21:19:51.3 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1885 September 8 at 21:45:54.9 UTC
Last Central Line1885 September 8 at 21:47:11.6 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1885 September 8 at 21:48:27.1 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1885 September 8 at 23:07:38.7 UTC
September 8, 1885 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.03319
Eclipse Obscuration1.06749
Gamma−0.84889
Sun Right Ascension11h09m38.6s
Sun Declination+05°24'05.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'53.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.7"
Moon Right Ascension11h08m38.3s
Moon Declination+04°35'47.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'16.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°59'43.9"
ΔT-5.8 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 September 1885
September 8 Ascending node (new moon)September 24 Descending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 123Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 135

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1885

  • An annular solar eclipse on March 16.
  • A partial lunar eclipse on March 30.
  • A total solar eclipse on September 8.
  • A partial lunar eclipse on September 24.

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 3, 1876
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1894

Tritos

Solar Saros 123

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1884–1888

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 April 25, 1884 and October 19, 1884 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on July 9, 1888 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1884 to 1888
Descending nodeAscending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
108March 27, 1884 Partial1.4602113
118March 16, 1885 Annular0.8030123September 8, 1885 Total−0.8489
128March 5, 1886 Annular0.0970133August 29, 1886 Total−0.1059
138February 22, 1887 Annular−0.6040143August 19, 1887 Total0.6312
148February 11, 1888 Partial−1.2684153August 7, 1888 Partial−1.2797

Saros 123

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 123, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 29, 1074. It contains annular eclipses from July 2, 1182 through April 19, 1651; hybrid eclipses from April 30, 1669 through May 22, 1705; and total eclipses from June 3, 1723 through October 23, 1957. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on May 31, 2318. 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 19 at 8 minutes, 7 seconds on November 9, 1398, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 42 at 3 minutes, 27 seconds on July 27, 1813. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Series members 42–63 occur between 1801 and 2200:
424344
July 27, 1813August 7, 1831August 18, 1849
454647
August 29, 1867September 8, 1885September 21, 1903
484950
October 1, 1921October 12, 1939October 23, 1957
515253
November 3, 1975November 13, 1993November 25, 2011
545556
December 5, 2029December 16, 2047December 27, 2065
575859
January 7, 2084January 19, 2102January 30, 2120
606162
February 9, 2138February 21, 2156March 3, 2174
63
March 13, 2192

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
April 14, 1809 (Saros 116)March 14, 1820 (Saros 117)February 12, 1831 (Saros 118)January 11, 1842 (Saros 119)December 11, 1852 (Saros 120)
November 11, 1863 (Saros 121)October 10, 1874 (Saros 122)September 8, 1885 (Saros 123)August 9, 1896 (Saros 124)July 10, 1907 (Saros 125)
June 8, 1918 (Saros 126)May 9, 1929 (Saros 127)April 7, 1940 (Saros 128)March 7, 1951 (Saros 129)February 5, 1962 (Saros 130)
January 4, 1973 (Saros 131)December 4, 1983 (Saros 132)November 3, 1994 (Saros 133)October 3, 2005 (Saros 134)September 1, 2016 (Saros 135)
August 2, 2027 (Saros 136)July 2, 2038 (Saros 137)May 31, 2049 (Saros 138)April 30, 2060 (Saros 139)March 31, 2071 (Saros 140)
February 27, 2082 (Saros 141)January 27, 2093 (Saros 142)December 29, 2103 (Saros 143)November 27, 2114 (Saros 144)October 26, 2125 (Saros 145)
September 26, 2136 (Saros 146)August 26, 2147 (Saros 147)July 25, 2158 (Saros 148)June 25, 2169 (Saros 149)May 24, 2180 (Saros 150)
April 23, 2191 (Saros 151)

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
October 20, 1827 (Saros 121)September 29, 1856 (Saros 122)September 8, 1885 (Saros 123)
August 21, 1914 (Saros 124)August 1, 1943 (Saros 125)July 10, 1972 (Saros 126)
June 21, 2001 (Saros 127)June 1, 2030 (Saros 128)May 11, 2059 (Saros 129)
April 21, 2088 (Saros 130)April 2, 2117 (Saros 131)March 12, 2146 (Saros 132)
February 21, 2175 (Saros 133)