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, approximately 1,700 British soldiers and over 1,000 Zulu warriors were killed during the Zulu War in South Africa. 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 conflict was named the Battle of Isandlwana, 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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1879

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 129

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1877–1880

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

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series