An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 25, 1963, with a magnitude of 0.9951. 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 8.2 days after apogee (on January 17, 1963, at 8:00 UTC) and 3.7 days before perigee (on January 29, 1963, at 7:20 UTC). The moon's apparent diameter was 4.8 arcseconds larger than the July 20, 1963 total solar eclipse. This was an annular solar eclipse because it occurred in January and the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in January. The path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa.

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1963

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 140

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

Saros 140

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series