| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.1059 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0735 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 396 s (6 min 36 s) |
| Coordinates | 3°30′N15°18′W / 3.5°N 15.3°W /3.5; -15.3 |
| Max. width of band | 240 km (150 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 12:55:23 |
| References | |
| Saros | 133 (38 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9249 |
← March 5, 1886 February 22, 1887 → | |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sascending node of orbit on Sunday, August 29, 1886, with amagnitude of 1.0735. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent 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 4 hours afterperigee (on August 29, 1886, at 8:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[1]
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-dayPanama,Colombia,Venezuela,Grenada,Tobago,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,Barbados,Angola,Zambia,Zimbabwe,Mozambique, andMadagascar. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of easternNorth America,Central America, theCaribbean, northernSouth America, andAfrica.
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A team of astronomers travelled to the island ofGrenada in the Caribbean to observe this eclipse. Their observation station was placed inFort St. George.[2]
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.[3]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1886 August 29 at 10:18:21.0 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1886 August 29 at 11:11:44.6 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1886 August 29 at 11:13:12.5 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1886 August 29 at 11:14:40.4 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1886 August 29 at 12:08:31.9 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1886 August 29 at 12:52:24.8 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1886 August 29 at 12:54:18.0 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1887 August 29 at 12:55:22.7 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1886 August 29 at 12:58:29.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1886 August 29 at 13:42:08.5 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1886 August 29 at 14:36:03.1 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1886 August 29 at 14:37:30.7 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1886 August 29 at 14:38:58.4 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1886 August 29 at 15:32:23.5 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.07351 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.15242 |
| Gamma | −0.10587 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 10h31m23.1s |
| Sun Declination | +09°17'26.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'50.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 10h31m15.9s |
| Moon Declination | +09°11'12.6" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'43.3" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'22.2" |
| ΔT | -5.9 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse 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 afortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by onesynodic month.
| August 14 Descending node (full moon) | August 29 Ascending node (new moon) | September 13 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 107 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 133 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 145 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[4]
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 node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 108 | March 27, 1884 Partial | 1.4602 | 113 | |||
| 118 | March 16, 1885 Annular | 0.8030 | 123 | September 8, 1885 Total | −0.8489 | |
| 128 | March 5, 1886 Annular | 0.0970 | 133 | August 29, 1886 Total | −0.1059 | |
| 138 | February 22, 1887 Annular | −0.6040 | 143 | August 19, 1887 Total | 0.6312 | |
| 148 | February 11, 1888 Partial | −1.2684 | 153 | August 7, 1888 Partial | −1.2797 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 13, 1219. It contains annular eclipses from November 20, 1435 through January 13, 1526; a hybrid eclipse on January 24, 1544; and total eclipses from February 3, 1562 through June 21, 2373. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on September 5, 2499. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 25 at 1 minutes, 14 seconds on November 30, 1453, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 61 at 6 minutes, 50 seconds on August 7, 1850. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[5]
| Series members 34–55 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 35 | 36 |
 July 17, 1814 |  July 27, 1832 |  August 7, 1850 |
| 37 | 38 | 39 |
 August 18, 1868 | August 29, 1886 |  September 9, 1904 |
| 40 | 41 | 42 |
 September 21, 1922 |  October 1, 1940 |  October 12, 1958 |
| 43 | 44 | 45 |
 October 23, 1976 |  November 3, 1994 |  November 13, 2012 |
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
 November 25, 2030 |  December 5, 2048 |  December 17, 2066 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
 December 27, 2084 |  January 8, 2103 |  January 19, 2121 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
 January 30, 2139 |  February 9, 2157 |  February 21, 2175 |
| 55 | ||
 March 3, 2193 | ||
Themetonic 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.
| 25 eclipse events between April 5, 1837 and June 17, 1928 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 5–6 | January 22–23 | November 10–11 | August 28–30 | June 17–18 |
| 107 | 109 | 111 | 113 | 115 |
 April 5, 1837 |  January 22, 1841 |  November 10, 1844 |  August 28, 1848 |  June 17, 1852 |
| 117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
 April 5, 1856 |  January 23, 1860 |  November 11, 1863 |  August 29, 1867 |  June 18, 1871 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
 April 6, 1875 |  January 22, 1879 |  November 10, 1882 | August 29, 1886 |  June 17, 1890 |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 April 6, 1894 |  January 22, 1898 |  November 11, 1901 |  August 30, 1905 |  June 17, 1909 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
 April 6, 1913 |  January 23, 1917 |  November 10, 1920 |  August 30, 1924 |  June 17, 1928 |
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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 4, 1810 (Saros 126) |  March 4, 1821 (Saros 127) |  February 1, 1832 (Saros 128) |  December 31, 1842 (Saros 129) |  November 30, 1853 (Saros 130) |
 October 30, 1864 (Saros 131) |  September 29, 1875 (Saros 132) | August 29, 1886 (Saros 133) |  July 29, 1897 (Saros 134) |  June 28, 1908 (Saros 135) |
 May 29, 1919 (Saros 136) |  April 28, 1930 (Saros 137) |  March 27, 1941 (Saros 138) |  February 25, 1952 (Saros 139) |  January 25, 1963 (Saros 140) |
 December 24, 1973 (Saros 141) |  November 22, 1984 (Saros 142) |  October 24, 1995 (Saros 143) |  September 22, 2006 (Saros 144) |  August 21, 2017 (Saros 145) |
 July 22, 2028 (Saros 146) |  June 21, 2039 (Saros 147) |  May 20, 2050 (Saros 148) |  April 20, 2061 (Saros 149) |  March 19, 2072 (Saros 150) |
 February 16, 2083 (Saros 151) |  January 16, 2094 (Saros 152) |  December 17, 2104 (Saros 153) |  November 16, 2115 (Saros 154) |  October 16, 2126 (Saros 155) |
 September 15, 2137 (Saros 156) |  August 14, 2148 (Saros 157) |  July 15, 2159 (Saros 158) |  June 14, 2170 (Saros 159) |  May 13, 2181 (Saros 160) |
 April 12, 2192 (Saros 161) | ||||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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 9, 1828 (Saros 131) |  September 18, 1857 (Saros 132) | August 29, 1886 (Saros 133) |
 August 10, 1915 (Saros 134) |  July 20, 1944 (Saros 135) |  June 30, 1973 (Saros 136) |
 June 10, 2002 (Saros 137) |  May 21, 2031 (Saros 138) |  April 30, 2060 (Saros 139) |
 April 10, 2089 (Saros 140) |  March 22, 2118 (Saros 141) |  March 2, 2147 (Saros 142) |
 February 10, 2176 (Saros 143) | ||
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