| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.0075 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0492 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 249 s (4 min 9 s) |
| Coordinates | 11°06′S135°54′W / 11.1°S 135.9°W /-11.1; -135.9 |
| Max. width of band | 163 km (101 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 21:18:46 |
| References | |
| Saros | 127 (46 of 82) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9047 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sascending node of orbit on Monday, February 21, 1803, with amagnitude of 1.0492. 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 only about 18 hours beforeperigee (on February 22, 1803, at 15:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[1]
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-dayNorfolk Island,French Polynesia,Mexico,Florida, and theBahamas. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of easternAustralia,Oceania,North America,Central America, theCaribbean, and northernSouth America.[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 | 1803 February 21 at 18:39:49.4 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1803 February 21 at 19:34:37.6 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1803 February 21 at 19:35:27.6 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1803 February 21 at 19:36:17.6 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1803 February 21 at 20:31:05.3 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1803 February 21 at 21:14:41.2 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1803 February 21 at 21:18:22.5 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1803 February 21 at 21:18:41.3 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1803 February 21 at 21:18:45.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1803 February 21 at 22:06:27.3 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1803 February 21 at 23:01:13.1 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1803 February 21 at 23:02:04.1 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1803 February 21 at 23:02:55.1 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1803 February 21 at 23:57:40.3 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.04920 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.10083 |
| Gamma | −0.00747 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 22h17m19.4s |
| Sun Declination | -10°39'01.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'09.6" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 22h17m20.3s |
| Moon Declination | -10°39'25.9" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'40.0" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'10.2" |
| ΔT | 12.5 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.
| February 6 Descending node (full moon) | February 21 Ascending node (new moon) | March 8 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 101 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 127 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 139 |
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 onApril 13, 1801 andOctober 7, 1801 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on January 1, 1805 (partial); June 26, 1805 (partial); and December 21, 1805 (annular) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1801 to 1805 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 107 | March 14, 1801 Partial | −1.4434 | 112 | September 8, 1801 Partial | 1.4657 | |
| 117 | March 4, 1802 Total | −0.6943 | 122 | August 28, 1802 Annular | 0.7569 | |
| 127 | February 21, 1803 Total | −0.0075 | 132 | August 17, 1803 Annular | −0.0048 | |
| 137 | February 11, 1804 Hybrid | 0.7053 | 142 | August 5, 1804 Total | −0.7622 | |
| 147 | January 30, 1805 Partial | 1.4651 | 152 | July 26, 1805 Partial | −1.4571 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 throughAugust 15, 2091. There are no annular or hybrid eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. 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 totality was produced by member 31 at 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[5]
| Series members 46–68 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
February 21, 1803 |  March 4, 1821 |  March 15, 1839 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
 March 25, 1857 |  April 6, 1875 |  April 16, 1893 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
 April 28, 1911 |  May 9, 1929 |  May 20, 1947 |
| 55 | 56 | 57 |
 May 30, 1965 |  June 11, 1983 |  June 21, 2001 |
| 58 | 59 | 60 |
 July 2, 2019 |  July 13, 2037 |  July 24, 2055 |
| 61 | 62 | 63 |
 August 3, 2073 |  August 15, 2091 |  August 26, 2109 |
| 64 | 65 | 66 |
 September 6, 2127 |  September 16, 2145 |  September 28, 2163 |
| 67 | 68 | |
 October 8, 2181 |  October 19, 2199 | |
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.
| 24 eclipse events between February 21, 1803 and September 27, 1848 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 21 | December 9–10 | September 27–28 | July 17 | May 4–5 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
February 21, 1803 |  December 10, 1806 |  September 28, 1810 |  July 17, 1814 |  May 5, 1818 |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 February 21, 1822 |  December 9, 1825 |  September 28, 1829 |  July 17, 1833 |  May 4, 1837 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | ||
 February 21, 1841 |  December 9, 1844 |  September 27, 1848 | ||
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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
February 21, 1803 (Saros 127) |  January 21, 1814 (Saros 128) |  December 20, 1824 (Saros 129) |  November 20, 1835 (Saros 130) |  October 20, 1846 (Saros 131) |
 September 18, 1857 (Saros 132) |  August 18, 1868 (Saros 133) |  July 19, 1879 (Saros 134) |  June 17, 1890 (Saros 135) |  May 18, 1901 (Saros 136) |
 April 17, 1912 (Saros 137) |  March 17, 1923 (Saros 138) |  February 14, 1934 (Saros 139) |  January 14, 1945 (Saros 140) |  December 14, 1955 (Saros 141) |
 November 12, 1966 (Saros 142) |  October 12, 1977 (Saros 143) |  September 11, 1988 (Saros 144) |  August 11, 1999 (Saros 145) |  July 11, 2010 (Saros 146) |
 June 10, 2021 (Saros 147) |  May 9, 2032 (Saros 148) |  April 9, 2043 (Saros 149) |  March 9, 2054 (Saros 150) |  February 5, 2065 (Saros 151) |
 January 6, 2076 (Saros 152) |  December 6, 2086 (Saros 153) |  November 4, 2097 (Saros 154) |  October 5, 2108 (Saros 155) |  September 5, 2119 (Saros 156) |
 August 4, 2130 (Saros 157) |  July 3, 2141 (Saros 158) |  June 3, 2152 (Saros 159) |  April 1, 2174 (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 | ||
|---|---|---|
February 21, 1803 (Saros 127) |  February 1, 1832 (Saros 128) |  January 11, 1861 (Saros 129) |
 December 22, 1889 (Saros 130) |  December 3, 1918 (Saros 131) |  November 12, 1947 (Saros 132) |
 October 23, 1976 (Saros 133) |  October 3, 2005 (Saros 134) |  September 12, 2034 (Saros 135) |
 August 24, 2063 (Saros 136) |  August 3, 2092 (Saros 137) |  July 14, 2121 (Saros 138) |
 June 25, 2150 (Saros 139) |  June 5, 2179 (Saros 140) | |
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