Solar eclipse of May 26, 1854

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, May 26, 1854, with a magnitude of 0.9551. 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. Occurring about 3.2 days before apogee (on May 30, 1854, at 2:25 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[1]

Solar eclipse of May 26, 1854

Annular eclipse
Map
Gamma	0.3918
Magnitude	0.9551
Maximum eclipse
Duration	272 s (4 min 32 s)
Coordinates	43.3°N 140.1°W / 43.3; -140.1
Max. width of band	178 km (111 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	20:42:53
References
Saros	135 (30 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9173
← November 30, 1853 November 20, 1854 →

The path of annularity was visible from parts of the modern-day Marshall Islands, southern Canada, Washington, northern Idaho, northern Montana, northern North Dakota, Minnesota, the upper peninsula of Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Northeast Asia, northern Oceania, Hawaii, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, far northern South America, and northern Scandinavia.

Visibility

The annular path crossed close to the boundary between the United States and Canada.

Observations

Annularity Daguerrotyped by Stephen Alexander from Ogdensburgh, New York

Partiality by Langenheim Brothers.

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.^[2]

May 26, 1854 Solar Eclipse Times

Event	Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact	1854 May 26 at 17:45:31.9 UTC
First Umbral External Contact	1854 May 26 at 18:52:54.1 UTC
First Central Line	1854 May 26 at 18:55:03.1 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact	1854 May 26 at 18:57:12.6 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact	1854 May 26 at 20:20:41.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse	1854 May 26 at 20:42:52.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction	1854 May 26 at 20:47:29.4 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction	1854 May 26 at 20:56:05.1 UTC
Greatest Duration	1854 May 26 at 20:59:47.7 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact	1854 May 26 at 21:04:43.2 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact	1854 May 26 at 22:28:22.6 UTC
Last Central Line	1854 May 26 at 22:30:34.0 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact	1854 May 26 at 22:32:45.0 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact	1854 May 26 at 23:40:11.8 UTC

May 26, 1854 Solar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Eclipse Magnitude	0.95510
Eclipse Obscuration	0.91221
Gamma	0.39177
Sun Right Ascension	04h13m05.4s
Sun Declination	+21°11'11.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'46.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	04h12m40.1s
Moon Declination	+21°31'39.9"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'51.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'32.6"
ΔT	7.1 s

Eclipse season

See also: Eclipse cycle

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 May 1854

May 12 Descending node (full moon)	May 26 Ascending node (new moon)
Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 109	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 135

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1854

• A partial lunar eclipse on May 12.
• An annular solar eclipse on May 26.
• A total lunar eclipse on November 4.
• A hybrid solar eclipse on November 20.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 21, 1852
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 28, 1859

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 15, 1847
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 8, 1861

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 21, 1845
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 1, 1863

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 27, 1843
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 25, 1865

Solar Saros 135

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 15, 1836
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1872

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 16, 1825
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 6, 1883

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 25, 1767
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 27, 1941

Solar eclipses of 1852–1855

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.^[3]

The partial solar eclipse on January 21, 1852 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1852 to 1855
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
115	June 17, 1852 Partial	−1.1111		120	December 11, 1852 Total	0.8551
125	June 6, 1853 Annular	−0.3686		130	November 30, 1853 Total	0.1763
135	May 26, 1854 Annular	0.3918		140	November 20, 1854 Hybrid	−0.5179
145	May 16, 1855 Partial	1.1249		150	November 9, 1855 Partial	−1.2767

Saros 135

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 135, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 5, 1331. It contains annular eclipses from October 21, 1511 through February 24, 2305; hybrid eclipses on March 8, 2323 and March 18, 2341; and total eclipses from March 29, 2359 through May 22, 2449. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on August 17, 2593. 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 16 at 10 minutes, 41 seconds on December 24, 1601, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds on May 12, 2431. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.^[4]

Series members 28–49 occur between 1801 and 2200:
28	29	30
May 5, 1818	May 15, 1836	May 26, 1854
31	32	33
June 6, 1872	June 17, 1890	June 28, 1908
34	35	36
July 9, 1926	July 20, 1944	July 31, 1962
37	38	39
August 10, 1980	August 22, 1998	September 1, 2016
40	42	42
September 12, 2034	September 22, 2052	October 4, 2070
43	44	45
October 14, 2088	October 26, 2106	November 6, 2124
46	47	48
November 17, 2142	November 27, 2160	December 9, 2178
49
December 19, 2196

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.

25 eclipse events between March 14, 1801 and August 7, 1888
March 14–15	December 31–January 1	October 19–20	August 7	May 26–27
107	109	111	113	115
March 14, 1801	January 1, 1805	October 19, 1808	August 7, 1812	May 27, 1816
117	119	121	123	125
March 14, 1820	January 1, 1824	October 20, 1827	August 7, 1831	May 27, 1835
127	129	131	133	135
March 15, 1839	December 31, 1842	October 20, 1846	August 7, 1850	May 26, 1854
137	139	141	143	145
March 15, 1858	December 31, 1861	October 19, 1865	August 7, 1869	May 26, 1873
147	149	151	153
March 15, 1877	December 31, 1880	October 19, 1884	August 7, 1888

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.

The partial solar eclipses on December 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2105
September 28, 1810 (Saros 131)	August 27, 1821 (Saros 132)	July 27, 1832 (Saros 133)	June 27, 1843 (Saros 134)	May 26, 1854 (Saros 135)
April 25, 1865 (Saros 136)	March 25, 1876 (Saros 137)	February 22, 1887 (Saros 138)	January 22, 1898 (Saros 139)	December 23, 1908 (Saros 140)
November 22, 1919 (Saros 141)	October 21, 1930 (Saros 142)	September 21, 1941 (Saros 143)	August 20, 1952 (Saros 144)	July 20, 1963 (Saros 145)
June 20, 1974 (Saros 146)	May 19, 1985 (Saros 147)	April 17, 1996 (Saros 148)	March 19, 2007 (Saros 149)	February 15, 2018 (Saros 150)
January 14, 2029 (Saros 151)	December 15, 2039 (Saros 152)	November 14, 2050 (Saros 153)	October 13, 2061 (Saros 154)	September 12, 2072 (Saros 155)
August 13, 2083 (Saros 156)	July 12, 2094 (Saros 157)	June 12, 2105 (Saros 158)

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
June 16, 1825 (Saros 134)	May 26, 1854 (Saros 135)	May 6, 1883 (Saros 136)
April 17, 1912 (Saros 137)	March 27, 1941 (Saros 138)	March 7, 1970 (Saros 139)
February 16, 1999 (Saros 140)	January 26, 2028 (Saros 141)	January 5, 2057 (Saros 142)
December 16, 2085 (Saros 143)	November 27, 2114 (Saros 144)	November 7, 2143 (Saros 145)
October 17, 2172 (Saros 146)