Solar eclipse of January 25, 1963

48°12′S 15°00′W / 48.2°S 15°W / -48.2; -15Max. width of band20 km (12 mi)Times (UTC)Greatest eclipse13:37:12ReferencesSaros140 (26 of 71)Catalog # (SE5000)9426

An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 25, 1963. 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 path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). Occurring 3.7 days before perigee (Perigee on January 29, 1963), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The moon was 374,860 km (232,927 mi) from the Earth.

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 in January the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun).

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

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.^[1]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1961 to 1964
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
120	1961 February 15 Total	0.88302		125	1961 August 11 Annular	-0.88594
130	1962 February 05 Total	0.21066		135	1962 July 31 Annular	-0.11296
140	1963 January 25 Annular	-0.48984		145	1963 July 20 Total	0.65710
150	1964 January 14 Partial	-1.23541		155	1964 July 09 Partial	1.36228
Partial solar eclipses of June 10, 1964 and December 4, 1964 belong in the next lunar year set.

Saros 140

It is a part of Saros cycle 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on April 16, 1512. It contains total eclipses from July 21, 1656 through November 9, 1836, hybrid eclipses from November 20, 1854, through December 23, 1908, and annular eclipses from January 3, 1927 through December 7, 2485. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 1, 2774. The longest duration of totality was 4 minutes, 10 seconds on August 12, 1692.

Series members 23–53 occur between 1901 and 2450:
23	24	25
Dec 23, 1908	Jan 3, 1927	Jan 14, 1945
26	27	28
Jan 25, 1963	Feb 4, 1981	Feb 16, 1999
29	30	31
Feb 26, 2017	Mar 9, 2035	Mar 20, 2053
32	33	34
Mar 31, 2071	Apr 10, 2089	Apr 23, 2107
35	36	37
May 3, 2125	May 14, 2143	May 25, 2161
38	39	40
Jun 5, 2179	Jun 15, 2197	Jun 28, 2215
41	42	43
Jul 8, 2233	Jul 19, 2251	Jul 29, 2269
44	45	46
Aug 10, 2287	Aug 21, 2305	Sep 1, 2323
47	48	49
Sep 12, 2341	Sep 23, 2359	Oct 3, 2377
50	51	52
Oct 14, 2395	Oct 25, 2413	Nov 5, 2431
53
Nov 15, 2449

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).

22 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989:
April 7–8	January 24–25	November 12	August 31-September 1	June 19–20
108			114	116
April 8, 1902			August 31, 1913	June 19, 1917
118	120	122	124	126
April 8, 1921	January 24, 1925	November 12, 1928	August 31, 1932	June 19, 1936
128	130	132	134	136
April 7, 1940	January 25, 1944	November 12, 1947	September 1, 1951	June 20, 1955
138	140	142	144	146
April 8, 1959	January 25, 1963	November 12, 1966	August 31, 1970	June 20, 1974
148	150	152	154
April 7, 1978	January 25, 1982	November 12, 1985	August 31, 1989

Notes

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements