Summary
A total solar eclipse occurred on Wednesday, May 17, 1882. 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. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent 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. In locations as of present or today, totality was visible in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Libya, Egypt (African part), Suez Canal, Egypt (Asian part), Gulf of Aqaba, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and East China Sea. Totality began in Burkina Faso and ended in East China Sea. Occurring 4.2 days after perigee (Perigee on May 13, 1882), the Moon’s apparent diameter was 0.9% larger than average.
| Solar eclipse of May 17, 1882 | |
|---|---|
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Total |
| Gamma | 0.3269 |
| Magnitude | 1.02 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 110 s (1 min 50 s) |
| Coordinates | 38°24′N 61°36′E / 38.4°N 61.6°E |
| Max. width of band | 72 km (45 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 7:36:27 |
| References | |
| Saros | 126 (40 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9239 |
Observations edit
A party of observers gathered in Egypt to watch the eclipse were greatly surprised when they observed a bright streak near to the Sun once totality began. By a remarkable coincidence, the eclipse had coincided with the perihelion passage of a Kreutz comet. The comet would otherwise have gone unnoticed—its sighting during the eclipse was the only observation of it. Photographs of the eclipse revealed that the comet had moved noticeably during the 1m50s eclipse, as would be expected for a comet racing past the Sun at almost 500 km/s. The comet is sometimes referred to as Tewfik, after Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt at the time.[1]
Related eclipses edit
Saros 126 edit
It is a part of Saros cycle 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810, hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864 and total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. The longest duration of central eclipse (annular or total) was 6 minutes, 30 seconds of annularity on June 26, 1359. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.
| Series members 42–52 occur between 1901 and 2100 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 42 | 43 | 44 |
 June 8, 1918 |
 June 19, 1936 |
 June 30, 1954 |
| 45 | 46 | 47 |
 July 10, 1972 |
 July 22, 1990 |
 August 1, 2008 |
| 48 | 49 | 50 |
 August 12, 2026 |
 August 23, 2044 |
 September 3, 2062 |
| 51 | 52 | |
 September 13, 2080 |
 September 25, 2098 | |
Tritos series edit
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2100 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 December 21, 1805 (Saros 119) |
 November 19, 1816 (Saros 120) |
 October 20, 1827 (Saros 121) | |
 September 18, 1838 (Saros 122) |
 August 18, 1849 (Saros 123) |
 July 18, 1860 (Saros 124) | |
 June 18, 1871 (Saros 125) |
 May 17, 1882 (Saros 126) |
 April 16, 1893 (Saros 127) | |
 March 17, 1904 (Saros 128) |
 February 14, 1915 (Saros 129) |
 January 14, 1926 (Saros 130) | |
 December 13, 1936 (Saros 131) |
 November 12, 1947 (Saros 132) |
 October 12, 1958 (Saros 133) | |
 September 11, 1969 (Saros 134) |
 August 10, 1980 (Saros 135) |
 July 11, 1991 (Saros 136) | |
 June 10, 2002 (Saros 137) |
 May 10, 2013 (Saros 138) |
 April 8, 2024 (Saros 139) | |
 March 9, 2035 (Saros 140) |
 February 5, 2046 (Saros 141) |
 January 5, 2057 (Saros 142) | |
 December 6, 2067 (Saros 143) |
 November 4, 2078 (Saros 144) |
 October 4, 2089 (Saros 145) | |
 September 4, 2100 (Saros 146) |
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In the 22nd century:
- Solar saros 147: annular solar eclipse of August 4, 2111
- Solar saros 148: total solar eclipse of July 4, 2122
- Solar saros 149: total solar eclipse of June 3, 2133
- Solar saros 150: annular solar eclipse of May 3, 2144
- Solar saros 151: annular solar eclipse of April 2, 2155
- Solar saros 152: total solar eclipse of March 2, 2166
- Solar saros 153: annular solar eclipse of January 29, 2177
- Solar saros 154: annular solar eclipse of December 29, 2187
- Solar saros 155: total solar eclipse of November 28, 2198
In the 23rd century:
- Solar saros 156: annular solar eclipse of October 29, 2209
- Solar saros 157: annular solar eclipse of September 27, 2220
- Solar saros 158: total solar eclipse of August 28, 2231
- Solar saros 159: partial solar eclipse of July 28, 2242
- Solar saros 160: partial solar eclipse of June 26, 2253
- Solar saros 161: partial solar eclipse of May 26, 2264
- Solar saros 162: partial solar eclipse of April 26, 2275
- Solar saros 163: partial solar eclipse of March 25, 2286
- Solar saros 164: partial solar eclipse of February 22, 2297
Notes edit
References edit
- NASA graphic
- Googlemap
- NASA Besselian elements
- Sketchs of Solar Corona May 17, 1882
