Solar eclipse of August 19, 1887

A total solar eclipse occurred on Friday, 19 August 1887. 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. It was visible across Europe, Asia, and Japan.

Solar eclipse of August 19, 1887
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.6312
Magnitude1.0518
Maximum eclipse
Duration230 sec (3 m 50 s)
Coordinates50.6°N 111.9°E / 50.6; 111.9
Max. width of band221 km (137 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse5:32:05
References
Saros143 (16 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)9251

Observations

The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev ascended in a balloon near Moscow to observe this eclipse.


Partiality at sunrise from Berlin, Germany

Russian writer Anton Chekhov published the short story "From the Diary of a Hot-Tempered Man" six weeks before the eclipse passed through Russia. The story includes a major section about the frustrations of a man who is trying to make a great variety of observations during the short interval of totality. In the story the eclipse date is given as 7 August 1887, but this is not an error. This is the correct date on the Julian Calendar, then in force in Russia, which did not convert to the Gregorian calendar until after the establishment of the USSR.

Solar 143

It is a part of Saros cycle 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 7, 1617 and total event from June 24, 1797 through October 24, 1995. It has hybrid eclipses from November 3, 2013 through December 6, 2067, and annular eclipses from December 16, 2085 through September 16, 2536. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on April 23, 2873. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 50 seconds on August 19, 1887. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Notes

    References
    • NASA graphic
    • Googlemap
    • NASA Besselian elements
    • American Eclipse Expedition to Japan: The Total Solar Eclipse of 1887 "Preliminary Report of Prof. David P. Todd, Astronomer in Charge of the Expedition." Published by the Observatory Amherst, Mass., 1888
    • Mabel Loomis Todd (1900). Total Eclipses of the Sun. Little, Brown.
    • The total solar eclipse of August 19, 1887 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 48, p. 202
    • Sketchs of Solar Corona August 19, 1887
    • Solar eclipse of August 19, 1887 in Russia
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