An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 17, 1803, with a magnitude of 0.9657. 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 4.5 days before apogee (on August 21, 1803, at 19:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

The path of annularity was visible from parts of modern-day Western Sahara, Mauritania, far northern Mali, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Europe, North Africa, Central Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It was the first solar eclipse to be subject to detailed spectroscopic study.

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.

+August 17, 1803 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1803 August 17 at 05:24:35.4 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1803 August 17 at 06:27:46.8 UTC First Central Line 1803 August 17 at 06:29:24.5 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1803 August 17 at 06:31:02.3 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1803 August 17 at 07:34:15.4 UTC Greatest Duration 1803 August 17 at 07:56:21.3 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1803 August 17 at 08:25:03.0 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1803 August 17 at 08:25:06.3 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1803 August 17 at 08:25:18.6 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1803 August 17 at 09:15:49.4 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1803 August 17 at 10:19:01.8 UTC Last Central Line 1803 August 17 at 10:20:42.0 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1803 August 17 at 10:22:22.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1803 August 17 at 11:25:36.2 UTC

+August 17, 1803 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.96571 Eclipse Obscuration 0.93259 Gamma −0.00483 Sun Right Ascension 09h43m00.2s Sun Declination +13°43'47.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.3" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 09h42m59.7s Moon Declination +13°43'32.7" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'01.8" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'09.5" ΔT 12.4 s

Eclipse season

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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

+ Eclipse season of August–September 1803 August 3Ascending node (full moon) August 17Descending node (new moon) September 1Ascending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 106 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 132 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 144

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1803 A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 6. A total solar eclipse on February 21. A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 8. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 3. An annular solar eclipse on August 17. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 1.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 28, 1799 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1807

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 4, 1796 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 28, 1810

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 11, 1794 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 22, 1812

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 16, 1792 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 17, 1814

Solar Saros 132 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 5, 1785 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 27, 1821

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 6, 1774 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 27, 1832

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 15, 1716 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 17, 1890

Solar eclipses of 1801–1805

The partial solar eclipses on April 13, 1801 and October 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, 1801Partial −1.4434 112 September 8, 1801Partial 1.4657 117 March 4, 1802Total −0.6943 122 August 28, 1802Annular 0.7569 127 February 21, 1803Total −0.0075 132 August 17, 1803Annular −0.0048 137 February 11, 1804Hybrid 0.7053 142 August 5, 1804Total −0.7622 147 January 30, 1805Partial 1.4651 152 July 26, 1805Partial −1.4571

Saros 132

Metonic series All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.

24 eclipse events between August 17, 1803 and August 16, 1841August 16–17June 5–6March 24January 9–10October 29132134136138140August 17, 1803June 6, 1807March 24, 1811January 10, 1815October 29, 1818142144146148150August 16, 1822June 5, 1826March 24, 1830January 9, 1834October 29, 1837152August 16, 1841

Tritos series

Inex series

See also List of solar eclipses in the 19th century

References

External links Google interactive maps Solar eclipse data