An annular

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Thursday, September 1, 2016, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 0.9736. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

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 5.4 days before

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on September 6, 2016, at 19:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. Annularity was visible from parts of

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

, Congo,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, and

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

. A partial eclipse was visible for most of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and parts of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Visibility

Animated Path

Images

Eclipse 20160901 Composition2.jpg, Composition images from L'Étang-Salé, Réunion Eclipse du 1er sept 2016 - la phase maximale (29122380110).jpg, Annularity progression from Les Avirons, Réunion Eclipse Roy Johnson (34700864866).jpg, Partial from Walvis Bay, Namibia, 7:15 UTC Kalemie, Province du Tanganyika, RD Congo L’éclipse solaire annulaire annoncée pour le jeudi 1er septembre 2016 a été aperçue dans la matinée au-dessus de la ville de Kalemie. (29320564952).jpg, From Kalemie, DR Congo, 7:46 UTC Partial Solar Eclipse (29096453620).jpg, Partial from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 9:35 UTC File:Partial Solar Eclipse 1 September 2016 From Jakarta, Indonesia.jpg, Partial from

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, Indonesia, 10:33 UTC

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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

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

synodic month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive Syzygy (astronomy), syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona people, S ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2016

* A total solar eclipse on March 9. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18. * An annular solar eclipse on September 1. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of June 21, 2020 Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 14, 2023

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2007 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2025

Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 2005 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 2, 2027

Solar Saros 135

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 22, 1998 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, August 22, 1998, with a magnitude of 0.9734. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the im ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 12, 2034 An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, September 12, 2034, with a magnitude of 0.9736. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the im ...

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 23, 1987 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, August 12, 2045, with a magnitude of 1.0774. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 1, 1929 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 4, 2103

Solar eclipses of 2015–2018

Saros 135

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

Annular solar eclipse of September 1, 2016
{{Solar eclipses 2016 9 1 2016 in science 2016 09 01 September 2016