A total

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

descending 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 Tuesday, September 7, 1858, 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 1.0210. 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. A total 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 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. Occurring about 2.5 days after

perigee 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 4, 1858, at 2:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and northern

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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. ...

, and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Observations

Emmanuel Liais Emmanuel Liais (15 February 1826 – 5 March 1900) was a French astronomer, botanist and explorer who spent many years in Brazil. He was born in Cherbourg, the son of a wealthy family in the shipbuilding industry. He was an amateur scien ...

from

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 ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1858

* A partial lunar eclipse on February 27. * An annular solar eclipse on March 15. * A partial lunar eclipse on August 24. * An total solar eclipse on September 7.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 20, 1854 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of June 27, 1862 During the 19th century, there were 242 solar eclipses of which 87 were Solar eclipse#Types, partial, 77 were annular, 63 were total and 15 were hybrids between total and annular eclipses. In the 19th century, the greatest number of eclipses in ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of July 28, 1851 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, July 28, 1851, with a magnitude of 1.0577. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of t ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 19, 1865

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 2, 1849 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 14, 1867

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 9, 1847 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 t ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 7, 1869 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit between Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8, 1869, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0551. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and ...

Solar Saros 142

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 27, 1840 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 t ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 17, 1876 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 t ...

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 28, 1829 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 19, 1887 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit on Friday, August 19, 1887, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0518. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally o ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 6, 1771 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of July 9, 1945 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, July 9, 1945, with a magnitude of 1.018. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Su ...

Solar eclipses of 1856–1859

The partial solar eclipses on February 3, 1859 and July 29, 1859 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 142

Metonic series

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

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

NASA graphic
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Googlemap
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NASA Besselian elements

by Lieut. J. M. Gillis, Published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. 11, April 1859 * {{Commons category, Solar eclipse of 1858 September 7 1858 09 07 1858 in science 1858 09 07 September 1858