# Solar eclipse of May 17, 1882

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 17, 1882, with a magnitude of 1.0200. 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. Occurring about 4.2 days after perigee (on May 13, 1882, at 2:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia.

## Observations

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.

## 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.
May 17, 1882 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1882 May 17 at 04:52:19.5 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1882 May 17 at 05:53:35.0 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1882 May 17 at 05:53:43.6 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1882 May 17 at 05:53:52.2 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1882 May 17 at 07:02:13.9 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1882 May 17 at 07:32:55.8 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1882 May 17 at 07:35:20.9 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1882 May 17 at 07:36:26.9 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1882 May 17 at 07:41:22.6 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1882 May 17 at 08:10:31.0 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1882 May 17 at 09:19:01.4 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1882 May 17 at 09:19:07.3 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1882 May 17 at 09:19:13.2 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1882 May 17 at 10:20:37.9 UTC |
May 17, 1882 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.02000 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.04040 |
| Gamma | 0.32688 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 03h35m45.9s |
| Sun Declination | +19°19'37.1" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'48.5" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 03h35m34.8s |
| Moon Declination | +19°38'26.3" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'52.7" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°58'16.5" |
| ΔT | -5.5 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.
Eclipse season of May–June 1882 :
| May 17 Descending node (new moon) | June 1 Ascending node (full moon) |
| Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 126 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 138 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1882

* A total solar eclipse on May 17.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 1.
* An annular solar eclipse on November 10.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 25.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 29, 1878
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 5, 1886

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1875
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 28, 1889

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 12, 1873
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 23, 1891

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 18, 1871
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 16, 1893

### Solar Saros 126

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 6, 1864
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 28, 1900

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1853
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 28, 1911

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 16, 1795
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969

### Solar eclipses of 1880–1884

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The solar eclipses on January 11, 1880 (total), July 7, 1880 (annular), and December 31, 1880 (partial) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on March 27, 1884 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1880 to 1884 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 111 | December 2, 1880 Partial | −1.5172 | 116 | May 27, 1881 Partial | 1.1345 |
| 121 | November 21, 1881 Annular | −0.8931 | 126 | May 17, 1882 Total | 0.3269 |
| 131 | November 10, 1882 Annular | −0.2056 | 136 | May 6, 1883 Total | −0.4250 |
| 141 | October 30, 1883 Annular | 0.5030 | 146 | April 25, 1884 Partial | −1.1365 |
| 151 | October 19, 1884 Partial | 1.1892 | | | |

### Saros 126

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a 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. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 11 at 6 minutes, 30 seconds on June 26, 1359, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 45 at 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Series members 36–57 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
| April 4, 1810 | April 14, 1828 | April 25, 1846 |
| 39 | 40 | 41 |
| May 6, 1864 | May 17, 1882 | May 28, 1900 |
| 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 | 53 |
| September 13, 2080 | September 25, 2098 | October 6, 2116 |
| 54 | 55 | 56 |
| October 17, 2134 | October 28, 2152 | November 8, 2170 |
| 57 |
| November 18, 2188 |

### Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
22 eclipse events between March 5, 1848 and July 30, 1935 :
| March 5–6 | December 22–24 | October 9–11 | July 29–30 | May 17–18 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
| March 5, 1848 | | | July 29, 1859 | May 17, 1863 |
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
| March 6, 1867 | December 22, 1870 | October 10, 1874 | July 29, 1878 | May 17, 1882 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
| March 5, 1886 | December 22, 1889 | October 9, 1893 | July 29, 1897 | May 18, 1901 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
| March 6, 1905 | December 23, 1908 | October 10, 1912 | July 30, 1916 | May 18, 1920 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
| March 5, 1924 | December 24, 1927 | October 11, 1931 | July 30, 1935 |

### Tritos series

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 2200 :
| 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) | August 4, 2111 (Saros 147) | July 4, 2122 (Saros 148) |
| June 3, 2133 (Saros 149) | May 3, 2144 (Saros 150) | April 2, 2155 (Saros 151) | March 2, 2166 (Saros 152) | January 29, 2177 (Saros 153) |
| December 29, 2187 (Saros 154) | November 28, 2198 (Saros 155) |

### Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1801 and 2200 :
| June 26, 1824 (Saros 124) | June 6, 1853 (Saros 125) | May 17, 1882 (Saros 126) |
| April 28, 1911 (Saros 127) | April 7, 1940 (Saros 128) | March 18, 1969 (Saros 129) |
| February 26, 1998 (Saros 130) | February 6, 2027 (Saros 131) | January 16, 2056 (Saros 132) |
| December 27, 2084 (Saros 133) | December 8, 2113 (Saros 134) | November 17, 2142 (Saros 135) |
| October 29, 2171 (Saros 136) | October 9, 2200 (Saros 137) | |