# Solar eclipse of January 25, 1963

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 25, 1963, with a magnitude of 0.9951. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 8.2 days after apogee (on January 17, 1963, at 8:00 UTC) and 3.7 days before perigee (on January 29, 1963, at 7:20 UTC).
The moon's apparent diameter was 4.8 arcseconds larger than the July 20, 1963 total solar eclipse. This was an annular solar eclipse because it occurred in January and the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in January.
The path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa.

## 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.
January 25, 1963 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 10:57:14.2 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 12:01:54.0 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1963 January 25 at 12:02:36.0 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1963 January 25 at 12:03:18.1 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1963 January 25 at 13:29:27.8 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1963 January 25 at 13:37:11.7 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1963 January 25 at 13:42:27.8 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1963 January 25 at 15:11:13.0 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1963 January 25 at 15:11:52.2 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 15:12:31.4 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1963 January 25 at 16:17:06.6 UTC |
January 25, 1963 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99511 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.99025 |
| Gamma | −0.48984 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 20h28m50.7s |
| Sun Declination | -19°03'07.2" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'14.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 20h29m08.2s |
| Moon Declination | -19°31'24.1" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'56.3" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°58'29.7" |
| ΔT | 34.5 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 January 1963 :
| January 9 Ascending node (full moon) | January 25 Descending node (new moon) |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 114 | Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 140 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1963

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 9.
* An annular solar eclipse on January 25.
* A partial lunar eclipse on July 6.
* A total solar eclipse on July 20.
* A total lunar eclipse on December 30.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1966

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1972

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1952
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

### Solar Saros 140

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1945
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1934
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 25, 1876
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 25, 2049

### Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

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 partial solar eclipses on June 10, 1964 and December 4, 1964 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1961 to 1964 :
| Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 120 | February 15, 1961 Total | 0.883 | 125 | August 11, 1961 Annular | −0.8859 |
| 130 | February 5, 1962 Total | 0.2107 | 135 | July 31, 1962 Annular | −0.113 |
| 140 | January 25, 1963 Annular | −0.4898 | 145 | July 20, 1963 Total | 0.6571 |
| 150 | January 14, 1964 Partial | −1.2354 | 155 | July 9, 1964 Partial | 1.3623 |

### Saros 140

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 16, 1512. It contains total eclipses from July 21, 1656 through November 9, 1836; hybrid eclipses from November 20, 1854 through December 23, 1908; and annular eclipses from January 3, 1927 through December 7, 2485. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 1, 2774. 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 totality was produced by member 11 at 4 minutes, 10 seconds on August 12, 1692, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 53 at 7 minutes, 35 seconds on November 15, 2449. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Series members 18–39 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
| October 29, 1818 | November 9, 1836 | November 20, 1854 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
| November 30, 1872 | December 12, 1890 | December 23, 1908 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
| January 3, 1927 | January 14, 1945 | January 25, 1963 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
| February 4, 1981 | February 16, 1999 | February 26, 2017 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
| March 9, 2035 | March 20, 2053 | March 31, 2071 |
| 33 | 34 | 35 |
| April 10, 2089 | April 23, 2107 | May 3, 2125 |
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
| May 14, 2143 | May 25, 2161 | June 5, 2179 |
| 39 |
| June 15, 2197 |

### 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 April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989 :
| April 7–8 | January 24–25 | November 12 | August 31–September 1 | June 19–20 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
| April 8, 1902 | | | August 31, 1913 | June 19, 1917 |
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
| April 8, 1921 | January 24, 1925 | November 12, 1928 | August 31, 1932 | June 19, 1936 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
| April 7, 1940 | January 25, 1944 | November 12, 1947 | September 1, 1951 | June 20, 1955 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
| April 8, 1959 | January 25, 1963 | November 12, 1966 | August 31, 1970 | June 20, 1974 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
| April 7, 1978 | January 25, 1982 | November 12, 1985 | August 31, 1989 |

### 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 :
| April 4, 1810 (Saros 126) | March 4, 1821 (Saros 127) | February 1, 1832 (Saros 128) | December 31, 1842 (Saros 129) | November 30, 1853 (Saros 130) |
| October 30, 1864 (Saros 131) | September 29, 1875 (Saros 132) | August 29, 1886 (Saros 133) | July 29, 1897 (Saros 134) | June 28, 1908 (Saros 135) |
| May 29, 1919 (Saros 136) | April 28, 1930 (Saros 137) | March 27, 1941 (Saros 138) | February 25, 1952 (Saros 139) | January 25, 1963 (Saros 140) |
| December 24, 1973 (Saros 141) | November 22, 1984 (Saros 142) | October 24, 1995 (Saros 143) | September 22, 2006 (Saros 144) | August 21, 2017 (Saros 145) |
| July 22, 2028 (Saros 146) | June 21, 2039 (Saros 147) | May 20, 2050 (Saros 148) | April 20, 2061 (Saros 149) | March 19, 2072 (Saros 150) |
| February 16, 2083 (Saros 151) | January 16, 2094 (Saros 152) | December 17, 2104 (Saros 153) | November 16, 2115 (Saros 154) | October 16, 2126 (Saros 155) |
| September 15, 2137 (Saros 156) | August 14, 2148 (Saros 157) | July 15, 2159 (Saros 158) | June 14, 2170 (Saros 159) | May 13, 2181 (Saros 160) |
| April 12, 2192 (Saros 161) |

### 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 :
| May 5, 1818 (Saros 135) | April 15, 1847 (Saros 136) | March 25, 1876 (Saros 137) |
| March 6, 1905 (Saros 138) | February 14, 1934 (Saros 139) | January 25, 1963 (Saros 140) |
| January 4, 1992 (Saros 141) | December 14, 2020 (Saros 142) | November 25, 2049 (Saros 143) |
| November 4, 2078 (Saros 144) | October 16, 2107 (Saros 145) | September 26, 2136 (Saros 146) |
| September 5, 2165 (Saros 147) | August 16, 2194 (Saros 148) | |