# Solar eclipse of February 3, 1916

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, February 3, 1916, with a magnitude of 1.028. 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 1.7 days after perigee (on February 2, 1916, at 0:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Totality was visible in Colombia, Venezuela, and the whole Guadeloupe except Marie-Galante, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America, Central America, northern South America, Northwest Africa, and Western Europe.

## Observations

The Argentine National Observatory sent a team to Tucacas, Falcón, Venezuela. Due to the economic depression caused by World War I, the best equipment could not be transported to the observation site. The team left Córdoba Province, Argentina on December 2, 1915, and arrived in Tucacas on January 14, 1916. It rained heavily within the first week after their arrival. There was still heavy rain on the early morning of February 3. The weather got better after that. By the time of totality, there was only a layer of mist, which slightly affected the observation. The team successfully took images of the corona and made spectral observations. The results were also compared with a later total solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 which was also visible in Falcón, Venezuela.

## 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.
February 3, 1916 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1916 February 03 at 13:27:05.9 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1916 February 03 at 14:28:56.2 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1916 February 03 at 14:29:21.6 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1916 February 03 at 14:29:47.1 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1916 February 03 at 15:55:04.9 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1916 February 03 at 16:00:21.4 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1916 February 03 at 16:05:33.2 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1916 February 03 at 16:21:50.2 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1916 February 03 at 17:30:44.2 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1916 February 03 at 17:31:07.9 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1916 February 03 at 17:31:31.6 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1916 February 03 at 18:33:31.9 UTC |
February 3, 1916 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.02800 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.05678 |
| Gamma | 0.49875 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 21h03m55.2s |
| Sun Declination | -16°46'33.6" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'13.5" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 21h03m07.7s |
| Moon Declination | -16°18'47.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'26.3" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'19.8" |
| ΔT | 18.3 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–February 1916 :
| January 20 Descending node (full moon) | February 3 Ascending node (new moon) |
| Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 113 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 139 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1916

* A partial lunar eclipse on January 20.
* A total solar eclipse on February 3.
* A partial lunar eclipse on July 15.
* An annular solar eclipse on July 30.
* A partial solar eclipse on December 24.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 22, 1919

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 23, 1908
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 17, 1923

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 29, 1907
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 8, 1925

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 6, 1905
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1927

### Solar Saros 139

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 22, 1898
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1934

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 22, 1887
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1945

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 3, 1829
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 2002

### Solar eclipse of 1913–1917

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 April 6, 1913 and September 30, 1913 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on December 24, 1916 (partial), June 19, 1917 (partial), and December 14, 1917 (annular) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1913 to 1917 :
| Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 114 | August 31, 1913 Partial | 1.4512 | 119 | February 25, 1914 Annular | −0.9416 |
| 124 | August 21, 1914 Total | 0.7655 | 129 | February 14, 1915 Annular | −0.2024 |
| 134 | August 10, 1915 Annular | 0.0124 | 139 | February 3, 1916 Total | 0.4987 |
| 144 | July 30, 1916 Annular | −0.7709 | 149 | January 23, 1917 Partial | 1.1508 |
| 154 | July 19, 1917 Partial | −1.5101 |

### Saros 139

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses from August 11, 1627 through December 9, 1825 and total eclipses from December 21, 1843 through March 26, 2601. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. 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 will be produced by member 61 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Series members 18–39 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
| November 29, 1807 | December 9, 1825 | December 21, 1843 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
| December 31, 1861 | January 11, 1880 | January 22, 1898 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
| February 3, 1916 | February 14, 1934 | February 25, 1952 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
| March 7, 1970 | March 18, 1988 | March 29, 2006 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
| April 8, 2024 | April 20, 2042 | April 30, 2060 |
| 33 | 34 | 35 |
| May 11, 2078 | May 22, 2096 | June 3, 2114 |
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
| June 13, 2132 | June 25, 2150 | July 5, 2168 |
| 39 |
| July 16, 2186 |

### 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 ascending node.
23 eclipse events between February 3, 1859 and June 29, 1946 :
| February 1–3 | November 21–22 | September 8–10 | June 28–29 | April 16–18 |
| 109 | 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 |
| February 3, 1859 | November 21, 1862 | | June 28, 1870 | April 16, 1874 |
| 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 |
| February 2, 1878 | November 21, 1881 | September 8, 1885 | June 28, 1889 | April 16, 1893 |
| 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 |
| February 1, 1897 | November 22, 1900 | September 9, 1904 | June 28, 1908 | April 17, 1912 |
| 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 |
| February 3, 1916 | November 22, 1919 | September 10, 1923 | June 29, 1927 | April 18, 1931 |
| 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
| February 3, 1935 | November 21, 1938 | September 10, 1942 | June 29, 1946 |

### 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.
The partial solar eclipses on December 18, 2188 (part of Saros 164) and November 18, 2199 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
Series members between 1801 and 2134 :
| December 10, 1806 (Saros 129) | November 9, 1817 (Saros 130) | October 9, 1828 (Saros 131) | September 7, 1839 (Saros 132) | August 7, 1850 (Saros 133) |
| July 8, 1861 (Saros 134) | June 6, 1872 (Saros 135) | May 6, 1883 (Saros 136) | April 6, 1894 (Saros 137) | March 6, 1905 (Saros 138) |
| February 3, 1916 (Saros 139) | January 3, 1927 (Saros 140) | December 2, 1937 (Saros 141) | November 1, 1948 (Saros 142) | October 2, 1959 (Saros 143) |
| August 31, 1970 (Saros 144) | July 31, 1981 (Saros 145) | June 30, 1992 (Saros 146) | May 31, 2003 (Saros 147) | April 29, 2014 (Saros 148) |
| March 29, 2025 (Saros 149) | February 27, 2036 (Saros 150) | January 26, 2047 (Saros 151) | December 26, 2057 (Saros 152) | November 24, 2068 (Saros 153) |
| October 24, 2079 (Saros 154) | September 23, 2090 (Saros 155) | August 24, 2101 (Saros 156) | July 23, 2112 (Saros 157) | June 23, 2123 (Saros 158) |
| May 23, 2134 (Saros 159) |

### 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 :
| April 3, 1829 (Saros 136) | March 15, 1858 (Saros 137) | February 22, 1887 (Saros 138) |
| February 3, 1916 (Saros 139) | January 14, 1945 (Saros 140) | December 24, 1973 (Saros 141) |
| December 4, 2002 (Saros 142) | November 14, 2031 (Saros 143) | October 24, 2060 (Saros 144) |
| October 4, 2089 (Saros 145) | September 15, 2118 (Saros 146) | August 26, 2147 (Saros 147) |
| August 4, 2176 (Saros 148) | | |