Solar eclipse of April 25, 1865
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	−0.4826
Magnitude	1.0584
Maximum eclipse
Duration	323 s (5 min 23 s)
Coordinates	14°48′S 25°48′W / 14.8°S 25.8°W / -14.8; -25.8
Max. width of band	219 km (136 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	14:08:34
References
Saros	136 (29 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9199

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, April 25, 1865, with a magnitude of 1.0584. 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 1.2 days after perigee (on April 24, 1865, at 9:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[1]

The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Angola, Zambia, and extreme northwestern Mozambique. A partial solar eclipse was also visible for much of South America, Antarctica, and Africa.

The total eclipse was also witnessed by the passengers and crew of the SS Great Britain, passing the coastline of Brazil en route from Australia to England;^{[2][better source needed]} they were able to observe stars in the daytime.

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.^[3]

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 April 1865

April 11 Ascending node (full moon)	April 25 Descending node (new moon)
Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 110	Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 136

• A partial lunar eclipse on April 11.
• A total solar eclipse on April 25.
• A partial lunar eclipse on October 4.
• An annular solar eclipse on October 19.

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 8, 1861
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 11, 1869

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 15, 1858
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1872

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 20, 1856
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 1, 1874

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 26, 1854
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 25, 1876

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 15, 1847
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 6, 1883

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 15, 1836
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1894

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 24, 1778
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1952

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.^[4]

The partial solar eclipses on June 27, 1862 and December 21, 1862 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on March 16, 1866 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1862 to 1866
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
111	November 21, 1862 Partial	−1.5052		116	May 17, 1863 Partial	1.0627
121	November 11, 1863 Annular	−0.8760		126	May 6, 1864 Hybrid	0.2622
131	October 30, 1864 Annular	−0.1816		136	April 25, 1865 Total	−0.4826
141	October 19, 1865 Annular	0.5366		146	April 15, 1866 Partial	−1.1846
151	October 8, 1866 Partial	1.2296

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 14, 1360. It contains annular eclipses from September 8, 1504 through November 12, 1594; hybrid eclipses from November 22, 1612 through January 17, 1703; and total eclipses from January 27, 1721 through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622. 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 9 at 32 seconds on September 8, 1504, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 34 at 7 minutes, 7.74 seconds on June 20, 1955. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.^[5]

Series members 26–47 occur between 1801 and 2200:
26	27	28
March 24, 1811	April 3, 1829	April 15, 1847
29	30	31
April 25, 1865	May 6, 1883	May 18, 1901
32	33	34
May 29, 1919	June 8, 1937	June 20, 1955
35	36	37
June 30, 1973	July 11, 1991	July 22, 2009
38	39	40
August 2, 2027	August 12, 2045	August 24, 2063
41	42	43
September 3, 2081	September 14, 2099	September 26, 2117
44	45	46
October 7, 2135	October 17, 2153	October 29, 2171
47
November 8, 2189

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.

25 eclipse events between February 12, 1812 and September 18, 1895
February 11–12	November 30–December 1	September 17–19	July 7–8	April 25–26
108	110	112	114	116
February 12, 1812		September 19, 1819	July 8, 1823	April 26, 1827
118	120	122	124	126
February 12, 1831	November 30, 1834	September 18, 1838	July 8, 1842	April 25, 1846
128	130	132	134	136
February 12, 1850	November 30, 1853	September 18, 1857	July 8, 1861	April 25, 1865
138	140	142	144	146
February 11, 1869	November 30, 1872	September 17, 1876	July 7, 1880	April 25, 1884
148	150	152
February 11, 1888	December 1, 1891	September 18, 1895

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 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2105
September 28, 1810 (Saros 131)	August 27, 1821 (Saros 132)	July 27, 1832 (Saros 133)	June 27, 1843 (Saros 134)	May 26, 1854 (Saros 135)
April 25, 1865 (Saros 136)	March 25, 1876 (Saros 137)	February 22, 1887 (Saros 138)	January 22, 1898 (Saros 139)	December 23, 1908 (Saros 140)
November 22, 1919 (Saros 141)	October 21, 1930 (Saros 142)	September 21, 1941 (Saros 143)	August 20, 1952 (Saros 144)	July 20, 1963 (Saros 145)
June 20, 1974 (Saros 146)	May 19, 1985 (Saros 147)	April 17, 1996 (Saros 148)	March 19, 2007 (Saros 149)	February 15, 2018 (Saros 150)
January 14, 2029 (Saros 151)	December 15, 2039 (Saros 152)	November 14, 2050 (Saros 153)	October 13, 2061 (Saros 154)	September 12, 2072 (Saros 155)
August 13, 2083 (Saros 156)	July 12, 2094 (Saros 157)	June 12, 2105 (Saros 158)

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 6, 1807 (Saros 134)	May 15, 1836 (Saros 135)	April 25, 1865 (Saros 136)
April 6, 1894 (Saros 137)	March 17, 1923 (Saros 138)	February 25, 1952 (Saros 139)
February 4, 1981 (Saros 140)	January 15, 2010 (Saros 141)	December 26, 2038 (Saros 142)
December 6, 2067 (Saros 143)	November 15, 2096 (Saros 144)	October 26, 2125 (Saros 145)
October 7, 2154 (Saros 146)	September 16, 2183 (Saros 147)

• NASA chart graphics
• Googlemap
• NASA Besselian elements
• Mabel Loomis Todd (1900). Total Eclipses of the Sun. Little, Brown.