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 path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). Occurring 3.7 days before perigee (on January 29, 1963), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The moon was 374,860 km (232,927 mi) from the Earth.

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 in January the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun).

Eclipses in 1963

 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 9, 1963.
 * An annular solar eclipse on January 25, 1963.
 * A partial lunar eclipse on July 6, 1963.
 * A total solar eclipse on July 20, 1963.
 * A total lunar eclipse on December 30, 1963.

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