Solar eclipse of November 22, 1900

An annular solar eclipse occurred on November 22, 1900. 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. At the time, it was claimed by Ira D. Hicks that the conjunction would "greatly increase atmospheric, electrical and seismic perturbations during the reactionary period, 21st to 23d". Viewers in Australia were advised to view the Sun through smoked glass, "prepared by holding it over the flame of an ordinary wax candle or vesta". It was expected to be "of little importance to astronomers for scientific purposes, excepting in showing how accurately such events may now be predicted".

This eclipse's path traveled east, beginning in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of southern Africa, traversing the continent, and passing through the Indian Ocean before terminating in Australia, in northeast Queensland. Outside the center of its path, the section of the Earth from which it was visible included locations in Africa such as the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Pretoria, and the south end of Madagascar. On the eastern portion of the path, it passed over the southern portion of the Philippine islands.

It appeared in some form over all of Australia, although only partially visible in most of it. It entered near Shark Bay and was partially visible in Adelaide. It was observed clearly from Melbourne, where it was seen "under favorable conditions, the sky being cloudless". Elsewhere in Australia, newspapers reported that it was seen from Rydal and Murrumburrah in New South Wales. An observer in Perth said that it was "distinctly visible", as "the sky was quite clear owing to the dimness of the sun's light. Persons out of doors could not fail to notice the eclipse." The Government Astronomer, W. E. Cooke, said that "in the streets it was observed by numbers of people with the aid of a piece of smoked or neutral tinted glass, and at the Observatory the exact times of commencement and finish were noted with the aid of the large equatorial".