There will be an eclipse of the Sun on Saturday, the 25th inst., the greatest visible in the United States for nearly eight years, or since September 18th 1838. The eclipse will begin at Portsmouth (Market Square) at 18 minutes past 11 A. M.—Portsmouth moan time. The greatest obscuration will be at 36 min. past 12, and end at 50 min. past 1, P. M. Duration 2 hours 32 min.—Digits eclipsed 6 1/2 on the Sun’s southern limb.
The moon’s penumbral shadow will first strike the earth in the South Pacific Ocean, between the Marquesas and Galapagos Islands, at 19 minutes past 9, A. M. At this place the Sun will be just rising, with its upper limb apparently in contact with the moon’s lower limb. The eclipse will first be central and annular at 20 min. past 10 A. M. north of the Marquesas, near the equator. The central line will pass in a north easterly direction through the Pacific, and at 34 min. past 10, the eclipse will begin to be total. From the Pacific the central line will cross Guatimala, the Carribbean Sea, the island of Cuba, and into the Atlantic. At 13 min. past 12, the eclipse will be central and total on the Meridian, near the Bahamas.
The total eclipse will end at 37 min. past 1, east of the Bermudas and south of the Azores, when it will again become annular.
The central line will pass into the north of Africa and terminate in the Great Desert, Sahara, where the annular phase will end at 55 min. past 1, P. M.—The northern limits of the eclipse’s visibility will be on a line passing through the northern part of Oregon Territory, British America, the southern part of Greenland, through Iceland, into the northwest part of Europe.
The Southern limits will be on a line crossing through Peru, Amazonia, and Brazil in South America, and entering the Atlantic near the mouth of the Amazon,—The eclipse will end on the earth, at 55 min. past 2 P. M. a little north of the Cape Verde islands—Here the Sun will be setting, and the moon’s disc passing off from its upper limb. A. M. H.
The New Hampshire Gazette, Portsmouth, NH, April 21, 1846