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 1.25 days before perigee (on March 10, 2016, at 7:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

[7] The eclipse was clearly visible in many parts of Indonesia, including Central Sulawesi and Ternate, but obscured by clouds and smokes in Palembang, the largest city on the path of totality.

[8][9] The eclipse coincided with Nyepi, a public holiday in Indonesia and the end of the Balinese saka calendar.

It was total in multiple islands of Indonesia, three atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia (Eauripik, Woleai and Ifalik) and the central Pacific, starting at sunrise over Sumatra and ending at sunset north of Hawaii.

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events.

[16] The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles.

Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee).