How to use it
- Type the first and the last year of the range, or leave both empty to see this year and the next.
- Read the solar table: each row is a solar eclipse, its greatest moment and where on Earth that moment happens (latitude and longitude).
- Read the lunar table: its durations show the whole eclipse, the partial phase and the totality.
- Tick Show times in UTC if you want Universal Time.
How the eclipses are found
A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth at a new moon. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon at a full moon. The calculator searches for every new and full moon near a node of the Moon's orbit, and keeps the eclipses whose greatest moment falls in your range.
The times are the moments of greatest eclipse, computed by astronomy-engine (MIT), and they agree with NASA's eclipse catalogue to within about fifteen seconds in the checks made for this page.
The types
A total solar eclipse covers the Sun completely at the point of greatest eclipse. An annular eclipse leaves a bright ring because the Moon is too far away to cover the Sun. A hybrid eclipse is annular in one part of its path and total in another. A partial eclipse covers only part of the Sun everywhere.
A lunar eclipse is total when the whole Moon enters the Earth's umbra, partial when only part does, and penumbral when the Moon passes only through the fainter outer shadow, which is hard to see.
What this calendar does not include
- Whether an eclipse is visible from your own town. Use a local calculator for that; the times here are the same everywhere.
- The magnitude and the exact path of each shadow on the ground.
Worked example: the eclipses of 2026 and 2027
The annular solar eclipse of 17 February 2026 has its greatest moment at 12:11 UT, at about 65° south latitude over Antarctica. The total solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 peaks at 17:45 UT over the Arctic and Spain.
The total lunar eclipse of 3 March 2026 peaks at 11:33 UT. Its totality lasts 59 minutes, and its partial phase 3 hours 28 minutes. The partial lunar eclipse of 28 August 2026 is smaller: its partial phase lasts about 3 hours 19 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why are there two solar eclipses in some years and up to five in others?
The Moon's orbit crosses the Earth's orbital plane twice a month, but the crossings line up with the Sun only in eclipse seasons. A year has at least two solar eclipses and at most five, and lunar eclipses come in the same seasons.
Is it safe to look at a solar eclipse?
Not without eye protection, except during the total phase of a total eclipse. Use eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard, or a solar filter; ordinary sunglasses are not enough.
Why do the solar eclipses show a latitude and a longitude?
They show where the greatest eclipse happens on Earth. A partial solar eclipse has no single central point, so its row shows no coordinates.
Why does a lunar eclipse last longer than a solar one?
The Earth's shadow is much larger than the Moon's, so the Moon takes hours to cross it. A solar eclipse is only seen along a narrow path where the Moon's shadow lands, and its totality lasts minutes.
Are the times exact?
The times are the moments of greatest eclipse computed by astronomy-engine. In the checks made for this page they agree with NASA's catalogue to within about fifteen seconds.
Sources
- NASA eclipse catalogue, eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov: the solar and lunar eclipse decade pages used to check the times
- NASA lunar eclipse decade pages, for the lunar eclipses and their durations
- astronomy-engine, the open-source astronomy library (MIT) that computes the eclipses
Figures and text last checked on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.