When is the next eclipse?

The solar eclipse of 6 Feb 2027, 15:59 UTC is annular. At greatest eclipse the Moon covers about 86 % of the Sun's area and leaves a bright ring. The lunar eclipse of 20 Feb 2027 has the Moon in Virgo. Every time on this page is calculated in UTC, and your own zone is shown beside it once the page loads. Read the sections below for what each type means and how the dates are grouped.

An eclipse needs the Sun, the Earth and the Moon to fall close to one straight line. Most months the Moon passes a little above or below the Sun's path across the sky, so no eclipse happens. The Moon's orbit is tilted against that path, and the tilt is the reason eclipses are occasional rather than monthly.

The places where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's apparent path are called nodes. Read the ecliptic entry for the plain meaning of that path. An eclipse becomes possible only when the Sun is close to a node, and the Moon arrives there at the right phase.

A solar eclipse happens at new Moon, when the Moon slides between the Earth and the Sun. A lunar eclipse happens at full Moon, when the Earth's shadow falls across the Moon. The calculated moment is the same for every reader, and the list gives it in UTC to the minute.

Because the Sun, Moon and Earth keep moving, the timing of each eclipse comes from a calculation rather than a rule of thumb. The ephemeris is the table of body positions that a calculation like this draws on. Use it when you want the exact placement of the Sun or Moon on a given day.

Each row of the list gives the instant, the kind, the type and the sign the Sun or Moon occupies at that moment. The sign is a stretch of the zodiac, not a separate event. Read the times first, then the labels, and the rest of the table will follow.

The list below runs through 2036 and gives every eclipse from 19 Oct 2026 onward, in date order. Each entry carries its kind, its type, its calculated time in UTC and the sign the Sun or Moon occupies at that moment. Use the list when you want the whole run of dates instead of only the next one. The entries describe the sky at a moment. They do not describe what a given week or a given person will hold.

Eclipses come in a few types, and the type depends on how much of the disc is covered and which shadow does the covering. A total solar eclipse covers the whole disc of the Sun for a short stretch. An annular eclipse leaves a bright ring at the edge, because the Moon looks slightly smaller than the Sun at that distance. A partial solar eclipse covers only part of the disc, and the rest stays bright. A hybrid eclipse shifts between annular and total along its path.

The type on each row is the label from the calculation. This calculation does not label hybrid eclipses separately; a hybrid appears in the table as total or annular. The solar eclipse of 6 Feb 2027, 15:59 UTC is annular. At greatest eclipse the Moon covers about 86 % of the Sun's area and leaves a bright ring. Obscuration is the fraction of the Sun's area covered at the greatest point. A total eclipse covers all of it. The cover sentence above says what the calculation gives for the eclipse of 6 Feb 2027, 15:59 UTC.

The greatest-eclipse point of the 6 Feb 2027 solar eclipse is at 31.3° S, 48.5° W. That point is where the centre of the shadow passes closest to the middle of the Earth.

A partial solar eclipse is recorded by its time alone when the calculation gives no greatest point. Those rows still belong to the list, and they still have a calculated moment in UTC.

Lunar eclipses follow the same logic at full Moon, but the shadow is the Earth's. A total lunar eclipse carries the Moon fully into the umbra, the dark core of the shadow. A partial lunar eclipse covers only part of the Moon. A penumbral lunar eclipse passes the Moon through the outer, lighter part of the shadow, and the dimming is subtle. The lunar eclipse of 20 Feb 2027 is penumbral.

The penumbral part of a lunar eclipse has its own contact times, which this page gives as clock times in UTC. For the lunar eclipse of 20 Feb 2027, the penumbral phase runs from 20 Feb 2027, 21:11 UTC to 21 Feb 2027, 01:13 UTC. Those times matter more than the label, because the change in light is gradual and easy to miss at the start.

The type is a label from the same calculation that gives the time. Use the type to understand what you are looking for, and the time to decide when to look.

The total lunar eclipse of 31 Dec 2028, 16:51 UTC falls in Cancer. This is the eclipse people call a blood moon. The Moon turns a dull red or copper colour while it sits inside the umbra, and the shade shifts from one eclipse to the next.

The reddish light is sunlight that has bent through Earth's atmosphere on its way to the Moon.

The calculated totality lasts 72 minutes. Totality starts at 31 Dec 2028, 16:15 UTC and ends at 31 Dec 2028, 17:28 UTC. The partial phase opens earlier, at 31 Dec 2028, 15:07 UTC, and the penumbral phase opens earliest, at 31 Dec 2028, 14:03 UTC.

The clock times give the full arc of the event. The penumbral phase is the faint outer shading. The partial phase is the bite into the bright disc. Totality is the stretch when the whole Moon sits in the umbra. Read the times as a single run, not as separate events.

Because the name comes from colour, the colour is the part that varies most. A calm way to approach it is to look at the Moon for the whole span and notice the change, rather than to expect a particular shade.

The eclipse seasons are grouped in the numbered list the way the sky groups them. A season is a short stretch of the year in which the Sun comes close enough to the Moon's crossing point for an eclipse to happen. Some seasons hold more than one eclipse, and each item in the list names the eclipses inside its span of dates.

The first group listed runs 6 Feb 2027 – 20 Feb 2027, with an annular solar eclipse and a penumbral lunar eclipse. Any later groups follow the same logic, each with its own span of dates and its own signs.

The grouping is a convenience of the list. Each item gives a span of dates and names the eclipses inside it. A span of dates is never an event on its own, and the exact moment of each upcoming eclipse is in the tables above, in UTC. A season already under way also names its earlier eclipse.

Each eclipse named in an item carries a type, a kind and a sign. The sign tells you where the Sun or Moon sits in the zodiac at that moment, and the zodiac dates page shows when each sign begins.

Read an item the way you would read a short line. Take each eclipse in turn, check its type, and then see how they sit beside each other.

Start with the time. Every moment on this page is in UTC, so convert it to your own clock before you plan anything. The solar eclipse of 6 Feb 2027, 15:59 UTC and the total lunar eclipse of 31 Dec 2028, 16:51 UTC are the two dates to plan around.

Choose a place with a clear, open view of the sky, and check the weather a day ahead. A kitchen table by a window, a flat roof or a quiet walk can all work when the sky is open where you stand.

Use only a solar filter made for eclipse viewing whenever you look at the Sun.

A lunar eclipse needs no filter. The Moon is safe to look at with the naked eye, with binoculars or with a telescope, and the dimming can be followed over a few hours.

Plan your viewing around the contact times. For the total lunar eclipse of 31 Dec 2028, 16:51 UTC, totality runs from 31 Dec 2028, 16:15 UTC to 31 Dec 2028, 17:28 UTC. The partial phases frame it on either side.

For a total solar eclipse, the darkening comes on quickly and the light changes across the ground. Watch the shadows, the colour of the sky near the horizon, and the air, which often cools. Notice these things with your own senses rather than through a camera.

Watch with someone else if you can. A shared count of minutes makes a long wait feel shorter, and it gives you someone to compare notes with afterwards.

Bring a warm layer, a chair and a notebook. Write down the time when the colour changes, when the light shifts and when the stage ends, because your memory of the minutes will blur.

The lunation cycle explains why a full Moon comes round again each month, which is useful background for the lunar eclipse dates. The exact moments on this page come from the calculation, so use the lunation idea for the general rhythm and the listed times for the plan.