How to use the eclipse finder
Choose your city or press Use my location. The result panel shows the next eclipse anywhere in the world and the next one you can actually see from your place. Below, each eclipse in the selected years has a card with its type, the time of greatest eclipse in your local time and in UTC, and a drawing of how it looks at maximum.
- For a solar eclipse, you see whether the Moon covers part of the Sun from your place, the local start, maximum and end, how much of the Sun is hidden, and, for central eclipses, the countries on the path of totality or annularity.
- For a lunar eclipse, a table lists every stage (penumbral, partial and total phases) with local times and whether the Moon is above your horizon.
Use the filter to show only solar or only lunar eclipses.
Why eclipses do not happen every month
The Moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5° to the Earth’s orbit, so at most new and full moons the Moon passes above or below the Sun–Earth line. Eclipses happen only when a new or full moon falls near one of the two points where the orbits cross. These eclipse seasons come about every six months, which is why there are usually four or five eclipses a year, solar and lunar together.
Related tools
Eclipses follow the lunar cycle: see the Moon phases for every new and full moon, and moonrise and moonset times to plan where to watch a lunar eclipse. For the planets visible on any night, open the sky tonight.