Solar and lunar eclipses, October 2026 to October 2028
The next eclipse is an annular solar eclipse on 6 February 2027, greatest at 15:59 GMT. Every instant below is computed from the real positions of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth's shadow, and given in UK local time.
When it happens
| Greatest eclipse (UK time) | Kind | Where it is seen |
|---|---|---|
| Annular solar 86% of the Sun covered at greatest eclipse |
Greatest eclipse at 31.3° S, 48.5° W. Not visible from the UK. | |
| Penumbral lunar the Moon crosses only the outer shadow and dims slightly |
Visible from the UK throughout: the Moon is 46° above the horizon at the deepest point. | |
| Penumbral lunar the Moon crosses only the outer shadow and dims slightly |
Not visible from the UK: the Moon is below the horizon throughout. | |
| Total solar the Sun fully covered along the central track |
Greatest eclipse at 25.5° N, 33.2° E. From London, a partial eclipse covering 42% of the Sun at 10:00 BST, from 09:03 BST to 10:59 BST. | |
| Penumbral lunar the Moon crosses only the outer shadow and dims slightly |
Not visible from the UK: the Moon is below the horizon throughout. | |
| Partial lunar 3% of the Moon enters the umbra |
Visible from the UK throughout: the Moon is 35° above the horizon at the deepest point. | |
| Annular solar 85% of the Sun covered at greatest eclipse |
Greatest eclipse at 3.0° N, 51.5° W. From London, a partial eclipse low in the west from 15:35 GMT; the Sun sets before the deepest point. | |
| Partial lunar 33% of the Moon enters the umbra |
Not visible from the UK: the Moon is below the horizon throughout. | |
| Total solar the Sun fully covered along the central track |
Greatest eclipse at 15.6° S, 126.7° E. Not visible from the UK. |
Two years on one line, drawn from the same computed instants as the table. Eclipses come in pairs a fortnight apart, in two seasons a year.
What is actually happening
A solar eclipse is the Moon's shadow falling on the Earth: the new moon passes exactly between us and the Sun and, for anyone under the shadow, covers it. A lunar eclipse is the Earth's shadow falling on the Moon: the full moon passes through it and darkens, often to a deep red, lit only by sunlight bent round through our atmosphere. Both are geometry, and both can be computed decades ahead to the minute.
They are rarer than full and new moons because the Moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees to the Earth's, so most months the shadows miss. Only when a new or full moon falls near one of the two points where the orbits cross do they land, which is why eclipses come in seasons: two a year, about six months apart, each usually holding one solar and one lunar eclipse a fortnight apart.
The two kinds are seen very differently. A lunar eclipse is visible from the whole night side of the Earth at once, so about half the planet sees each one. A solar eclipse is a shadow a few hundred kilometres across sweeping over the surface: totality is seen only from the track it traces, and a partial eclipse from a wider region either side. The coordinates above are where the axis of the Moon's shadow meets the ground at greatest eclipse — the middle of that track — for the eclipses that have one.
Greatest eclipse is the instant the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to the centre of the Earth, for a solar eclipse, or the Moon passes deepest into the Earth's shadow, for a lunar one. Like any instant it is the same everywhere; the times above are that instant in UK clock time.
Total, annular and partial say how much of the Sun the Moon covers from the best-placed spot: all of it; all but a bright ring, when the Moon is far enough away in its orbit to look smaller than the Sun; or only part. For the Moon, total and partial say how much of it enters the Earth's dark inner shadow, the umbra; penumbral names the eclipses in which it crosses only the pale outer shadow and dims so little that most people would not notice.
From the UK
The right-hand column is computed for London, which stands for the whole country to within a few degrees of altitude. For a solar eclipse it gives how much of the Sun's disc is covered from there and when; for a lunar one, whether the Moon is above the horizon through the darkest phase. Of the 9 eclipses in the next two years, 2 solar and 2 lunar can be seen at least in part from the UK. The ones it misses are still in the table, because the instant is the same everywhere and the question people ask is when.
Why we compute this
Eondra is a daily timing brief. An eclipse within a fortnight appears in it as a flag — the kind, the date and its degree — and moves nothing in the number. The number is built from aspects, and an eclipse is a fact with a date attached, not a score.
The same engine publishes full moon and new moon dates for the year ahead, with the eclipses flagged among them, and Mercury retrograde dates.