When

So just when do eclipses occur? Why don't we see them more often? Exactly when did that solar eclipse that my grandmother remembers happen? And, more to the point, when will I next see an eclipse in my part of the world?

The following pages answer all these questions and more:

	Solar Eclipse List A summary of recent and future solar eclipses until 2020, with links to full details on each significant eclipse; and special sections on total eclipses of the Sun in the UK and USA in this century.
	Lunar Eclipse List A summary of recent and future lunar eclipses until 2020, with links to full details on each significant eclipse.
	Eclipse Statistics A collection of interesting eclipse statistics. Just how often do total eclipses of the Sun occur? How often do we get 2 in a year? And more...
	Eclipse Search A searchable database of 5,000 years of eclipses. Look for an eclipse by type, duration, or magnitude; on specific days (will you ever see one on your birthday?); or for years with a number of eclipses.
	What's The Time? All eclipse times in these pages are given in Universal Time (UT). This page contains some information on UT, if you're interested.

The Next 5 Significant Eclipses

This list here shows the next 5 total and annular solar eclipses, and total and partial lunar eclipses. This is a quick reference for you to see what major events are coming up; but note that the lunar and solar eclipse lists show all eclipses up to 2020.

3 Nov 2013 - Hybrid Solar Eclipse

(Saros 143, umbral mag. 1.016, max. eclipse 12:46 UT
    annular/total: 11:05:17 UT to 14:27:42 UT)
The path starts in the Atlantic east of Florida, moves southward as it travels east, and crosses central Africa.

The maximum duration is 1 minute 40 seconds, and the path width at maximum is 58 kilometers.

15 Apr 2014 - Total Lunar Eclipse

(Saros 122, umbral mag. 1.296, max. eclipse 07:46 UT
    total: 07:06:21 UT to 08:24:59 UT)
A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible from the Americas, with the end of the total eclipse being visible from eastern Australia.

29 Apr 2014 - Annular Solar Eclipse

(Saros 148, umbral mag. 0.984, max. eclipse 06:03 UT
    annular: 05:57:50 UT to 06:09:20 UT)
The eclipse is visible as annular only from a tiny area in Antarctica. A partial eclipse will be seen over most of Australia.

8 Oct 2014 - Total Lunar Eclipse

(Saros 127, umbral mag. 1.172, max. eclipse 10:55 UT
    total: 10:24:33 UT to 11:24:30 UT)
A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible from east Asia and North America, with the beginning of the total eclipse being visible from most of South America.

20 Mar 2015 - Total Solar Eclipse

(Saros 120, umbral mag. 1.045, max. eclipse 09:46 UT
    total: 09:09:32 UT to 10:21:20 UT)
A total eclipse will be visible in the vicinity of the British Isles in the morning; it will be visible from the Faroes, but not from the UK. The path crosses between Scotland and Iceland, over the Faroe islands, and into the Arctic. A 90% partial eclipse will be seen in north-west Scotland.

This is from the same Saros series as the eclipse of Jan 24 1925, and is the last-but-one total eclipse in its Saros series. The next eclipse in the triple-Saros series is a partial eclipse, on Apr 21, 2069.

But When Will I See One?

Quick answer:

• If you live in the UK, check out the UK Solar Eclipses page.

• If you live in the USA, check out the USA eclipse bonanza page.

• In any case, use the lunar and solar eclipse lists and look for an eclipse that covers your part of the Earth.

One question that comes up often is: how often is an eclipse visible from a certain part of the Earth? The answer is different for different types of eclipse:

Solar Eclipses

It would be easy to say that eclipses happen "at random", but that's not true, of course. Basically, the set of circumstances that lead to an eclipse is really complex. It's totally deterministic, in that it depends on the motions of the Earth and Moon, which are known precisely and which are totally predictable. That's why we can predict eclipses so far in advance. But it's so complex that the distribution of eclipses is effectively "random" -- ie. they're scattered all over the Earth with no easily discernable pattern.

This means that two total solar eclipses can appear in the same place in one year, or a within few years -- or a given location may go thousands of years without seeing one. The average time between total solar eclipses in a given place is something like 360 years, but it's so variable that that doesn't really help much.

Check out my solar eclipse listing for a list and maps of solar eclipses, and you'll see how they're popping up all over the place. The listing of UK eclipses on that page should give you an idea of what kind of a lottery it is for any given place. If you're interested, you can go on to read about the mechanics behind this.

Lunar Eclipses

Lunar eclipses are different; since they occur on the Moon, any location on Earth that can see the Moon at the time can see the eclipse. This means that your chance of seeing a particular lunar eclipse is about 50-50. It's more complex than that, a little, because the Earth turns during the eclipse, but that's not far off.

You can check out my lunar eclipse listing for maps showing where on Earth lunar eclipses can be seen from. You can read about how lunar eclipses work if you're still confused.

And finally, my statistics page shows you how often particular types of eclipse occur.