Annular solar eclipse of Wednesday, May 21, 2031

The numbers

Every figure here is published by Fred Espenak (NASA GSFC) for this specific eclipse — none of it is estimated by us. Times are Universal Time.

Greatest eclipse falls at 8.9°N, 71.7°E, where the Moon's shadow is 152.2 km wide and the Sun stands 78.7° above the horizon.

Provenance: NASA's decade table lists greatest eclipse at 07:16:04 TD. Terrestrial Dynamical Time runs ΔT = 77.6s ahead of Universal Time for this eclipse, giving the published instant of 07:14:46.5 UT — the value above. We quote UT, because UT is the time your clock keeps.

Where it lands

The central path — the only ground from which the ring of fire is visible — crosses:

Outside that band a partial eclipse is visible across a far wider area — NASA's canon records the region as “Africa, s Asia, E. Indies, Australia”.

The path is narrow and its edges matter: a few kilometres outside it means a deep partial instead of the real thing. For exact local contact times and the precise path edge, NASA's map for this eclipse is the authority.

What major cities see

“Sun up” is computed for each city at the instant of greatest eclipse — an eclipse below your horizon is no eclipse at all. For your own city: every city's eclipse page.

Watching it safely

The Sun is never safe to look at directly, and a partially eclipsed Sun is no safer than an ordinary one — there is simply less light to warn your eye with. An annular eclipse is never safe to view unfiltered at any moment: even at maximum, the ring of fire is raw photosphere. Use eclipse glasses certified to ISO 12312-2, or project the Sun onto card.

Next, and nearby