Skyfold Local Eclipse Circumstances

Solar and lunar eclipses 2020–2040 as seen from your place, with contact times.

Try an example: Burgos, Spain: the 2026–2028 eclipses · Dallas: the total eclipse of 8 April 2024

How it works

For a place, lists every solar and lunar eclipse from 2020 to 2040 with what you will see: partial, annular or total, contact times C1–C4, magnitude, obscuration, duration and the Sun or Moon altitude, computed from NASA Besselian elements.

Solar eclipses: NASA/Espenak polynomial Besselian elements (VSOP87/ELP2000-85) with the classical local-circumstances iteration (Explanatory Supplement 1961; Meeus, Elements of Solar Eclipses): maximum where the shadow axis passes closest, contacts where the distance equals the penumbral (C1, C4) or umbral (C2, C3) radius.
Magnitude = (L1 − m)/(L1 + L2); obscuration is the covered fraction of the solar disc area from circle overlap.
Lunar eclipses: contact times from Espenak’s Five Millennium Catalog (greatest eclipse ± half the phase durations) and the Moon’s altitude from the Skyfold ephemeris.
Times are converted from TD to UT with the ΔT used by NASA for each eclipse.

Contact times agree with NASA’s published city tables to within a minute; mountains, the lunar limb profile and local weather are not included. Never look at the Sun without certified eclipse glasses, except during totality.

Sources

Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Elements of Solar Eclipses 1951–2200 (Meeus 1989) (Willmann-Bell)

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How to use Skyfold Local Eclipse Circumstances

List every solar and lunar eclipse from 2020 to 2040 for your place with what you will see, contact times, magnitude, obscuration and Sun or Moon altitude.

What it is for

Eclipse maps show where an eclipse happens on Earth. This tool answers the next question: what will I see here? For a place it goes through every solar and lunar eclipse from 2020 to 2040 and computes the local circumstances — partial, annular or total, the contact times, how much of the Sun is covered and how high the Sun or Moon stands.

Solar eclipses are calculated from NASA's Besselian elements by Fred Espenak; lunar eclipse contacts come from NASA's catalogue and are combined with the Moon's altitude at your place. The same engine runs the Eclipses tab of the Skyfold app.

Worked example

Take Burgos in Spain: 42.3439, -3.6969, elevation 860 m, time zone Europe/Madrid, years 2026 to 2028, both kinds, only visible eclipses. The summary reports 8 eclipses between 2026 and 2028.

The first solar row is the big one: on 2026-08-12 the global type is total and you see total. The eclipse begins at 19:33:21, reaches maximum at 20:29:16 and ends at 21:21:42 local time, with magnitude 1.0134, 100 % obscuration and 104 s of totality. The Sun stands only 8.2° high at maximum, so a clear western horizon matters.

The next two rows show why the global type is not what you see: the total eclipse of 2027-08-02 is only partial in Burgos (magnitude 0.8153, 78.2 % of the Sun covered, Sun at 39.5°), and the annular eclipse of 2028-01-26 is partial as well, with the Sun at 3.4° near sunset.

The lunar table lists five eclipses, among them the partial one of 2026-08-28 (umbral magnitude 0.9299, greatest at 06:13 with the Moon 14.3° high) and the total lunar eclipse of 2028-12-31 at 17:52, when the Moon is just rising.

For comparison, Dallas on 8 April 2024 gives a total eclipse with totality from 13:40:41 to 13:44:32 — NASA's city table lists 13:40 and 13:44.

How to read the result

Global type is the eclipse's type somewhere on Earth; You see is the type at your place.
Magnitude is the fraction of the Sun's diameter covered (above 1 = total); Obscuration (%) is the covered fraction of its area, closer to what you perceive as darkening.
Begins, Maximum and Ends are the first contact, greatest eclipse and last contact in local time; totality or annularity length is in seconds.
Sun altitude at max tells you whether trees or buildings may block the view.
For lunar eclipses, Any part visible is yes when at least one contact happens with the Moon above the horizon; a negative altitude at greatest eclipse means you only catch the beginning or end.

Tips and common mistakes

Enter precise coordinates near the edge of a path: a few hundred metres can decide between total and partial.
Elevation matters little for timing but helps at high mountain sites.
Switch off "only visible" to see every eclipse, including those on the other side of the globe.
Use the Skyfold app to add an eclipse to a calendar with a reminder.

FAQ

How accurate are the contact times?

They agree with NASA's published local circumstances to within about a minute. The Moon's mountainous edge and local terrain can shift the second and third contacts by a few seconds.

Why only 2020 to 2040?

The tool ships NASA's Besselian elements and lunar catalogue entries for those years. That keeps it fast and fully offline-capable.

Is it safe to look at a partial eclipse?

Only through certified eclipse glasses (ISO 12312-2). Without them you risk permanent eye damage; only the brief total phase is safe to watch with the naked eye.

Guide last updated: November 7, 2026

For scripts and AI agents

JSON API: POST https://skyfoldeclipselocal.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate (same calculation as this page)
Interface description: OpenAPI 3.1 · AI guide: llms.txt
MCP server (Streamable HTTP): https://skyfoldeclipselocal.usefulweb.app/mcp · tool name skyfold_eclipse_local

Example request

curl -s -X POST https://skyfoldeclipselocal.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"location":"42.3439, -3.6969","elevation":860,"timeZone":"Europe/Madrid","fromYear":2026,"toYear":2028,"kind":"both","visibleOnly":true}'

Feedback · ideas & bug reports welcome