Next solar eclipse: When and where to watch the celestial event

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If footage of the dazzling “ring of fire” that danced across the South American sky on Wednesday sparked eclipse fever, skygazers won’t have to wait long to see more celestial sights next year.

Although there won’t be another “Ring of Fire” event until 2026, the chances of watching the Moon obscure part of the Sun’s surface are just around the corner.

An annular solar eclipse, like the one that just occurred, occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. The silvery orb is located near or at the farthest point in its orbit from our planet, so it cannot completely block the Sun as it does during a total solar eclipse. But the alignment allows the moon to block most of the sun’s rays, creating a stunning “ring of fire” effect.

Two partial Solar eclipse It will happen in 2025. A Partial solar eclipse It occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth without being perfectly aligned, causing the Moon to partially obscure the Sun and form a crescent shape.

The first partial solar eclipse of 2025, on March 29, will be visible from a slice of the northeastern United States and Canada, as well as Greenland, Iceland, parts of Europe, and northwest Africa.

A second partial solar eclipse will occur six months later, on September 21, but only a few lucky countries across Oceania – including New Zealand, Fiji and a small part of Australia – and Antarctica will be able to see the partial solar eclipse. scene.

Another annular solar eclipse will arrive on February 17, 2026. The full display will only be visible from Antarctica, but the partial eclipse will still be visible outside the main path from South Africa and South America. According to NASA.

Finally, a total solar eclipse — like the one that attracted millions of spectators across North America last April — will grace the sky again on August 12, 2026. A total solar eclipse is very different from a partial eclipse or a ring of fire. The event, where the moon completely covers the sun, casting a shadow over a wide area of ​​Earth in darkness for minutes at a time.

the The path of totalitarianism The partial eclipse will pass over Greenland, Iceland, Russia, Spain, and a small part of Portugal, while the partial eclipse will be visible in parts of Europe, Africa, and North America.

To view any of these solar eclipse events, be sure to use certified eclipse glasses or a portable solar viewer to protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful rays and observe the event safely. If you don’t have those, You can use a telescope, binoculars, or camera that has a special solar filter on the front, which works in the same way as eclipse glasses.

But don’t look through any optical device — a camera lens, telescope, or binoculars — while wearing eclipse glasses or using a portable solar viewer, according to NASA. Solar rays can still burn through the filter on the glasses or viewer, given how focused they are by an optical device, and can cause serious eye damage.

For backpackers eager to see more of the action, here are the dates for the next total solar eclipse and where their paths will cross:

July 22, 2028: Australia and New Zealand

November 25, 2030: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Australia

March 20, 2034: Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China

September 2, 2035: China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan

July 13, 2037: Australia and New Zealand

December 26, 2038: Australia and New Zealand

April 30, 2041: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia

April 20, 2042: Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines

April 9, 2043: Russia