Eclipses in 2027: All Five Dates and What You Can Actually See
2027 has five eclipses: two solar and three lunar. That sounds like a rich year and in one sense it is, because 2 August carries a total solar eclipse with more than six minutes of totality. It is also a year where most of the headlines will be written for people who cannot see the thing being described, so it is worth separating what is genuinely remarkable from what is filler.
Here are all five, what each one actually is, and where you would have to stand.
The five dates
Date |
Type |
Where |
|---|---|---|
6 February |
Annular solar |
South America, West Africa |
20 February |
Penumbral lunar |
Wide, but very faint |
18 July |
Penumbral lunar |
Wide, but very faint |
2 August |
Total solar |
Spain, North Africa, Arabian peninsula |
17 August |
Penumbral lunar |
Wide, but very faint |
Every one of those dates falls on a new moon or a full moon, which is not a coincidence but the whole mechanism. Solar eclipses need the moon between earth and sun, so they land on new moons. Lunar eclipses need the earth between sun and moon, so they land on full moons. You can check them against the full list in our 2027 moon phase guide.
2 August: the one that matters
2027 moon calendars for the sky-minded
The moon's shadow makes landfall in southern Spain, crosses Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, then continues over Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. Near Luxor, in the Nile valley, totality lasts about six minutes and twenty-three seconds.
Why that number is unusual
Most total eclipses give you two to three minutes. Six minutes is close to the physical maximum, and it happens because the eclipse falls near aphelion, when the sun appears smallest, while the moon is near perigee and appears largest. It is not the longest totality of this century, which was six minutes and thirty-nine seconds in July 2009. It is, however, the longest available on easily reached land until 2114, which is the figure worth remembering.
The honest caveat for North American readers
You will not see it. Not partially, not at sunrise, not at all. If you want this eclipse you travel, and the usual advice is that Spain is far simpler than Egypt while Libya and western Egypt have the clearest August skies on record. Anyone who tells you to prepare a ritual for the 2027 totality from a US back garden is describing something that will not be in the sky.
6 February: the annular
An annular eclipse happens when the moon is too far away to cover the sun completely, so a ring of light remains around the edge. The 6 February path crosses South America, including parts of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, then the South Atlantic and West Africa. It is a real spectacle for anyone on the path and a partial for a much wider area of South America and Africa.
Because it sits on a new moon, it is also the strongest new moon of the early year for anyone who weights eclipses in their practice. Our guide to new moon work applies, with the caveat below about intensity.
The three penumbral lunar eclipses
20 February, 18 July and 17 August. In a penumbral eclipse the moon passes only through the earth's faint outer shadow. There is no red moon, no bite taken out of the disc, just a slight grey dulling across part of the face that many observers cannot detect without a photograph taken an hour apart.
They are still eclipses and they still mark the lunar nodes, which is what matters if you work astrologically. But if a post promises you three blood moons in 2027, it is wrong. Our lunar eclipse ritual guide is written mainly for total eclipses; for a penumbral, scale the expectation down and treat it as an intensified full moon rather than an event.
Why eclipses come in pairs
Notice how the dates cluster: 6 and 20 February, then 18 July, 2 August and 17 August. Eclipses arrive in seasons roughly six months apart, because they can only happen when the new or full moon falls near one of the two points where the moon's tilted orbit crosses the plane of the earth's path. Those crossing points are the lunar nodes. When a node lines up with the sun, you get a run of two or three eclipses inside a month, then nothing for half a year. 2027 has two such windows, February and the July to August stretch, and the August window is crowded enough to hold three of the five.
What to do with an eclipse you cannot see
This is the practical question for most readers in 2027, and there are two honest answers.
Treat it as a date, not a sight
An eclipse marks a node crossing whether or not you have clear sky or the right continent. If your practice tracks the nodes, the date does the work and the view is a bonus. Mark 2 August and 6 February and move on.
Do not inflate it
Eclipse content online tends toward the apocalyptic because it performs well. A penumbral lunar eclipse is a technicality, and a total solar eclipse on another continent is somebody else's weather. Some traditions deliberately do no work during an eclipse at all, treating the interruption as a time to stop rather than to push.
For the sky-minded rather than the altar-minded
A fair number of people arrive at the moon through astronomy and stay for the aesthetics. Two of the 2027 printable calendars are drawn for exactly that reader. Arcane Lunar Observatory renders the lunar year as antique observatory instruments, brass and glass and engraved scales. Midnight Moderne takes the same astronomy and sets it in 1920s Art Deco geometry, which suits a room where a pentacle would look out of place. Both are instant downloads, so you print at the size the wall needs.
If you want the fuller picture of how the sky and the practice fit together, our guide to witchcraft and your birth chart covers the astrological frame, and moon worship through history covers the older one.
Drawn like an old observatory
Frequently Asked Questions About the 2027 Eclipses
How many eclipses are there in 2027?
Five. Two solar, an annular on 6 February and a total on 2 August, and three penumbral lunar eclipses on 20 February, 18 July and 17 August.
How long is totality during the 2 August 2027 eclipse?
About six minutes and twenty-three seconds at the point of greatest duration, near Luxor in Egypt. That is the longest totality available on easily accessible land until 2114, although not the longest of the century.
Can I see the 2027 total solar eclipse from the United States?
No. The path runs across southern Spain, North Africa and the Arabian peninsula. Seeing it requires travel.
Will there be a blood moon in 2027?
No. All three lunar eclipses in 2027 are penumbral, meaning the moon only enters the faint outer shadow and dims slightly. A red moon requires a total lunar eclipse, and there is not one in 2027.
One extraordinary eclipse, one good one, and three that are mostly a matter of record. That is an honest 2027, and it is still a better year than most.
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