Annular solar eclipse of 21 May 2031
The Moon covers the Sun completely along a band 149 km wide, reaching 5 minutes 19 seconds of annularity where the eclipse is greatest. Of the 3,116 cities searched, 1176 see the Sun at least partly covered and 30 sit inside the path itself.
- Greatest duration
- 5 min 19 s
- Path width
- 149 km
- Cities in path
- 30
- Cities seeing it
- 1176
Where the shadow falls
The bright band is where the eclipse is annular. The shading around it is how much of the Sun's area is covered at each place's own maximum, brightening towards the path.
Watch the shadow move
The Earth as the Sun sees it, so the edge of the globe is sunrise and sunset. Drag the slider, or press play. The small dark spot is the umbra, the only place the eclipse is annular, and it is drawn to scale, which is the point: it is a few hundred kilometres across on a planet twelve thousand wide.
What you would see
Annular eclipse. 92% of the Sun's area covered, with the Sun 76° above the horizon.
Annularity runs from 13:00:57 to 13:05:17, lasting 4 minutes 20 seconds.
Local times, city by city
Every time is that city's own local clock at the moment given. Ordered by how much of the Sun is covered.
Showing the 30 most covered of 1,176 cities. Search, or sort a column, to reach them all.
| Annular | 10:57 | 13:03 | 15:02 | 92% | 4 min 20 s | |
| Annular | 10:57 | 13:03 | 15:02 | 92% | 5 min 12 s | |
| Annular | 11:00 | 13:06 | 15:03 | 92% | 2 min 5 s | |
| Annular | 11:01 | 13:08 | 15:05 | 92% | 4 min 42 s | |
| Annular | 11:03 | 13:10 | 15:06 | 92% | 2 min 15 s | |
| Annular | 11:03 | 13:10 | 15:06 | 92% | 5 min 9 s | |
| Partial | 10:57 | 13:03 | 15:03 | 92% | — | |
| Annular | 11:09 | 13:17 | 15:11 | 92% | 5 min 8 s | |
| Annular | 11:10 | 13:18 | 15:12 | 92% | 4 min 8 s | |
| Partial | 11:02 | 13:09 | 15:07 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 11:07 | 13:14 | 15:09 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 11:00 | 13:08 | 15:06 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 11:06 | 13:12 | 15:07 | 91% | — | |
| Annular | 14:56 | 16:44 | 18:09 | 91% | 4 min 31 s | |
| Annular | 14:56 | 16:44 | 18:10 | 91% | 1 min 47 s | |
| Annular | 14:57 | 16:44 | 18:10 | 91% | 2 min 6 s | |
| Annular | 14:57 | 16:45 | 18:10 | 91% | 3 min 43 s | |
| Partial | 11:09 | 13:15 | 15:09 | 91% | — | |
| Annular | 13:59 | 15:46 | 17:10 | 91% | 2 min 15 s | |
| Partial | 10:58 | 13:05 | 15:04 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 13:57 | 15:44 | 17:09 | 91% | — | |
| Annular | 15:02 | 16:47 | 18:11 | 91% | 3 min 11 s | |
| Annular | 15:05 | 16:49 | 18:11 | 91% | 4 min 24 s | |
| Annular | 07:16 | 08:35 | 10:12 | 91% | 4 min 10 s | |
| Annular | 07:16 | 08:35 | 10:11 | 91% | 3 min 4 s | |
| Partial | 13:59 | 15:45 | 17:10 | 91% | — | |
| Annular | 07:16 | 08:33 | 10:07 | 91% | 4 min 2 s | |
| Partial | 11:13 | 13:21 | 15:14 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 11:00 | 13:06 | 15:03 | 90% | — | |
| Annular | 07:15 | 08:30 | 10:02 | 90% | 3 min 57 s |
Reading these numbers
Covered is obscuration: the fraction of the Sun's area the Moon hides. It is not the same as magnitude, the fraction of the Sun's diametercovered, which is the larger number and the one usually quoted. A magnitude of 0.5 leaves 61% of the Sun's light, not 50%.
The difference matters more than it sounds. Even at 99% obscuration the remaining sliver is thousands of times brighter than the full Moon, the sky stays blue, and none of what makes a total eclipse worth travelling for happens. Only inside the path of totality does the corona appear.
Positions come from a truncated VSOP87/ELP ephemeris accurate to about an arcminute, and the path is traced by intersecting the Moon's shadow cone with the Earth's ellipsoid. The published time of greatest eclipse for 21 May 2031 is reproduced to within a few seconds, and contact times for individual cities agree with published values to the minute. Durations are good to a few seconds; a prediction this far ahead cannot do better, because the Earth's rotation is not known exactly that far in advance.
Looking at the Sun without certified eclipse filters will damage your eyes. The only moment it is safe to look unaided is during totality itself: the interval marked in the timeline above, and only if you are inside the path of totality. Everywhere else, and at every other moment, you need proper filters.