How eclipses work, briefly
The Moon orbits tilted about 5° to the Earth's orbit around the Sun, so most new and full moons pass above or below the alignment and produce no eclipse. Only when a syzygy (new or full moon) happens within roughly 18° of one of the Moon's two orbital nodes does shadow fall — a solar eclipse at new moon, a lunar eclipse at full moon.
That is why eclipses come in pairs about a fortnight apart, and in 'seasons' twice a year. A given year has at least two and at most five or seven; four or six is common. Astrology treats eclipses as intensified lunations — new-moon seeds and full-moon releases turned up loud — which is why an eclipse calendar is a staple timing reference.
How we compute it
We use the astronomy-engine eclipse searches built on the ELP/MPP0224 lunar theory and VSOP87 planetary theory — the same machinery that predicts eclipse magnitudes to sub-arcminute accuracy. The engine finds each eclipse's peak instant, classifies it (penumbral, partial, annular or total) and, for solar eclipses, returns the geographic point of greatest eclipse.
The zodiac degree shown for each event is the exact ecliptic longitude of the Sun (for a solar eclipse) or the Full Moon (for a lunar one) at the peak, on the tropical zodiac — the same calculation our natal engine uses, so it matches any professional eclipse table.
What you get
Pick any year 2026–2045 and the calendar shows:
- Every solar and lunar eclipse in that year, sorted by date, with the exact peak time in UTC.
- The type and kind — total, annular, partial or penumbral, and whether solar or lunar.
- The zodiac sign and degree of the eclipse (the New Moon or Full Moon point).
- For solar eclipses, the latitude and longitude of greatest eclipse on Earth's surface.
- Optionally, the natal house each eclipse falls in once you enter your birth data.
How eclipse seasons are read
Astrologers read a solar eclipse as a forced new-moon beginning on the degree it occupies, and a lunar eclipse as an abrupt full-moon ending — the nodal axis concerned is said to mark the 'fate' axis for the six months that follow until the next season flips the signs.
The personal layer comes from the house: an eclipse on your 4th-house degree is traditionally read as a home-and-roots reset, a 10th-house one as a public or career turn. That mapping is interpretive; what the calendar guarantees is the objective part — the exact moment, degree and geography every eclipse is defined by.
A worked example: the 2026 eclipse year
Run the calendar for 2026 and it returns four eclipses, in two clean seasons. February brings a 17 February annular solar eclipse at 28.8° Aquarius (greatest eclipse over the southern Indian Ocean, near 64.7°S, 86.7°E) followed on 3 March by a total lunar eclipse at 12.9° Virgo — the classic fortnight apart, on opposite sides of the nodal axis.
August repeats the pattern: a 12 August total solar eclipse at 20.0° Leo whose track peaks at 65.2°N, 25.2°W over the Arctic, and a 28 August partial lunar eclipse at 4.9° Pisces. Four events: the solar eclipses run along the Aquarius–Leo axis, the lunar ones along Virgo–Pisces — the two fixed-sign axes offset by about 30°, which is why 2026's eclipses read as one long story across that whole quadrant of the zodiac, all of it verifiable against NASA's own eclipse tables.
What this tool does not claim
Eclipses are unambiguous astronomy; the 'intensity' and house-meaning layer is traditional symbolism we present as such, with no controlled evidence that an eclipse causes specific life events. Nothing here is a forecast.
Times are UTC and peak instants — the moment of greatest eclipse, not the start/end of totality at any given location (that depends where you stand). Penumbral lunar eclipses are subtle and often skipped by popular lists; ours includes them because the engine detects them. All computation runs locally; no data is uploaded.
Eclipse calendar vs Moon phases vs Mercury retrograde
Our Moon Phases calendar lists every new and full moon — the great majority of which are not eclipses because they miss the nodes; this tool is the eclipse subset, with type and geography added. For the other much-searched sky calendar, the Mercury Retrograde tool tracks planetary stations instead. If you want the eclipse's personal house placement, enter your birth data here or cross-reference the same degree in your natal chart.
Our method in one line
Eclipse peaks and classifications from sub-arcsecond astronomy (VSOP87/ELP via astronomy-engine) eclipse searches; each eclipse's zodiac degree computed as the exact tropical longitude of the Sun or Moon at peak. Reviewed by Dr. Amara Osei, Astronomy Reviewer.
Step by step
- 1
Pick a year
Choose anything from 2026 to 2045 — the table updates instantly with that year's eclipses.
- 2
Read the eclipse points
Each row gives the exact sign/degree, type, kind and UTC peak time; solar rows add greatest-eclipse coordinates.
- 3
Add birth data for houses
Optionally enter your birth details to see which of your natal houses each eclipse lands on that year.
- 4
Note the seasons
Eclipses cluster in pairs about two weeks apart, twice a year — the pairs are the technique's headline.
Tip — Within each pair the lunar eclipse sits almost opposite the solar one, shifted by the ~15° the Sun travels in between — which is why eclipse seasons straddle a pair of neighbouring signs.
Frequently asked questions
- How many eclipses are there in a year?
- Between two and five, most commonly four: an even split of solar and lunar. At the extremes a year can have just two (both solar) or as many as seven. Our 2026 example has the common four; 2027 has five. The year's count is pure orbital geometry, fully determined in advance.
- What does 'greatest eclipse' mean, and why only for solar?
- For a solar eclipse the Moon's shadow sweeps a track across Earth, so there is a single point of maximum eclipse — we give its latitude and longitude. A lunar eclipse is the whole Full Moon dimming in Earth's shadow, visible from an entire hemisphere at once, so it has no single geographic point — just a peak time.
- Why are some listed as 'penumbral' lunar eclipses?
- A penumbral lunar eclipse is when the Moon only grazes Earth's faint outer shadow — often barely noticeable. Popular calendars sometimes omit them, but they are genuine eclipses and the engine detects them, so this one does too, marked distinctly from partial and total events.
- Are the times and signs the same as NASA's?
- Yes, to within a second or so for peak time — both rest on the same lunar/planetary theories. The tropical zodiac degree is our own conversion of the Sun/Moon longitude at peak (NASA doesn't publish zodiac signs), computed with the same ephemeris as our natal charts, so it agrees with professional astrological eclipse tables.
- Is my birth data private?
- Calculations run entirely in your browser. Your birth data is never uploaded, never stored on a server, and never shared. The eclipse list is astronomy alone; the optional house mapping runs locally in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Written by
Elena Marchetti
Founder & Staff Astrologer
Methodology reviewed by
Dr. Amara Osei
Astronomy Reviewer
Published 2026-10-01 · Updated 2026-10-01 · Calculated with sub-arcsecond astronomy (VSOP87/ELP via astronomy-engine)