Solar & Lunar Eclipses Visible from Boston
Every eclipse in the 2024–2040 catalog that reaches Boston (42.3601°, -71.0589°), with contact times on the America/New_York clock.
Checking the catalog against today's date…
Open the calculator at Boston's coordinates24 of the 32 in the catalog are above the horizon here, 10 of them total. Times are America/New_York, converted per eclipse.
Boston's best-placed eclipse in the window is the total lunar eclipse of January 21, 2038, greatest at 12:02 AM EST. The moon is fully inside Earth's shadow for 1h 18m, and the whole eclipse happens with the moon up — 67° above the horizon at greatest eclipse.
| Date | From Boston | Local times | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 25, 2024 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 3:13 AM EDT greatest eclipse | 35° up at greatest |
| Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:44 PM EDT greatest eclipse Umbral 9:52 PM – 11:36 PM | 39° up at greatest |
| Friday, March 14, 2025 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 2:59 AM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 2:25 AM – 3:33 AM | 41° up at greatest 1h 8m total |
| Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:20 AM, during totality. The rest of it happens below Boston's horizon. | 6:33 AM EST greatest eclipse Totality 6:01 AM – 7:05 AM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 4m total |
| Friday, August 28, 2026 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:14 AM EDT greatest eclipse Umbral 11:07 PM – 1:21 AM | 37° up at greatest |
| Saturday, February 20, 2027 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 5:18 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 6:13 PM EST greatest eclipse | 10° up at greatest |
| Tuesday, August 17, 2027 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 3:14 AM EDT greatest eclipse Umbral 2:14 AM – 4:14 AM | 25° up at greatest |
| Tuesday, January 11, 2028 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 11:13 PM EST greatest eclipse Umbral 10:17 PM – 12:09 AM | 68° up at greatest |
| Monday, June 25, 2029 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 11:22 PM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 10:31 PM – 12:13 AM | 21° up at greatest 1h 42m total |
| Thursday, December 20, 2029 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 4:09 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 5:41 PM EST greatest eclipse Totality 5:12 PM – 6:10 PM | 15° up at greatest 58m total |
| Monday, December 9, 2030 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 4:06 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 5:27 PM EST greatest eclipse Totality 5:10 PM – 5:44 PM | 13° up at greatest 34m total |
| Tuesday, May 6, 2031 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 11:51 PM EDT greatest eclipse | 30° up at greatest |
| Thursday, October 30, 2031 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 3:44 AM EDT greatest eclipse Umbral 2:39 AM – 4:49 AM | 39° up at greatest |
| Monday, October 18, 2032 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 5:51 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 3:02 PM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 2:26 PM – 3:38 PM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 12m total |
| Saturday, October 8, 2033 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:54 AM, during totality. The rest of it happens below Boston's horizon. | 6:54 AM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 6:16 AM – 7:32 AM | 0° up at greatest 1h 16m total |
| Wednesday, September 27, 2034 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:45 PM EDT greatest eclipse Umbral 9:38 PM – 11:52 PM | 43° up at greatest |
| Sunday, September 16, 2035 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:32 PM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 9:46 PM – 11:18 PM | 37° up at greatest 1h 32m total |
| Tuesday, March 11, 2036 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:47 PM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 10:01 PM – 11:33 PM | 42° up at greatest 1h 32m total |
| Saturday, January 31, 2037 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 3:59 AM EST greatest eclipse Umbral 2:51 AM – 5:07 AM | 33° up at greatest |
| Monday, July 27, 2037 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 1:29 AM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 12:39 AM – 2:19 AM | 28° up at greatest 1h 40m total |
| Thursday, January 21, 2038 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:02 AM EST greatest eclipse Totality 11:23 PM – 12:41 AM | 67° up at greatest 1h 18m total |
| Sunday, January 9, 2039 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Boston's horizon, from first contact to last. | 8:27 PM EST greatest eclipse Totality 7:50 PM – 9:04 PM | 43° up at greatest 1h 14m total |
| Friday, May 25, 2040 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 8:04 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 9:45 PM EDT greatest eclipse Totality 9:04 PM – 10:26 PM | 15° up at greatest 1h 22m total |
| Sunday, November 18, 2040 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Boston at about 4:14 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 2:02 PM EST greatest eclipse | below the horizon at greatest |
Reading the table. Greatest eclipse is one instant worldwide, printed on Boston's clock — the zone abbreviation is resolved for that date, so it changes across the window wherever the clocks do. From Boston is what the horizon leaves: a total eclipse the moon sets during is a partial one here, and the note beside it says which phase was under way. Durations are the eclipse's own, worldwide.
No. Of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040, none puts Boston inside the moon's shadow at the moment of greatest eclipse — the one instant this site's model measures. The closest it comes otherwise is Monday, March 20, 2034: the shadow's footprint does cover Boston at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Boston gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops. A shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past before or after that instant is not counted here, so read this as "no solar eclipse worth planning around", not as a promise that the sun is never touched.
How close the shadows come
| Date | Eclipse | Nearest approach |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 20, 2034 | Total solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Boston with the sun below the horizon |
| Saturday, September 1, 2035 | Annular solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Boston with the sun below the horizon |
| Wednesday, May 21, 2031 | Annular solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Boston with the sun below the horizon |
A solar eclipse is only safe to look at through ISO 12312-2 filters, except during the totality of a total eclipse. For the path of totality over Boston, use NASA's eclipse site — path width is the one thing this page does not model.
Eclipse dates and contact times come from the NASA/Espenak catalog, and everything local to Boston — whether the moon or sun is above the horizon, how high it stands, what the horizon cuts off — is computed for 42.3601°, -71.0589° and converted to America/New_York. Nothing on this page is stamped with a build date: an eclipse is a catalogued instant, so where the shadow fell and how high the moon stood over Boston are as fixed for 2024 as for 2040. Only the "next eclipse" panel at the top reads the clock, and it does so in your browser.
What the horizon decides. A lunar eclipse is visible from wherever the moon is up, which is half the planet — but an eclipse runs for hours and can straddle moonrise or moonset, and then only part of it is Boston's. That is why each row carries the moon's altitude at greatest eclipse and, where it matters, which phase was under way as the moon crossed the horizon. An eclipse 70° up is overhead and unmistakable; the same eclipse a few degrees up is behind whatever Boston has on its skyline.
Where this page stops. A solar eclipse row says that the moon's shadow reaches Boston at the instant of greatest eclipse, and how high the sun stands here when it does. It does not say how much of the sun is covered: the path of totality is a couple of hundred kilometres wide against a footprint thousands of kilometres across, and this site models the footprint, not the path. Nor does it count a shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past Boston before or after that instant — so the 0 solar dates listed here are a floor, not a total.
Safe viewing. A lunar eclipse is safe to watch with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope — it is only the full moon, dimmed. A solar eclipse is not: outside the brief totality of a total eclipse, looking at the sun needs ISO 12312-2 filters, and sunglasses are not filters. For the exact path of a solar eclipse over Boston, use NASA's eclipse site, whose maps carry the path width this page's model does not model.
When is the next lunar eclipse visible from Boston?
The panel at the top of this page names it, counting from today in your browser. The table below is the full record instead: all 24 lunar eclipses between 2024 and 2040 that are above Boston's horizon, with contact times already converted to America/New_York. 10 of them are total from here.
Will a solar eclipse be visible from Boston?
No. Of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040, none puts Boston inside the moon's shadow at the moment of greatest eclipse — the one instant this site's model measures. The closest it comes otherwise is Monday, March 20, 2034: the shadow's footprint does cover Boston at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Boston gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops. A shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past before or after that instant is not counted here, so read this as "no solar eclipse worth planning around", not as a promise that the sun is never touched.
What time does the eclipse start in Boston?
Every time on this page is Boston local time, converted per eclipse rather than once for the page — the window spans 16 years, so the same zone reads differently in January and July and the abbreviation beside each row says which applies. A lunar eclipse begins with the faint penumbral shading (P1), bites into the disc at first umbral contact (U1) and, if it is total, goes fully dark at U2.
Why does Boston see more lunar eclipses than solar ones?
Earth's shadow at the moon's distance is far larger than the moon's shadow on Earth, and a lunar eclipse is visible from the entire night side of the planet at once — so Boston catches 24 of the 32 lunar eclipses in the window, and none of the 34 solar ones. A solar eclipse throws a shadow a few thousand kilometres across at most, and its darkest part a few hundred; miss that footprint by an hour of Earth's rotation and there is nothing to see from Boston at all.