Solar & Lunar Eclipses Visible from Sydney
Every eclipse in the 2024–2040 catalog that reaches Sydney (-33.8688°, 151.2093°), with contact times on the Australia/Sydney clock.
Checking the catalog against today's date…
Open the calculator at Sydney's coordinates18 of the 32 in the catalog are above the horizon here, 6 of them total. Times are Australia/Sydney, converted per eclipse.
Sydney's best-placed eclipse in the window is the total lunar eclipse of April 26, 2032, greatest at 1:13 AM GMT+10. The moon is fully inside Earth's shadow for 1h 10m, and the whole eclipse happens with the moon up — 63° above the horizon at greatest eclipse.
| Date | From Sydney | Local times | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 25, 2024 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 6:55 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 6:13 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse | below the horizon at greatest |
| Friday, March 14, 2025 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 7:10 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 5:59 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Totality 5:25 PM – 6:33 PM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 8m total |
| Monday, September 8, 2025 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 4:11 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Totality 3:30 AM – 4:52 AM | 24° up at greatest 1h 22m total |
| Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:33 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Totality 10:01 PM – 11:05 PM | 35° up at greatest 1h 4m total |
| Tuesday, August 17, 2027 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 5:22 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 5:14 PM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Umbral 4:14 PM – 6:14 PM | below the horizon at greatest |
| Friday, July 7, 2028 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 4:20 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Umbral 3:12 AM – 5:28 AM | 33° up at greatest |
| Monday, January 1, 2029 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 5:52 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Sydney's horizon. | 3:52 AM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Totality 3:15 AM – 4:29 AM | 20° up at greatest 1h 14m total |
| Sunday, June 16, 2030 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 4:33 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Umbral 3:23 AM – 5:43 AM | 29° up at greatest |
| Thursday, October 30, 2031 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 7:16 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 6:44 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Umbral 5:39 PM – 7:49 PM | below the horizon at greatest |
| Monday, April 26, 2032 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 1:13 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Totality 12:38 AM – 1:48 AM | 63° up at greatest 1h 10m total |
| Tuesday, October 19, 2032 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:12 AM, during totality. The rest of it happens below Sydney's horizon. | 6:02 AM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Totality 5:26 AM – 6:38 AM | 2° up at greatest 1h 12m total |
| Friday, April 15, 2033 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:21 AM, during the partial phase. The rest of it happens below Sydney's horizon. | 5:12 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Totality 4:50 AM – 5:34 AM | 14° up at greatest 44m total |
| Saturday, October 8, 2033 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 6:58 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 9:54 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Totality 9:16 PM – 10:32 PM | 34° up at greatest 1h 16m total |
| Tuesday, April 4, 2034 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:13 AM, during the partial phase. The rest of it happens below Sydney's horizon. | 5:47 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Umbral 4:36 AM – 6:58 AM | 5° up at greatest |
| Saturday, January 31, 2037 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 7:56 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 7:59 PM GMT+11 greatest eclipse Umbral 6:51 PM – 9:07 PM | 0° up at greatest |
| Monday, July 27, 2037 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Sydney at about 5:07 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 3:29 PM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Totality 2:39 PM – 4:19 PM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 40m total |
| Friday, July 8, 2039 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Sydney's horizon, from first contact to last. | 5:04 AM GMT+10 greatest eclipse Umbral 3:58 AM – 6:10 AM | 24° up at greatest |
| Monday, November 19, 2040 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 5:45 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Sydney's horizon. | 6:02 AM GMT+11 greatest eclipse | below the horizon at greatest |
Reading the table. Greatest eclipse is one instant worldwide, printed on Sydney's clock — the zone abbreviation is resolved for that date, so it changes across the window wherever the clocks do. From Sydney 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.
Yes — 2 of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040 bring the moon's shadow over Sydney: January 6, 2038, December 16, 2039. How deep each one goes is a different question: the path of totality is only a few hundred kilometres wide, and this site's model tracks where the shadow falls, not how much of the sun it covers there. The closest it comes otherwise is Saturday, March 10, 2035: the shadow's footprint does cover Sydney at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Sydney gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops.
| Date | Greatest eclipse | Sun over Sydney | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, January 6, 2038 Annular solar eclipse | 10:04 AM GMT+11 worldwide instant | 50° above the horizon | 2,899 km from the point of greatest eclipse |
| Friday, December 16, 2039 Annular solar eclipse | 9:17 AM GMT+11 worldwide instant | 43° above the horizon | 1,660 km from the point of greatest eclipse |
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 Sydney, 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 Sydney — whether the moon or sun is above the horizon, how high it stands, what the horizon cuts off — is computed for -33.8688°, 151.2093° and converted to Australia/Sydney. 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 Sydney 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 Sydney'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 Sydney has on its skyline.
Where this page stops. A solar eclipse row says that the moon's shadow reaches Sydney 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 Sydney before or after that instant — so the 2 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 Sydney, 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 Sydney?
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 18 lunar eclipses between 2024 and 2040 that are above Sydney's horizon, with contact times already converted to Australia/Sydney. 6 of them are total from here.
Will a solar eclipse be visible from Sydney?
Yes — 2 of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040 bring the moon's shadow over Sydney: January 6, 2038, December 16, 2039. How deep each one goes is a different question: the path of totality is only a few hundred kilometres wide, and this site's model tracks where the shadow falls, not how much of the sun it covers there. The closest it comes otherwise is Saturday, March 10, 2035: the shadow's footprint does cover Sydney at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Sydney gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops.
What time does the eclipse start in Sydney?
Every time on this page is Sydney 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 Sydney 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 Sydney catches 18 of the 32 lunar eclipses in the window, and only 2 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 Sydney at all.