HAGERSTOWN, Md. — An eclipse is best described as an astronomical spectacle that occurs when one celestial body passes between another or moves into its shadow. The two main types of eclipses are solar and lunar with solar having three sub-categories, total solar, annular solar and partial solar.
First eclipse of 2026
The first eclipse of the year took place on Feb. 17 at 4:56 a.m.
The Annular eclipse of the Sun was invisible at Washington but visible “in whole or in part from extreme southeastern Africa, Madagascar, the southern tip of South America, most of Antarctica, the southwestern Indian Ocean, the extreme southeastern South Atlantic Ocean and a small slice of the southeastern South Pacific Ocean.”
The path of annular (ring shaped) eclipse lay half in Antarctica and half in the extreme southern part of the Indian Ocean.”
Second eclipse
The Total eclipse of the moon took place on March 3 and was partly visible at Washington and was “visible in whole from the Arctic regions to far eastern Asia, far western North America, most of Japan, eastern Papua New Guinea, eastern Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Polynesia, most of the Pacific Ocean except the eastern quarter and a small sliver of Antarctica.”
The moon “set during the eclipse for most of the Americas. The beginning of the eclipse was visible from a 6,000-mile-wide band east of the area described above; with the end being visible from a 6,000-mile-wide band to the west. The moon entered penumbra at 3:43 a.m.; umbra 4:50 a.m.; totality 6:04 a.m., middle of eclipse 6:34 a.m.; leaves: totality 7:03 a.m.; umbra 8:18 a.m.; penumbra 9:25 a.m. and the eclipse had a 1.156 umbral magnitude.”
Third eclipse
The Total eclipse of the Sun took place on Aug. 12 and was “partly visible at Washington, while visible in whole or in part from Canada, Alaska, northeastern United States, extreme eastern Asia, Arctic regions, Europe except the southeastern part, Greenland, Iceland, British Isles, northwestern Africa and most of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The path of total eclipse began in the Arctic along the western Siberian Coast, headed north toward the North Pole, then southward along eastern Greenland, brushing the west coast of Iceland, crossing the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, then the northern Iberian Peninsula, ending in the western Mediterranean Sea.
The eclipse began at 10:34 a.m. (167 miles or 268 km northwest of Cold Bay in the Aleutian Islands); total phase began at noon (34 miles or 55 km south of Maria Pronchishcheva Bay, Siberia); central eclipse at local apparent midnight 12:04 p.m. (277 miles or 446 km north-northeast of Komsomolets Island, Siberia); total phase ending at 1:32 p.m. (215 miles or 346 km east of Ibiza, Balearic Islands); eclipse ending at 2:58 p.m. (651 miles or 1,047 km west of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau). At Hagerstown, approximately 4% of the Sun’s disk was covered at 12:50 p.m., the time of local maximum.”
Fourth eclipse
Partial eclipse of the Moon took place on Aug. 27-28. It was visible at Washington and from eastern North America, southwestern Greenland, Central America except western Mexico, South America, southeastern Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean except eastern parts, and adjoining parts of Antarctica.
“The beginning of the eclipse was visible in a 6,000-mile-wide band to the east of those areas; the end visible in a 6,000-mile-wide band to the west. The moon entered penumbra Aug. 27, 8:22 p.m.; umbra 9:34 p.m.; mid-eclipse 11:13 p.m.; with moon leaving umbra Aug. 28, 12:52 a.m.; penumbra 2:04 a.m. The umbral magnitude of this eclipse is 0.935, meaning it is almost a total eclipse.”
These are the astronomical figures found in the 2026 Almanack.
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