A total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

will occur at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Sunday, July 16, 2186, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0805. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's

apparent diameter The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring only about 3 minutes before

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on July 16, 2186, at 15:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger. This eclipse will be the longest total solar eclipse out of 6,326 calculated for 10,000 years between 4000 BCE and 6000 CE. The eclipse will pass over the southern

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

(with a total eclipse of 4 minutes occurring over the southern tip of

Española Island Española or Espanola Island () is the most southerly of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, about a 10 to 12-hour trip by boat from Santa Cruz. Names ''Española'', Spanish for "Little Spain", is named for Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea ...

), the northern tip of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

(with a total eclipse of 3 minutes and 26 seconds on Isla Santa Rosa), central

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

(4 minutes and 50 seconds over Bogota), central

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and northern

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

(7 minutes and 4 seconds just north of

Anna Regina Anna Regina is the capital of the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region of Guyana. Anna Regina stands on the Atlantic coast, northwest of the mouth of the Essequibo River, 19 km north of Adventure, and was established as a town in 1970. Its population ...

Extreme duration

Solar_eclipse_greatest_eclipse_July_16_2186

This will be the longest total solar eclipse between 4000 BCE and at least CE 6000 (10,000 years), lasting a maximum of 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds. The factors that will make this such a long eclipse are: * The Earth being very near

aphelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible). This occurs around July 6th. * The Moon being almost exactly at

(making its angular diameter as large as possible). The moment of greatest eclipse will be just 50 minutes after perigee. * The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to the Earth's equator, where the Earth's rotational velocity is greatest. (The affects the distance the shadow travels on the ground, but not the time duration.) * The midpoint of the eclipse being near the

subsolar point The subsolar point on a planet or a moon is the point at which its Sun is perceived to be directly overhead (at the zenith); that is, where the Sun's rays strike the planet exactly perpendicular to its surface. The subsolar point occurs at the ...

(the part of the Earth closest to the Sun, and therefore also closest to the Moon during an eclipse). * The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of the Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east). For solar eclipses at the ascending node (odd numbered saros) this occurs approximately 12 days after the summer solstice. The longest historical total eclipse lasted 7 minutes 27.54 seconds on June 15, 743 BC. The longest eclipse theoretically possible is 7 minutes and 32 seconds.

Responses

Michael Zeiler, an eclipse cartographer, told ''

Live Science Live Science is a science news website. The publication features stories on a wide range of topics, including space, animals, health, archaeology, human behavior, and planet Earth. It also includes a reference section with links to other websites ...

'' the 2186 eclipse "will last up to an astonishing 7 minutes and 29 seconds, very close to the theoretical limit of 7 and a half minutes." ''Vice'' magazine, musing what the "wolves feasting on the bones" of a possibly then-extinct human civilization would think, suggested the longest solar eclipse in 12,000 years would be "worth a howl". ''IFL Science'' noted that the 22nd century will be a "golden era for eclipse chasers", with the 2186 eclipse overshadowing two other 7+ minute events in 2150 and 2168. No total solar eclipse of the 21st century will exceed 7 minutes. In March 2023, the art and design magazine ''IGNANT'' interviewed the Berlin-based photographer Matthias Ledinger about his project AD2186. Using primarily black and white media, Ledinger "depicts the complex awe-sensations and emotions generated by the solar eclipse" similar to that of the

Overview effect The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from outer space, space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendence, self-transcendent qualities, precipitated b ...

Eclipse details

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...