An annular

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 Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 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 0.963. 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. An annular 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 smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter will be near the average diameter because it will occur 6.8 days after

apogee 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 February 10, 2026, at 16:50 UTC) and 7.5 days 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 February 24, 2026, at 23:15 UTC). Annularity will be visible over

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

only. However, the partial eclipse will be visible from the very southern tip of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, as well in much of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

(such as in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Images

Animated path

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 ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2026

* An annular solar eclipse on February 17. * A total lunar eclipse on March 3. * A total solar eclipse on August 12. * A partial lunar eclipse on August 28.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2022 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 5, 2029

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 6, 2019 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 30, 2033

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 11, 2017 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 22, 2035

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, March 20, 2015, with a magnitude of 1.0445. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of th ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of January 16, 2037 A partial solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, January 16, 2037, with a magnitude of 0.7049. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Solar Saros 121

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of February 28, 2044 An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, February 28, 2044, with a magnitude of 0.96. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Inex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 1997, with a magnitude of 1.042. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of January 27, 2055 A partial solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, January 27, 2055, with a magnitude of 0.6932. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the im ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 1939 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 19, 2112

Solar eclipses of 2026–2029

Saros 121

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

* http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2026Feb17A.GIF {{Solar eclipses 2026 2 17 2026 in science 2026 2 17 2026 2 17