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

descending 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 Friday, May 20, 2050, 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 1.0038. It is a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at the start and end as an annular eclipse. 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 about 5.2 days after

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 May 15, 2050, at 16:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger. This hybrid eclipse is notable in that it does not hit land anywhere on Earth. However, a partial solar eclipse will be visible for parts of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, eastern

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, and western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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 2050

* A total lunar eclipse on May 6. * A hybrid solar eclipse on May 20. * A total lunar eclipse on October 30. * A partial solar eclipse on November 14.

Metonic

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 2, 2046 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, August 2, 2046, with a magnitude of 1.0531. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of March 9, 2054 A partial solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Monday, March 9, 2054, with a magnitude of 0.6678. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of April 9, 2043 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Thursday, April 9 and Friday, April 10, 2043, with a magnitude of 1.0095. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or part ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of July 1, 2057 An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, July 1 and Monday, July 2, 2057, with a magnitude of 0.9464. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2041 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 27, 2059

Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2039 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2061

Solar Saros 148

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 2032 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2068

Inex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of June 10, 2021 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, June 10, 2021, with a magnitude of 0.9435. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 1, 2079

Triad

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of July 20, 1963 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit between Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, 1963, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0224. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 21, 2137

Solar eclipses of 2047–2050

Saros 148

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

{{Solar eclipses 2050 5 20 2050 in science 2050 5 20 2050 5 20