The Aug. 2, 2027 total solar eclipse is already being hailed as the “eclipse of the century.” There’s just one problem: we’ve already had one.
On July 22, 2009, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century swept across India, China and the Pacific, with totality reaching an extraordinary 6 minutes and 39 seconds. I remember it well.
At the turn of the century, I was becoming obsessed with total solar eclipses after experiencing my first from Cornwall in the U.K. on Aug. 11, 1999. A few years later, I read that Varanasi — an extraordinary city of ghats, temples and funeral pyres on the banks of the Ganges in India — was about to experience almost four minutes of totality. I had visited years before as a backpacker and felt like I was on another planet. The idea of seeing a total solar eclipse there sent shivers through me.
Everywhere I looked, I encountered the same description: the “eclipse of the century.” It would be the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century.
Now, almost two decades later, that phrase is back — and it’s no coincidence. On Aug. 2, 2027, another extraordinary total solar eclipse will sweep across parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, bringing as much as 6 minutes 23 seconds of totality. But how can 2027 be the “eclipse of the century” if that already happened?
The battle for the ‘eclipse of the century’
Technically, it can’t. The Aug. 2, 2027 total solar eclipse will be the second-longest of the 21st century. Its maximum totality will occur just southeast of Luxor, Egypt — precisely 16 seconds short of the maximum duration on July 22, 2009.
On numbers alone, 2009 wins, but eclipses don’t happen on spreadsheets. They happen in particular places, beneath particular skies, and to people who simply must get themselves underneath the moon’s shadow. That’s where 2027 becomes much more interesting.
In 2009, the longest totality occurred over the Pacific Ocean. Three cruise ships — Costa Classica, Fuji Maru and Asuka II — positioned themselves close to Iwo Jima, part of Japan’s Volcano Islands about 750 miles (1,200 km) south of Tokyo. Costa Classica reached the eclipse centerline closest to the point of greatest duration.
Most eclipse chasers had to settle for land. Many headed to eastern China, where locations near Shanghai offered almost six minutes of totality. The problem was the weather. Thick cloud and rain spoiled the eclipse for many observers. The longest eclipse of the century had happened, but remarkably few people experienced its longest moments. On the Eclipse Chaser Log — where dedicated umbraphiles post their position for each eclipse — just four people claim to have been close to 2009’s point of greatest eclipse. That “eclipse of the century” was highly exclusive.
Why 2027 is different
The 2027 eclipse is different. Its maximum duration of totality is only 4% shorter than 2009, but this time some of the longest totality occurs over land — and beneath some of the most reliably clear skies on Earth.
Nowhere symbolizes that better than Luxor. The Egyptian city and its surroundings will experience more than six minutes of totality, with the temples of ancient Thebes — Karnak and Luxor — the Valley of the Kings necropolis, and its desert backdrop all within the path. That combination — extreme duration on land, easy travel and even 0% average cloud cover on Aug. 2, according to Time and Date — is why Luxor has become the focus of so much attention ahead of the eclipse. More importantly, 2027 will bring the longest maximum totality on Earth since 2009 and the longest until June 3, 2114 (when totality will reach 6 minutes 32 seconds in Saudi Arabia).
What makes an ‘eclipse of the century?’
Can one eclipse be “better” than another? Absolutely not — they are equally remarkable — but there are plenty of reasons 2027 “wins” over 2009. You can argue forever about what makes an “eclipse of the century,” but that misses something fundamental about eclipse chasing. The 2027 event is the longest eclipse of the century on land, for sure — that’s a claim that can’t be challenged — but more importantly, a magnitude more people than in 2009 will experience its greatest duration of totality. Eclipses might be pure science and mathematics, but they only have meaning because of people. Besides, who cares about old eclipses? I’ve now witnessed nine and I spend almost no time thinking about totalities that have gone. Only the next one matters.
Welcome to Saros 136
There’s another reason 2009 and 2027 feel like close relatives involved in a family argument — they literally are. They belong to the same eclipse family called Solar Saros 136.
A Saros lasts about 18 years, 11 days and eight hours. After that interval, the sun, moon and Earth return to almost the same geometry. The moon is at roughly the same distance from Earth and crosses the same node of its orbit, so another remarkably similar eclipse occurs.
There is one crucial difference. Those extra eight hours mean Earth has rotated by roughly a third of a turn, so the next eclipse occurs about 120 degrees farther west. That creates one of astronomy’s most beautiful pieces of celestial clockwork — a family of related moon shadows repeatedly crossing different parts of Earth.
Saros 136 began with a tiny partial solar eclipse in 1360 and will continue for more than 1,200 years. Its first total solar eclipse occurred in 1721. Since then, its totalities grew progressively longer before peaking in 1955 at 7 minutes, 7 seconds. We are now watching the great dynasty slowly wind down.
From Mexico to Egypt
For modern eclipse chasers, one of the most famous members of Saros 136 was July 11, 1991. Its path crossed Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and northern South America, producing a maximum totality of 6 minutes 53 seconds. Plenty of veteran eclipse chasers still talk about experiencing it from Baja California.
Eighteen years and 11 days later came 2009, across India, China, Japan and the Pacific. Another 18 years and 11 days brings us to Egypt in 2027.
The geography changes dramatically, but the underlying eclipse belongs to the same celestial family. Put the paths of 1991, 2009 and 2027 on a globe, and the approximately 120-degree westward jump between successive members becomes immediately obvious. Mathematically, the path of totality in 2027 must closely resemble the total solar eclipse of 1973 — and it does, occurring across North Africa, but slightly to the northeast.
Where Saros 136 goes next
Saros 136 has something just as exciting up its sleeve. Its next member arrives on Aug. 12, 2045, when a total solar eclipse will cross the U.S., the Caribbean and northern South America. Maximum totality will last about 6 minutes 6 seconds, with cities including Reno, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami inside the path. For U.S. eclipse chasers, it will be one of the astronomical events of the century.
Saros 136 returns again on Aug. 24, 2063, with a path across Asia and the Pacific, followed by Sept. 3, 2081, across Europe and the Middle East, and Sept. 14, 2099, across North America.
Each will be shorter than the last, and eventually another eclipse dynasty will take over. On June 3, 2114, Saros 139 — the same family that produced the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse across North America — will produce 6 minutes 32 seconds of totality.
Then, on July 16, 2186, Saros 139 will produce something genuinely extraordinary. Near the Atlantic coast of South America, maximum totality will last 7 minutes 29 seconds — the longest total solar eclipse between 4000 B.C. and A.D. 6000. Of course, no one alive now will witness it.
The best eclipse is the next one
So is Aug. 2, 2027 really the “eclipse of the century?” Technically, no, if you’re talking about the 21st century (unless you add the qualifier “on land”). July 22, 2009 was 16 seconds longer, but in 2027, more than six minutes of totality will come to dry land beneath some of the clearest skies on Earth, with the moon’s shadow crossing ancient cities, deserts and some of humanity’s greatest archaeological landscapes. Besides, for eclipse chasers, the greatest eclipse isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest number attached to it — it’s the greatest one that’s still ahead. Nobody asks “when was the longest eclipse?” only “when is the next one?”
