A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, July 16, 2186, with a magnitude of 1.0805. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, 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 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 (on July 16, 2186, at 15:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.[1]
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 (with a total eclipse of 4 minutes occurring over the southern tip of Española Island), the northern tip of Ecuador (with a total eclipse of 3 minutes and 26 seconds on Isla Santa Rosa), central Colombia (4 minutes and 50 seconds over Bogota), central Venezuela, and northern Guyana (7 minutes and 4 seconds just north of Anna Regina).[2] [3]
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 longest historical total eclipse lasted 7 minutes 27.54 seconds on June 15, 743 BC.[7] The longest eclipse theoretically possible is 7 minutes and 32 seconds.[8]
Michael Zeiler, an eclipse cartographer, told Live Science 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."[9]
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".[10]
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.[11] No total solar eclipse of the 21st century will exceed 7 minutes.[12]
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.[13]
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.[14]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2186 July 16 at 12:39:43.0 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2186 July 16 at 13:33:32.0 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 2186 July 16 at 13:35:13.1 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2186 July 16 at 13:36:54.2 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 2186 July 16 at 14:33:28.5 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2186 July 16 at 15:12:28.2 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 2186 July 16 at 15:13:17.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2186 July 16 at 15:14:54.1 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2186 July 16 at 15:16:50.6 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 2186 July 16 at 15:56:16.7 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2186 July 16 at 16:52:52.6 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 2186 July 16 at 16:54:33.7 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2186 July 16 at 16:56:14.8 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2186 July 16 at 17:50:04.4 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.08047 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.16741 | |
| Gamma | −0.23964 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 07h45m22.8s | |
| Sun Declination | +21°12'31.6" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'44.1" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 07h45m17.9s | |
| Moon Declination | +20°57'54.1" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'43.2" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'21.8" | |
| ΔT | 246.3 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, 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.
The partial solar eclipses on May 26, 2188 and November 18, 2188 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2185 to 2188 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 124 | January 31, 2185 Partial | 1.1991 | 129 | July 26, 2185 Total | −0.9967 | |
| 134 | January 20, 2186 Annular | 0.5426 | 139 | July 16, 2186 Total | −0.2396 | |
| 144 | January 9, 2187 Annular | −0.1365 | 149 | July 6, 2187 Total | 0.5109 | |
| 154 | December 29, 2187 Annular | −0.8126 | 159 | June 24, 2188 Partial | 1.3252 | |
| 164 | December 18, 2188 Partial | −1.4420 | ||||
All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.