| Annular eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.9743 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 0.963 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 140 s (2 min 20 s) |
| Coordinates | 64°42′S86°48′E / 64.7°S 86.8°E /-64.7; 86.8 |
| Max. width of band | 616 km (383 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 12:13:06 |
| References | |
| Saros | 121 (61 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9565 |
An annularsolar eclipse will occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit on Tuesday, February 17, 2026,[1] with amagnitude of 0.963. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like anannulus (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 afterapogee (on February 10, 2026, at 16:50 UTC) and 7.5 days beforeperigee (on February 24, 2026, at 23:15 UTC).[2]
Annularity will be visible overAntarctica only. However, the partial eclipse will be visible from the very southern tip ofArgentina andChile, as well as in much ofsouthern Africa (includingSouth Africa,Mozambique, andMadagascar).
Animated path
| Country or territory | City or place | Start of partial eclipse | Start of annular eclipse | Maximum eclipse | End of annular eclipse | End of partial eclipse | Duration of annularity (min:s) | Duration of eclipse (hr:min) | Maximum coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Antarctica | Concordia Station | 18:48:14 | 19:46:35 | 19:47:37 | 19:48:40 | 20:45:42 | 2:05 | 1:57 | 92.46% |
| References:[1] | |||||||||
| Country or territory | City or place | Start of partial eclipse | Maximum eclipse | End of partial eclipse | Duration of eclipse (hr:min) | Maximum coverage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Chile | Punta Arenas | 07:07:16 | 07:28:52 | 07:51:03 | 0:44 | 1.81% | |||
| Antarctica | Marambio Base | 06:59:05 | 07:45:50 | 08:34:27 | 1:35 | 18.30% | |||
| Antarctica | Orcadas Base | 07:05:16 | 07:47:05 | 08:30:29 | 1:25 | 10.26% | |||
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | King Edward Point | 08:29:18 | 08:47:47 | 09:06:38 | 0:37 | 0.62% | |||
 Bouvet Island | Bouvet Island | 11:42:45 | 12:40:56 | 13:38:34 | 1:56 | 16.92% | |||
| Antarctica | Casey Station | 19:06:03 | 20:05:16 | 20:55:52 (sunset) | 1:50 | 91.29% | |||
 South Africa | Marion Island | 14:21:59 | 15:33:27 | 16:39:38 | 2:18 | 47.62% | |||
 French Southern and Antarctic Lands | Port-aux-Français | 16:35:21 | 17:41:35 | 18:43:00 | 2:08 | 83.57% | |||
| South Africa | Cape Town | 14:01:05 | 14:43:47 | 15:24:21 | 1:23 | 5.19% | |||
| South Africa | Gqeberha | 13:56:00 | 14:51:41 | 15:43:33 | 1:48 | 13.99% | |||
| French Southern and Antarctic Lands | Île Amsterdam | 17:01:14 | 18:02:48 | 18:45:30 (sunset) | 1:44 | 76.08% | |||
 Lesotho | Mafeteng | 14:11:34 | 15:02:49 | 15:50:32 | 1:39 | 11.14% | |||
| Lesotho | Maseru | 14:13:28 | 15:04:11 | 15:51:24 | 1:38 | 10.84% | |||
| Lesotho | Teyateyaneng | 14:13:59 | 15:04:47 | 15:52:04 | 1:38 | 10.97% | |||
| South Africa | Durban | 14:09:56 | 15:05:51 | 15:57:31 | 1:48 | 16.10% | |||
| South Africa | Johannesburg | 14:26:07 | 15:11:40 | 15:54:16 | 1:28 | 7.93% | |||
| South Africa | Pretoria | 14:27:59 | 15:12:48 | 15:54:44 | 1:27 | 7.58% | |||
 Botswana | Gaborone | 14:36:15 | 15:13:23 | 15:48:30 | 1:12 | 4.05% | |||
 Eswatini | Mbabane | 14:23:15 | 15:13:44 | 16:00:35 | 1:37 | 11.79% | |||
 Mozambique | Maputo | 14:23:54 | 15:15:31 | 16:03:16 | 1:39 | 13.10% | |||
 Zimbabwe | Harare | 15:01:59 | 15:31:22 | 15:59:23 | 0:57 | 2.36% | |||
 British Indian Ocean Territory | Diego Garcia | 19:07:59 | 19:31:40 | 19:33:56 (sunset) | 0:26 | 10.95% | |||
 Réunion | Saint-Denis | 16:37:08 | 17:32:56 | 18:24:06 | 1:47 | 31.14% | |||
 Mauritius | Port Louis | 16:38:57 | 17:34:07 | 18:24:43 | 1:46 | 31.64% | |||
 Madagascar | Antananarivo | 15:43:39 | 16:35:24 | 17:23:00 | 1:39 | 19.98% | |||
| Madagascar | Toamasina | 15:45:35 | 16:36:57 | 17:24:15 | 1:39 | 20.55% | |||
 Malawi | Lilongwe | 15:17:53 | 15:39:57 | 16:01:11 | 0:43 | 1.09% | |||
| Mayotte | Mamoudzou | 16:05:50 | 16:45:03 | 17:21:48 | 1:16 | 8.20% | |||
 Comoros | Moroni | 16:12:12 | 16:46:28 | 17:18:48 | 1:07 | 5.21% | |||
 Seychelles | Victoria | 17:29:11 | 17:55:35 | 18:20:52 | 0:52 | 3.21% | |||
| References:[1] | |||||||||
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.[3]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 2026 February 17 at 09:57:35.9 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 2026 February 17 at 11:19:59.0 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 2026 February 17 at 11:44:00.0 UTC |
| First Central Line | 2026 February 17 at 11:49:27.4 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 2026 February 17 at 11:49:27.4 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 2026 February 17 at 11:56:29.1 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 2026 February 17 at 12:02:18.1 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 2026 February 17 at 12:13:05.8 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 2026 February 17 at 12:30:19.1 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 2026 February 17 at 12:37:17.4 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 2026 February 17 at 12:42:41.3 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 2026 February 17 at 14:28:51.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.96300 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.92736 |
| Gamma | −0.97427 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 22h03m54.3s |
| Sun Declination | -11°52'42.3" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'11.1" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 22h05m34.0s |
| Moon Declination | -12°42'29.5" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'32.4" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'02.0" |
| ΔT | 72.2 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse 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 afortnight.
| February 17 Ascending node (new moon) | March 3 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 121 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 133 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[4]
The partial solar eclipses onJune 12, 2029 andDecember 5, 2029 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 2026 to 2029 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 121 | February 17, 2026 Annular | −0.97427 | 126 | August 12, 2026 Total | 0.89774 | |
| 131 | February 6, 2027 Annular | −0.29515 | 136 | August 2, 2027 Total | 0.14209 | |
| 141 | January 26, 2028 Annular | 0.39014 | 146 | July 22, 2028 Total | −0.60557 | |
| 151 | January 14, 2029 Partial | 1.05532 | 156 | July 11, 2029 Partial | −1.41908 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 121, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 25, 944 AD. It contains total eclipses from July 10, 1070 through October 9, 1809; hybrid eclipses on October 20, 1827 and October 30, 1845; and annular eclipses from November 11, 1863 throughFebruary 28, 2044. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 7, 2206. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 39 at 6 minutes, 20 seconds on June 21, 1629, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds onFebruary 28, 2044. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[5]
| Series members 49–70 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
 October 9, 1809 |  October 20, 1827 |  October 30, 1845 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
 November 11, 1863 |  November 21, 1881 |  December 3, 1899 |
| 55 | 56 | 57 |
 December 14, 1917 |  December 25, 1935 |  January 5, 1954 |
| 58 | 59 | 60 |
 January 16, 1972 |  January 26, 1990 |  February 7, 2008 |
| 61 | 62 | 63 |
February 17, 2026 |  February 28, 2044 |  March 11, 2062 |
| 64 | 65 | 66 |
 March 21, 2080 |  April 1, 2098 |  April 13, 2116 |
| 67 | 68 | 69 |
 April 24, 2134 |  May 4, 2152 |  May 16, 2170 |
| 70 | ||
 May 26, 2188 | ||
Themetonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
| 21 eclipse events between July 13, 2018 and July 12, 2094 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 12–13 | April 30–May 1 | February 16–17 | December 5–6 | September 22–23 |
| 117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
 July 13, 2018 |  April 30, 2022 | February 17, 2026 |  December 5, 2029 |  September 23, 2033 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
 July 13, 2037 |  April 30, 2041 |  February 16, 2045 |  December 5, 2048 |  September 22, 2052 |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 July 12, 2056 |  April 30, 2060 |  February 17, 2064 |  December 6, 2067 |  September 23, 2071 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
 July 13, 2075 |  May 1, 2079 |  February 16, 2083 |  December 6, 2086 |  September 23, 2090 |
| 157 | ||||
 July 12, 2094 | ||||
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipses on March 27, 1884 (part of Saros 108) andDecember 24, 1916 (part of Saros 111) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
| Series members between 1971 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 July 22, 1971 (Saros 116) |  June 21, 1982 (Saros 117) |  May 21, 1993 (Saros 118) |  April 19, 2004 (Saros 119) |  March 20, 2015 (Saros 120) |
February 17, 2026 (Saros 121) |  January 16, 2037 (Saros 122) |  December 16, 2047 (Saros 123) |  November 16, 2058 (Saros 124) |  October 15, 2069 (Saros 125) |
 September 13, 2080 (Saros 126) |  August 15, 2091 (Saros 127) |  July 15, 2102 (Saros 128) |  June 13, 2113 (Saros 129) |  May 14, 2124 (Saros 130) |
 April 13, 2135 (Saros 131) |  March 12, 2146 (Saros 132) |  February 9, 2157 (Saros 133) |  January 10, 2168 (Saros 134) |  December 9, 2178 (Saros 135) |
 November 8, 2189 (Saros 136) |  October 9, 2200 (Saros 137) | |||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||
|---|---|---|
 July 8, 1823 (Saros 114) |  June 17, 1852 (Saros 115) |  May 27, 1881 (Saros 116) |
 May 9, 1910 (Saros 117) |  April 19, 1939 (Saros 118) |  March 28, 1968 (Saros 119) |
 March 9, 1997 (Saros 120) | February 17, 2026 (Saros 121) |  January 27, 2055 (Saros 122) |
 January 7, 2084 (Saros 123) |  December 19, 2112 (Saros 124) |  November 28, 2141 (Saros 125) |
 November 8, 2170 (Saros 126) |  October 19, 2199 (Saros 127) | |
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