The total solar eclipse of 22 July
Greatest eclipse at 02:55 UTC on 22 July 2028, with the Sun at thirty degrees of Cancer. The path of totality crosses Australia from the northwest, passes directly over Sydney, and continues into New Zealand.
A total eclipse over a major city is rare, and Sydney has not had one in living memory. Totality there runs close to four minutes. As with any eclipse, the difference between being on the centre line and being fifty kilometres off it is the difference between totality and a very deep partial, which are not remotely the same experience.
An unusual spread of seasons
Most years have two eclipse seasons. 2028 effectively has three groupings, because the January pair sits at the very start of the year and the December total lunar eclipse belongs to a season that finishes in 2029.
That is an artefact of the calendar rather than of the sky. Eclipse seasons recur every 173 days or so, which does not divide neatly into 365, so they drift steadily earlier each year and occasionally a year catches the edges of three of them.
The January pair are a partial lunar eclipse on the 12th and an annular solar on the 26th. The July pair are a partial lunar on the 6th and the total solar on the 22nd.
The total lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve
At 16:51 UTC on 31 December the Moon passes fully into Earth's umbra with the Moon at ten degrees of Cancer. Visibility favours Europe, Africa and the Americas depending on local time, and the whole night side of the Earth sees the same thing at the same moment.
A total lunar eclipse turns the Moon copper or red, because the only sunlight reaching it has been bent through Earth's atmosphere and stripped of blue. The popular name for that is a blood moon, which is a description rather than a separate class of event.
The Cancer and Capricorn emphasis
Three of the five eclipses fall in Cancer, and one in Capricorn. That is the lunar nodes having moved onto the Cancer and Capricorn axis, which they do for about eighteen months at a time before shifting back a sign.
In practice that means 2028 is the year to check any Cancer or Capricorn placements in your own chart against the degrees in the table. Ten degrees of Cancer and thirty degrees of Cancer are the two that recur, and a placement within a degree or two of either is the case the tradition treats as significant.
The rest is interpretation, and it is marked as such here rather than presented as a forecast.
Questions people ask about this
When is the 2028 total solar eclipse?
22 July 2028, with greatest eclipse at 02:55 UTC. The path crosses Australia and passes directly over Sydney before continuing to New Zealand.
Will Sydney see a total solar eclipse in 2028?
Yes. The centre line runs over the city and totality there lasts close to four minutes, which is exceptional for a major population centre.
What is the eclipse on 31 December 2028?
A total lunar eclipse peaking at 16:51 UTC with the Moon at ten degrees of Cancer. The Moon turns red for the duration of totality, which is where the phrase blood moon comes from.
Why does 2028 have five eclipses?
Because the eclipse seasons drift earlier each year by about twenty days, and in 2028 the calendar catches the edges of three separate seasons rather than the usual two.
Which signs do the 2028 eclipses fall in?
Mostly Cancer, with one in Capricorn and one in Aquarius. That reflects the lunar nodes sitting on the Cancer and Capricorn axis during this stretch.
Is a 3 per cent partial lunar eclipse worth watching?
Honestly, not really. The January partial puts only a sliver of the Moon into the dark shadow, and the effect is difficult to notice without knowing exactly where to look.