New Study Reveals When a Total Eclipse Last Occurred and Will Next Occur for Every Country on Earth

NationalEclipse.com has published new analysis examining when every country on Earth last experienced a total solar eclipse--and when each will experience its next one.

The analysis provides a country-level perspective on how total solar eclipses are distributed across time and geography.

The study found that the small Mediterranean nation of Malta has gone the longest without a total solar eclipse, last experiencing one in the year 1178, over eight centuries ago. After Malta, the second longest dry spell belongs to Saint Lucia, where a total solar eclipse hasn't occurred on that Caribbean island since 1286.

The research also highlights countries currently facing exceptionally long waits for future total solar eclipses. The African nation of Equatorial Guinea stands out as the country that will wait the longest for its next total eclipse, which will not occur until the year 2461. After Equatorial Guinea, the small European nation of Andorra has the longest wait, with a total solar eclipse not occurring again until 2433.

Malta is also identified as the country with the largest current span between past and future total solar eclipses, at 910 years.

Key Findings

-- Malta: Longest time since last total solar eclipse (last total eclipse in 1178)
-- Saint Lucia: Second longest time since last total solar eclipse (last total eclipse in 1286)
-- Equatorial Guinea: Longest wait for next total solar eclipse (next total eclipse in 2461)
-- Andorra: Second longest wait for next total solar eclipse (next total eclipse in 2433)
-- Malta: Largest current interval between past and future total solar eclipses (910 years between totals)

Dave Clark, operator of NationalEclipse.com, said several of the results were unexpected.

"One of the biggest surprises was discovering that almost two-thirds of countries and territories have experienced a total solar eclipse in the last 100 years," said Clark.

"I expected there to be more countries that haven't seen a total eclipse in over a century, especially considering the relatively small size of many countries combined with the relatively narrow width of total solar eclipse paths."

Clark also noted that the general consensus among eclipse experts is that, on average, a total solar eclipse occurs in the exact same place on Earth about once every 375 years. This new study, however, demonstrates how uneven eclipse visibility can actually be.

"This analysis shows that it's possible for entire countries to go much longer than 375 years without a total solar eclipse," said Clark.

Clark also commented on the apparent randomness of total solar eclipse paths. "You would expect that tiny countries would naturally have the longest wait between eclipses. But there are plenty of examples where much larger countries have longer current dry spells, like the Netherlands (420 years) and Ireland (366 years), than tiny city-states like Singapore and Monaco."

The analysis was conducted by reviewing almost 2,000 past and future total solar eclipse paths, identifying where each eclipse's path of totality intersected with present-day national and territorial borders.

The full table of countries and territories with their last and next total solar eclipse dates can be viewed at https://nationaleclipse.com/total-solar-eclipse-dates-by-country

NationalEclipse.com
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Launched in 2015 to provide accurate and reliable information for the 2017 total solar eclipse in the U.S., NationalEclipse.com quickly became one of the leading online resources about solar eclipses. For the historic 2024 total solar eclipse in North America, NationalEclipse.com was one of the most widely used websites, receiving millions of visitors in the weeks and months leading up to the eclipse.

Since the site launched in 2015, NationalEclipse.com has been featured as an authority on solar eclipses by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, and many other news sites. Featuring comprehensive information on eclipses of all types, people all over the world use NationalEclipse.com to learn more about eclipses, research where and how to view them, and plan their eclipse trips.

This release was published on openPR.