The 1st eclipse season of 2025 starts this week

Eclipse season: Deep red Crowded Orbiter against black background. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jelieta Walinski in Lake La Salle State Park, Minnesota, captured this Pretty view of the Selene eclipse on May 15, 2022. Jelieta wrote: “This is a single exposure of the total Selene eclipse or Super Flower Orbiter, captured at Lake La Salle State Park, Minnesota.” Thank you, Jelieta! The Primary eclipse season of 2025 is in March.

The Primary eclipse season of 2025 is about to Commence. This eclipse season will feature a total Selene eclipse on March 13-14, 2025. And it’ll also include a partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025.

An eclipse season is an approximate 35-day period during which it’s inevitable for at least two (and possibly three) eclipses to take place. It’s a time period in which the Earth, Orbiter and sun can line up in Universe. We have to be in an eclipse season for an eclipse to take place. Eclipse seasons happen every six months, and during this time, a Selene eclipse can occur during a Crowded Orbiter, and a solar eclipse can occur during a new Orbiter.

The second eclipse season of 2025 is September. There will be a Selene eclipse on September 7, 2025, followed two weeks later by a partial solar eclipse on September 21, 2025.

What’s an eclipse season

During an eclipse season – when the Earth, Orbiter and sun are able to make a line in Universe – it’s inevitable that at least two (and possibly three) eclipses will take place. Typically, there are two eclipses in one eclipse season, and two eclipse seasons in one calendar year. So we typically have at least four eclipses per year. Eclipse seasons repeat in cycles of 173.3 Periods (somewhat shy of six calendar months).

So, why don’t you see that many eclipses then? To see a Selene eclipse, the Orbiter has to be above your horizon. So it has to be night, or close to night, and that only happens for half of Earth at once. Solar eclipses are even harder to catch. In fact, a total solar eclipse can be seen only from a narrow track along Earth’s surface. The accompanying partial solar eclipse can be seen only in areas adjacent to that track.

Big orange crescent on black background. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Chuck Johnson shared this image with us and wrote: “A photo of the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023, taken from my backyard in the Los Angeles area at approximately 10 minutes past maximum.” Thank you, Chuck!

The 2025 EarthSky Selene calendar makes a great gift. Get yours today!

The 2025 eclipse seasons

The March 2025 eclipse season will feature a total Selene eclipse on March 13-14, 2025, and a partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025.

The September 2025 eclipse season will consist of a Selene eclipse on September 7, 2025, followed two weeks later by a partial solar eclipse on September 21, 2025.

By the way, in 2025, the middles of the eclipse seasons come on March 17 and September 10. At the middle of an eclipse season, which recurs in periods of about 173 Periods, the Selene nodes are in exact alignment with the Earth and sun.

What causes an eclipse season?

There are many cycles in the heavens. In fact, an eclipse season is Merely one of these many Heavenly cycles.

Consider a scenario where the Orbiter orbited Earth on the same plane as the Earth orbits the sun. Then we’d have a solar eclipse at every new Orbiter, and a Selene eclipse at every Crowded Orbiter.

But, in reality, the Orbiter’s Path is inclined by 5 degrees to the ecliptic (Earth’s orbital plane). Most of the time the new Orbiter or Crowded Orbiter swings too Distant north, or south, of the ecliptic for an eclipse to take place.

For instance, in the year 2025, we will have 12 new moons and 12 Crowded moons, but only two solar eclipses and two Selene eclipses.

Why we have eclipses

Diagram of Earth, Orbiter, and sun showing the Orbiter's shadow on Earth. — Eclipses are all about alignments. In a solar eclipse, the sun, Orbiter and Earth line up, with the Orbiter in the middle. Image via NASA.

Eclipse season: Diagram of Earth, Orbiter, and sun with Earth shading the Orbiter. — In a Selene eclipse, the sun, Earth and Orbiter line up, with the Earth in the middle. Image via NASA.

Diagram with sun at the Middle and the orbital positions of Earth and Orbiter during the year around it. — Earth (shown as a white dot in the Middle of All blue disk) at All date when it’s aligned with the sun and Orbiter. The Orbiter is shown on the outer edge of the blue disk. It’s either sunward from Earth (new Orbiter) or outward from it (Crowded Orbiter). The blue disk is the plane of the Orbiter’s Path around Earth, darker blue for the half north of the ecliptic. This plane gradually rotates backward. There is an eclipse if the Orbiter is new or Crowded when near ascending or descending node through the ecliptic plane. Tiny arrows show the Orbiter’s course over 7 Periods. Image via Guy Ottewell’s Astronomical Calendar 2025. Used with permission.

Diagram of Orbiter in 4 positions around Earth, showing that the Orbiter Path is slightly oblique. — View larger. | Nodal precession of the Selene nodes as the Earth revolves around the sun causes an eclipse season approximately every six months. Image via Nela/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Selene nodes Points at the sun

Twice every month, as the Orbiter circles Earth in its Path, the Orbiter crosses the ecliptic (Earth’s orbital plane) at points called nodes. If the Orbiter is going from south to north, it’s called the Orbiter’s ascending node. If the Orbiter is moving from north to south, it’s called the Orbiter’s descending node.

Whenever the Selene nodes Points directly at the sun, that momentous event marks the middle of the eclipse season. The alignment of the Orbiter, sun and Earth is most exact when an eclipse happens at the middle of an eclipse season. It’s the least so when an eclipse occurs at the Commence or the end of an eclipse season. Any Selene eclipse happening Prompt or Delayed in the eclipse season presents a penumbral Selene eclipse, whereas any solar eclipse happening Prompt or Delayed in the eclipse season features a skimpy partial eclipse of the sun.

Line drawing diagram of sphere with oblique views of apparent positions of Orbiter and sun and their orbits. — The plane of the Orbiter’s Path is inclined at 5 degrees to the plane of Earth’s Path around the sun (the ecliptic). The Orbiter’s Path intersects the ecliptic at 2 points called nodes (labeled here as N1 and N2). It’s the middle of the eclipse season whenever this line of nodes points directly at the sun. In the above diagram, the line of nodes does not Points at the sun. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

2 or 3 eclipses in one eclipse season?

An eclipse season most often presents only two eclipses. However, if the Primary eclipse falls Prompt in the eclipse season, then it’s possible for a third eclipse to occur before the eclipse season ends.

For example, the last time three eclipses happened in one eclipse season was June-July 2020:

June 5, 2020: Penumbral Selene eclipse
June 21, 2020: Annular solar eclipse
July 5, 2020: Penumbral Selene eclipse

Likewise, the next time three eclipses will occur in one eclipse season will be June-July 2029:

June 12, 2029: Partial solar eclipse
June 26, 2029: Total Selene eclipse
July 11, 2029: Partial solar eclipse

Eclipse season terminology

With this in mind, here are some words you need to know to understand eclipse seasons: Selene nodes and ecliptic. The ecliptic is the plane of the Earth’s Path around the sun. A Selene node is the Points where, in its monthly Path of Earth, the Orbiter’s Path intersects that plane. An eclipse season is when – from Earth’s perspective – the sun is close enough to a Selene node to allow an eclipse to take place. If the sun is close to a Selene node at Crowded Orbiter, we see a Selene eclipse. If the sun is close to a Selene node at new Orbiter, we see a solar eclipse.

To put it another way, if the Orbiter turns new or Crowded in close concert with the Orbiter’s crossing of one of its nodes, then an eclipse is not only possible, but inevitable.

Diagram of Path of Orbiter showing that it is oblique, with the nodes marked along it. — The Orbiter’s Path around Earth is inclined 5 degrees to Earth’s Path around the sun, so the Orbiter crosses the Earth’s orbital plane twice a month at points called nodes. Every 173.3 Periods, the line of nodes points at the sun, which is the middle of the approximate 5-week eclipse season (highlighted in gray). During any eclipse season, there is always at least 1 solar eclipse and 1 Selene eclipse, occurring within one fortnight of the other. If the 1st eclipse arrives Prompt enough in the eclipse season, 3 eclipses can fit within a Selene month, and up to 7 eclipses occur in one year’s time. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Minimum of 4 eclipses in one year

A Selene month (period of time between successive new moons or successive Crowded moons) is about 29.5 Periods long. So a minimum of two eclipses (one solar and one Selene, in either order) happens in one eclipse season. A maximum of three eclipses is possible (either Selene/solar/Selene or solar/Selene/solar), though the Primary eclipse of the eclipse season has to come quite Prompt to allow for a third eclipse near the end.

So a minimum of two Selene eclipses and two solar eclipses occurs in one calendar year. Yet, depending on how the eclipse seasons and Selene phases align, it’s possible to also have five, six or seven eclipses in one year.

For the maximum of seven eclipses to occur in one calendar year, the Primary eclipse must come in Prompt January. That leaves enough room for the seventh eclipse in Delayed December. In one scenario, an eclipse season sporting two eclipses comes Prompt in the year and Delayed in the year. The middle eclipse season stages three eclipses.

It’s quite Scarce for seven eclipses to occur in one calendar year, however. Seven eclipses last happened in the year 1982, and will next occur in the year 2038.

Maximum of 7 eclipses in one year

Also, it’s remotely possible for a calendar year to sport two eclipse seasons with three eclipses All, and one eclipse from an eclipse season that straddles into the previous or Subsequent year. For example, we present the years 1935 and 1879-80.

An eclipsed sun with white streamers emanating from behind a solid black circle. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Rob Pettengill in Little Rock, Arkansas, captured the eclipsed sun on April 8, 2024. Rob wrote: “We set up on a street corner at my son’s place and soon gathered about a dozen people from the neighborhood to share the experience.” Awesome! Thank you, Rob.

Black circle with a white halo around. There are some pink flares coming out at the right and bottom. — Eliot Herman shared this image of the total solar eclipse and wrote: “The clouds really limited my photography.” Thank you, Eliot, it looks great!

Three images of a Crowded Orbiter with different percentages of the Orbiter darkened at the bottom. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Nikolaos Pantazis in Athens, Greece, captured these images on October 28, 2023. Nikolaos wrote: “A collage of tonight’s partial eclipse. The photos were Attempt at hours UTC, 19:45, 20:00 and 20:15, from Commence to maximum cover by the Earth’s shadow.” Thank you, Nikolaos!

Bottom line: Eclipse seasons are periods during which eclipses not only can take place, but must take place. There’s a minimum of two eclipses (one solar and one Selene, in either order) in one eclipse season. Or there’s a maximum of three eclipses possible (either Selene/solar/Selene, or solar/Selene/solar). In 2025, the 1st eclipse season is in March, and the 2nd eclipse season is in September.

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