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Path of totality begins in Namibia (Windhoek near the central line), then crosses Botswana, South Africa (Bloemfontein, Durban), and Lesotho, before traversing the southern Indian Ocean to South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland.
First total solar eclipse over southern Africa since 2002. The path starts in Namibia at sunrise and ends over southern Australia near sunset.
Time to greatest eclipse
Peak in your local time: 2030-11-25T06:51:37Z
Peak UTC
06:51:37
2030-11-25
Magnitude
1.047
Sun diameter
Max duration
3m 44s
central line
Obscuration
100.0%
Sun area covered
Saros
#133
44 of 72
Gamma
-0.387
Shadow axis (Earth-radii)
Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, southern Indian Ocean, southern Australia
Central path crosses
Namibia - Botswana - South Africa - Lesotho - Australia
Cities from the WorldClockTools clock catalog that fall in the central path or partial-eclipse band. Each link goes to the local clock page for that city.
Every phase of a solar eclipse outside of totality requires ISO 12312-2 certified solar viewing glasses or an equivalent solar filter on every optical instrument (telescope, binoculars, camera lens). The same standard applies to total solar eclipses. Glasses can come off only during the brief totality window on the central path; they must go back on the instant Baily's beads reappear at third contact.
Central-line duration is 3m 44s. A typical imaging plan brackets exposures from ~1/1000s for the chromosphere and Baily's beads down to ~2s for the outer corona, fired in a programmable sequence so the observer can watch with the naked eye for at least the middle third of totality.
Local sun altitude, the path crossing time of day, and recent weather climatology drive site selection. NASA's interactive eclipse map (linked below) gives the exact altitude and time for any coordinates on the path.
Editorial dossier
Historical significance
The November 25 2030 total solar eclipse is the second total solar eclipse over Australia in just over two years, following the July 22 2028 totality that crossed Sydney and the Northern Territory. Australia has not hosted two total solar eclipses within 28 months since 1922-1923, making the 2028-2030 pair one of the most concentrated bursts of Australian eclipse activity in over a century. The path begins at sunrise in the South Atlantic, crosses Namibia, Botswana, South Africa (just north of Durban) and Lesotho, then jumps the Indian Ocean to make landfall on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia and continue through outback New South Wales into Queensland, ending at sunset near Brisbane's hinterland.
Comparison to other eclipses
It is member 46 of 72 in Solar Saros 133, the same Saros family that produced the August 21 2017 'Great American Eclipse' (member 45). The 2030 event is therefore the direct Saros successor to 2017 — shifted ~120 degrees west and ~10 degrees south as the series migrates. For southern Africa, this is the first total solar eclipse over the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal region since December 4 2002, and the first total solar eclipse over Durban itself in living memory. Maximum totality on land — 2 minutes 32 seconds — falls just north of Durban.
Astrophotography context
Greatest eclipse occurs at 06:52 UTC with maximum totality 3 minutes 44 seconds (over the Indian Ocean) and 2 minutes 32 seconds at the best land sites near Durban. Over southern Africa the Sun is low-to-moderate (15-25 degrees) in the early morning — Durban sees totality at 07:35 local with the Sun at ~20 degrees, ideal for landscape compositions framing the corona above the Indian Ocean horizon. Over Australia the totality arrives at sunset: South Australia and far-western New South Wales see the Sun very low (under 10 degrees) in late afternoon, with the entire ~1800 km Australian path swept in about seven minutes. Plan tight exposure brackets (1/2000s for prominences through 4s for outer corona) and accept the trade-off: a low Sun yields a dramatic horizon shot but atmospheric extinction softens corona detail.
Top viewing destinations
Sources
Eclipse data depth
Reference fields include Total Solar Eclipse 2030-11-25: Saros context, magnitude / obscuration, path geometry, visibility countries, and city cross-references.
Data source: NASA / JPL
Eclipse data from NASA/JPL — Fred Espenak & Jean Meeus, Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses and Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses (NASA Technical Publications NASA/TP–2006-214141 and NASA/TP–2009-214172). Public domain; re-published here with attribution.
NASA page for this eclipse (path map & circumstances)eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
Greatest eclipse: November 25, 2030 at 06:51 UTC
