Grahan 2027: every eclipse of the year

2027 has five eclipses, two of the Sun and three of the Moon. Two of them can be seen from India: the solar eclipse of 2 August 2027, partial in the late afternoon in all ten cities on this site, and the penumbral lunar eclipse of the night of 20–21 February 2027, before dawn. The table gives each eclipse's type, the moment of greatest eclipse in Indian Standard Time and whether India sees it; the two Indian eclipses open their own pages with times for 10 cities.

All eclipses of 2027

Greatest, worldwide, is the moment the eclipse is deepest anywhere on Earth. A lunar eclipse runs at the same instant for everyone who can see the Moon; a solar eclipse begins, peaks and ends at a different time in each city, so on 2 Aug 2027 the ten cities on this site see it from 15:45 to 17:43 IST (times by city).

Why only some eclipses are seen from India

A solar eclipse is seen only where the Moon's shadow falls, an area a few thousand kilometres across at most, so most solar eclipses miss any one country. The annular eclipse of 6 February 2027 is greatest over the South Atlantic at 21:30 IST, after sunset in India, and is not seen here at all. The total eclipse of 2 August 2027 reaches its greatest in southern Egypt; India is far from the path of totality, but all 10 cities on this site lie inside the wider zone of partial eclipse and see part of the Sun covered, more in the south and west than in the north and east.

A lunar eclipse is seen by everyone on the night side of the Earth, wherever the Moon is above the horizon. The 17 August 2027 eclipse happens around midday in India, with the Moon below the horizon, so it is not seen here; the eclipses of the night of 20–21 February 2027 and 18 July 2027 happen with the Moon up.

Penumbral, partial and total eclipses of the Moon

The Earth casts two shadows: a dark inner umbra and a faint outer penumbra around it. A total lunar eclipse puts the whole Moon in the umbra, where it often turns a deep copper red; a partial eclipse dips part of it in. A penumbral eclipse only passes the Moon through the outer shadow, which dims it so gently that the change is hard to notice except near the deepest point.

All three lunar eclipses of 2027 are penumbral. The eclipse of the night of 20–21 February 2027 passes well inside the penumbra for about 4 hours and may show a faint shading around 04:43 IST; the 18 July 2027 eclipse only grazes its edge and leaves no visible trace.

Rahu, Ketu and the full and new moons

Jyotisha explains eclipses through Rahu and Ketu, the two points where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's. An eclipse can happen only when a full moon or a new moon falls close to one of them, which is why eclipses come in seasons about six months apart, often a solar and a lunar eclipse two weeks from each other.

In 2027 they fall on the days of well-known observances: Magha Amavasya (6 Feb 2027), Magha Purnima (the night of 20–21 February 2027), Guru Purnima (Ashadha Purnima, 18 Jul 2027), Shravana Amavasya (2 Aug 2027) and Shravana Purnima, the day of Raksha Bandhan (17 Aug 2027). The eclipse is reckoned by its day; the tithi itself may already have ended when the eclipse is seen. The classical texts read an eclipse in the light of the sign and nakshatra it falls in; the two event pages give those placements for reference.

Sutak: the traditional rule

Sutak is the traditional interval before an eclipse in which temple worship and ordinary cooking are set aside. Panchangs reckon it as four prahars, about 12 hours, before a solar eclipse begins and three prahars, about 9 hours, before a lunar eclipse begins, and it ends with the eclipse. It applies only where the eclipse can be seen. By the usual panchang convention a penumbral (upachhaya) lunar eclipse, in which the Moon never enters the Earth's dark inner shadow, is not counted as a grahan, so no sutak is reckoned for it.

In 2027 that leaves one eclipse with a sutak in India: the solar eclipse of 2 August 2027, whose sutak opens in the small hours of the same day, from 03:45 in Ahmedabad to 04:14 in Kolkata. Its page lists the time for each city, since it follows the local start of the eclipse.

The eclipses of 2026

All four eclipses of 2026 are past. The table lists their dates for reference, with what India saw.

Surya Grahan 2027 · Chandra Grahan 2027 · Purnima 2027 · Amavasya 2027 · Hindu festivals 2027 · Today's panchang

Eclipse times are calculated for each city and checked against an independent calculation to within a minute. Sign and nakshatra use the Lahiri ayanamsa. For reference.