An annular eclipse is a solar eclipse in which the Moon is slightly too small to cover the Sun. At the middle of the track a thin bright ring is left around the dark Moon. The eclipse of 17 February 2026 was one of these, and it was an unusual one because the line along which the ring could be seen ran almost entirely over the ice of Antarctica, where few people live and where the Sun stood only a little above the horizon. The Moon covered 96 per cent of the Sun’s width at the greatest point, and the ring lasted a little over two minutes there.
Where the eclipse was seen
The ring itself was seen only by research stations and expedition ships in Antarctica. On either side of that track a partial eclipse was visible in the far south of Argentina and Chile, in southern Africa, over the South Atlantic and the south of the Indian Ocean. NASA’s map, drawn by Fred Espenak, shows the partial region ending a little north of South Africa and Madagascar. The further from the track you were, the smaller the bite out of the Sun.
Our 49 cities
Of the 49 cities in the table, only two saw anything at all. In Durban the eclipse began at 14:10 local time, reached its greatest at 15:05 with the Sun 16 per cent covered, and ended at 15:57. In Port Louis, in Mauritius, it began at 16:39 and ended at 18:24, with the greatest at 17:34 and 32 per cent of the Sun covered. That is a modest dent, enough to show as a crescent in a pinhole projector, but not enough to change the daylight. Every other city, including all the cities in India, North America, Europe and Australia, was outside the area of partial eclipse, and the table says so.
In the Hindu calendar
The new moon of this day was Phalguna Amavasya in the purnimanta calendar and Magha Amavasya in the amanta one, and at the moment of greatest eclipse the Sun and the Moon stood together in Kumbha, the sidereal Aquarius, about four and a half degrees from its start, in Dhanishta nakshatra. These positions use the Lahiri ayanamsa, the one adopted by the Indian government and most Vedic almanacs, and are worked out to within a few hundredths of a degree. The conjunction in Kumbha is the detail that astrologers study. How, if at all, it touches an individual chart depends on the whole chart, which is a matter for an astrologer who knows it. A page on the Moon sign calculator tells you your own sign for comparison.
Sutak and observances
By the common rule, grahan observances belong to the places where the eclipse is visible. This eclipse could not be seen from India, so Indian almanacs do not call for sutak, closed temples or a fast for it, and ordinary worship went on as usual. Where it was visible, for the two cities that saw a small partial eclipse, the table gives the time at which a sutak of twelve hours would have begun for a family that keeps it. If you live where the eclipse was visible and wish to keep the rules, follow your family’s custom.
About the safety of watching
The Sun is never safe to look at during an eclipse, except for the minutes of totality, which this eclipse did not have. The note on safe viewing below applies to every solar eclipse, including one in which only a small part of the Sun is covered.
Watching a solar eclipse safely
Looking at the Sun, even when most of it is covered, can burn the retina, and the damage is painless while it happens. The only time the naked eye is safe is the few minutes of totality, when the Sun's bright disc is completely hidden, and that happens only on the narrow path of a total eclipse. At every other moment, and everywhere in a partial or annular eclipse, use one of these.
- Eclipse glasses or a handheld viewer marked ISO 12312-2, from a maker you trust. Throw away any that are scratched or torn. Ordinary sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed film and a stack of filters are not safe.
- A pinhole projector: a card with a small hole, held so that the Sun's image falls on a second card. The same works with the shadows under a leafy tree, which show hundreds of small crescents.
- No cameras, binoculars or telescopes pointed at the Sun without a proper solar filter fitted to the front of the lens, never behind it. Looking at a phone screen is safe, but pointing the phone's camera at the Sun for long can harm the sensor.
- Children should be watched by an adult, and anyone with an eye condition should ask their eye doctor before watching.
Many Indian families follow the traditional rule of not looking at the eclipse directly. That rule and the safety advice point the same way, and a pinhole view lets everyone share the sight.
Seen from 2 of the 49 cities. All times are local to each city and cut to the whole minute. For any other place use the eclipse visibility calculator.
How the solar eclipse times are worked out
The shadow of the Moon is described by a small set of numbers, the Besselian elements, that NASA publishes for every eclipse (Fred Espenak, eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov, public domain). For each city this site finds where the Moon's shadow axis passes in relation to the place and when the edge of the shadow reaches it, which gives first contact, the moment of greatest eclipse and last contact, and the share of the Sun's diameter covered, called the magnitude. The share of the Sun's disc that is hidden is the obscuration. The Sun's height above the horizon decides what can be seen, so where the Sun rises or sets during the eclipse the table says so and shows the first or last moment you can see it.
Times are the local clock time of the city, with daylight saving where it applies, cut to the whole minute. Magnitude and obscuration are for the moment shown in the Maximum column.
Sutak. By Hindu tradition the period of caution before a solar eclipse, sutak, begins twelve hours before first contact and ends when the eclipse ends. It is kept only at places where the eclipse can be seen. Temples close, cooking and eating are avoided in many households, and a bath and fresh food follow the eclipse. Some families go by a sutak of a different length, and some regions keep it more loosely, so follow your own family or temple. Children, the elderly and the unwell are generally excused from fasting.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is the difference between an annular and a total solar eclipse?
In a total eclipse the Moon is close enough to appear larger than the Sun and hides it fully. In an annular eclipse the Moon is farther away and looks a little smaller, so a ring of the Sun's surface is left visible around its edge. The ring is still far too bright to look at without a solar filter.
↳ Was the 17 February 2026 eclipse visible in India?
No. The Sun was in the sky over India at the time, but the Moon's outer shadow did not reach it. Indian panchangs list it as not visible, so no sutak was kept for it in India.
↳ Why was the ring seen only over Antarctica?
The Moon's shadow axis passed close to the edge of the Earth as seen from the Sun, so it touched down only at high southern latitudes. NASA gives a gamma value of minus 0.974 for this eclipse, which means the centre of the shadow passed very near the Earth's southern limb.