Eclipse 2028 Planning Guides

Long-form guides to seeing the 22 July 2028 total solar eclipse well: planning, photography, weather strategy, and the science behind the shadow.

By Mark Mayo, who has stood in the Moon's shadow at three total solar eclipses. Updated .

These guides and tools cover the parts of planning for 22 July 2028 that the individual city pages cannot: the decisions that come before you pick a town, and the skills you will use on the day itself. Each guide stands alone, but they were written as a set, and they cross-reference each other where one decision depends on another.

If this is your first total eclipse, start with the first-timer's plan - it covers where to be, when to book, and what the day actually looks like hour by hour. Read the how-eclipses-work guide alongside it, because understanding why a 99 percent partial eclipse is nothing like totality is what makes the rest of the planning worth doing. Then choose your region: the inland NSW road-trip guide and the NZ sunset eclipse guide argue the two main alternatives to watching from Sydney.

Two guides matter most in the final weeks. The weather guide sets out a 48-hour decision framework you should read well before eclipse week, then follow mechanically when it arrives. The photography guide comes last, deliberately - its central advice is to automate everything or bring nothing, and to spend your first totality watching the sky rather than a screen.

How to See the 2028 Total Solar Eclipse: A First-Timer's Plan

For anyone who has never stood in the Moon's shadow and wants one plan to follow. The most useful part is the eclipse-day timeline: where to be by late morning, exactly when glasses go on and come off, and why you should stay put after totality instead of joining the traffic.

Photographing the 2028 Eclipse: From Phone to Telephoto

For photographers deciding how much gear to commit, from phone to telephoto. The core of it is a bracketed exposure ladder for totality that you automate in advance — plus a blunt case for watching your first eclipse with your eyes and photographing your second.

Why Aotearoa New Zealand Gets a Sunset Eclipse in 2028

For anyone watching from the South Island, where totality arrives with the Sun under 10 degrees high and terrain can hide the whole event. The single most useful idea: stand on your intended spot at 4:15 p.m. on a clear July afternoon beforehand — this can help identify obstructions, but weather and access may differ on eclipse day. Use a suitable solar viewer whenever looking at the bright Sun.

The Inland NSW Eclipse Road Trip: Sydney to Dubbo to Bourke

For travellers weighing Sydney's convenience against longer totality and clearer inland skies. Its centrepiece is the totality corridor table — Bourke's 4 minutes 6 seconds down to Sydney's 3:48 — and the case for basing at Dubbo with room to reposition on eclipse morning.

Eclipse Weather: How to Read Cloud Forecasts Like a Chaser

For everyone, wherever you plan to watch. The takeaway is a written 48-hour decision schedule: historical cloud statistics choose your base months out, model forecasts choose your region at 48 hours, and the live satellite loop makes the final move-or-stay call at dawn.

How Total Solar Eclipses Work: Magnitude, Saros, and Why Totality Is So Rare

For readers who want the mechanics behind the spectacle: magnitude versus obscuration, the saros cycle, and why Sydney waited 171 years. Its most useful clarification is that totality is a switch, not a dial — which is the reason travelling into the path matters at all.

Choosing a Viewing Site for the 2028 Eclipse

For anyone choosing where to stand. It explains the measured site tables on the city pages, what the terrain model can and cannot see, and the quick checks that catch the rest.

Interactive Tools and Special Resources

Build a personal plan, compare totality with a deep partial eclipse, or use a resource written for history, classrooms, families, accessibility and citizen science.

Totality vs 99%: Why One Percent Changes Everything

Compare a 99% partial eclipse with totality: corona visibility, brightness, eye protection, contact timing, and why the umbral path matters.

Build Your 2028 Eclipse-Day Plan

Create and print a private 2028 eclipse checklist based on totality status, group, transport, access needs, and weather fallback choices.

Sydney's 1857 Total Solar Eclipse

A source-led guide to researching Sydney's 25 March 1857 total solar eclipse and comparing historical records carefully with the 2028 event.

Dunedin's 1163 Total Solar Eclipse

NASA's catalogue confirms 27 December 1163 as Dunedin's last total solar eclipse before 22 July 2028 - what that record does and doesn't establish.

The 1922 Wallal Eclipse That Tested Einstein

How the 21 September 1922 total solar eclipse at Wallal, Western Australia, produced one of the first strong confirmations of general relativity.

Eclipses in Aboriginal and Māori Astronomy

What recorded Aboriginal and Māori traditions say about solar eclipses: the Sun woman and Moon man, Whiro and the choked Moon, and stories dated by eclipses.

2028 Eclipse News: Events, Plans and Announcements

Dated, sourced news about the 22 July 2028 total eclipse: Dunedin's festival bid, Bathurst's eclipse weekend, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney bookings and more.

Eclipse Weather Decision Timeline

A 30-day to eclipse-morning weather workflow using climatology, forecasts, warnings, satellite imagery, travel limits, and fixed movement deadlines.

Travelling to Totality from Outside the Path

Road distance, driving time and totality at the nearest path towns from Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Alice Springs and Auckland.

Eclipse Day with Children: A Family Safety Guide

Plan a safe, calm 2028 eclipse day with children: viewer practice, supervision roles, waiting time, identification, sensory needs, and filter timing.

Eclipse 2028 Classroom Pack: Lessons and Activities

A classroom-ready sequence for teaching eclipse geometry, safe projection, contact times, evidence quality, and observation planning for 22 July 2028.

Citizen Science During the 2028 Eclipse

Design a repeatable eclipse observation of temperature, light, shadows, sound, or animal behaviour without compromising eye safety.

Eclipse Glossary: Terms Explained in Plain Language

Plain-language definitions of umbra, penumbra, totality, magnitude, the Saros cycle, Besselian elements and other terms used in our 2028 eclipse guides.

After 2028: The Next Total Solar Eclipse in 2030

The 25 November 2030 total solar eclipse crosses southern Africa and reaches Australia again at sunset - what's confirmed so far and how it compares to 2028.

Accessible Eclipse Viewing Guide

Plan step-free access, seating, toilets, transport, sensory needs, communication, medication, and companion roles for eclipse day.

Recently updated

Pages are updated when sources change or gaps are found, not on a fixed schedule. Most recently changed:

Start with the Basics

New to eclipses? Read the first-timer's plan, then pick your city from the city guides hub and check eye safety before the day.