Total solar eclipse — South Africa & Australia
Totality begins over South Africa at breakfast time and crosses the Indian Ocean to end at sunset in Australia.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
The moment of Total solar eclipse — South Africa & Australia: https://nowsky.org/e/solar-eclipse-2030 — opens at the right place and time, replayable, no login.
Available views: Orbit ✓ · Sky ✓
The story
The total eclipse of 25 November 2030 begins over South Africa at breakfast time and ends at sunset in Australia. The shadow arrives from the Atlantic on the Namibian coast, crosses Botswana and the northern interior of South Africa along the edge of the Kalahari, and heads out over the Indian Ocean. It is southern Africa's first totality since December 2002, 28 years earlier.
On the KwaZulu-Natal coast north of Durban the newly risen Sun is covered around 6:50 in the morning, low in the east. Totality lasts about two minutes across southern Africa; greatest eclipse, 3 minutes 44 seconds, falls in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Late November is the start of the interior rainy season, and morning skies are more reliable than afternoon ones.
The second half of the path crosses southern Australia — ashore at the Great Australian Bight, across South Australia into New South Wales, ending at sunset on the eastern side of the continent. Adelaide lies close to the track, and the Australian leg comes with a low evening Sun, so the two ends of the path offer very different eclipses.
Together with the Hokkaido annular of 1 June the same year, 2030 gives each hemisphere one central eclipse. Set Durban as the location in the sky view for the black sunrise above the eastern horizon, or enter any latitude and longitude to reproduce the duration at any point on the path.
Why it matters
A sunrise totality is a special case. With the Sun covered below 10 degrees, the shadow does not visibly sweep in from the west; instead the whole sky darkens, and corona and landscape share a single frame. The thick air blurs the image, and sea fog to the east is the main risk.
Scientifically it is a chance to observe the corona in the declining phase of the solar cycle. Compared with the maximum-era eclipses of 2024–2027, the change of magnetic structure toward polar plumes is captured at three-year intervals.
Both southern Africa and Australia offer good infrastructure and access. As the 2002 South African eclipse seeded regional astronomy outreach, 2030 is expected to be a major public event for the southern hemisphere.
How to watch
Totality track: Namibian coast (sunrise) → Botswana → northern South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal coast north of Durban 06:50 SAST, under 10° high) → Indian Ocean (maximum 3 min 44 s) → Great Australian Bight → South Australia near Adelaide → New South Wales at sunset. Partial phases across southern Africa, Madagascar, most of Australia and part of Antarctica. Not visible from Korea.
In Africa an open eastern sea or plain is essential; in Australia the west. A low Sun reddened by the air is no dimmer, so filters are required, and they come off only during totality.
The sky replay tracks the Sun over Durban and slows for the sunrise totality; enter any latitude and longitude for the timing and duration at any point on the path.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Background
The eclipse is the 55th of Saros 133. Its predecessor on 13 November 2012 was the Cairns total eclipse in Australia; its successor on 5 December 2048 crosses South America — a series that keeps returning to the southern hemisphere.
Southern Africa's previous totality was 4 December 2002 over northern South Africa and Mozambique; Australia has Exmouth on 20 April 2023 and Sydney on 22 July 2028 ahead of it, and stays busy with central eclipses in 2028, 2030, 2037 and 2038.
The Kushiro annular of 1 June the same year is the northern counterpart. Both happen with the Sun low, making 2030 a year of horizon eclipses.
The eclipse of 25 November 2030 belongs to Saros 133; the previous member was the Cairns eclipse of 13 November 2012 and the next is 5 December 2048. The path crosses Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, spans the Indian Ocean and ends at sunset in southern Australia north of Adelaide. Durban gets totality soon after sunrise, and on the Australian side the Sun is low near the horizon. In the southern early summer South Africa’s east coast has high cloud odds, and the inland Karoo desert is considered the alternative site.
FAQ
What time and how long at Durban?
Around 6:50 a.m., about two minutes on a newly risen Sun; the centre line runs along the coast north of Durban.
Where is the eclipse greatest?
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, at 3 minutes 44 seconds.
How does it look from Australia?
An evening eclipse from South Australia into New South Wales, with a low Sun covered near sunset.
Is it visible from Korea?
No — a southern-hemisphere path, and the middle of the night in Korea.
Related
- The 2030 annular over Hokkaido
- The 2028 total eclipse over Sydney
- The 2037 total eclipse over eastern Australia
- The Sun — object index
- The Moon — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.