Total eclipse — Alaska (2033)
North America's next totality belongs to Alaska — a black sun over aurora country.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
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The moment of Total eclipse — Alaska (2033): https://nowsky.org/e/solar-eclipse-2033 — opens at the right place and time, replayable, no login.
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The story
On 30 March 2033 the path of totality crosses the Bering Sea and sweeps over Alaska — the first total eclipse on the North American continent since 2024, and Alaska's first since 1943, ninety years earlier. The path begins in Russia's Chukotka, crosses Alaska's west coast and the interior west of Fairbanks, and exits over the Arctic Ocean.
Inland, around Fairbanks, the eclipsed Sun stands low in the morning sky — totality over snow-covered landscape, and with luck aurora in the twilight before and after, a combination available nowhere else. Maximum duration is about 2 minutes 37 seconds.
The late-March Alaskan cold and cloud odds are the challenge. Interior Fairbanks has more clear days than the coast but mornings near −20 °C, when camera batteries and fingers freeze first. Late March also overlaps the end of aurora season, making a "double hunt" for eclipse and aurora on adjacent nights possible.
A total eclipse across mainland Alaska is a surprisingly practical expedition thanks to access from cities such as Anchorage and Fairbanks. Totality over snowbound boreal forest offers photographers a palette utterly unlike a tropical eclipse. The sky view replay previews the alignment over Fairbanks.
Why it matters
North America has a twenty-year gap in total eclipses between April 2024 and August 2044 (Montana and the Dakotas), and Alaska in 2033 is the only one in between. With much of the 2024 eclipse crowd looking for the next chance, the accessible Alaskan path is where that demand lands.
A high-latitude morning eclipse gives special conditions for the corona. The low Sun means a long path through the atmosphere that dims the outer corona, but reduced scattering near the horizon makes the sky darker during totality. With 2033 in the declining phase of the solar cycle, an equatorially stretched corona is expected.
Eclipse plus aurora means seeing both faces of the Sun's influence on Earth in one day — the Moon hiding the Sun by day, the solar wind lighting the atmosphere by night. Only March in Alaska offers both in one trip.
How to watch
Choose the 2033 eclipse in the sky view's event list to replay totality over Fairbanks on the morning of 30 March (around 10 am local time) — the black Sun and corona low in the south-east. Move the location to Anchorage to confirm only a partial eclipse is seen there.
The orbit view's event replay shows the Moon's shadow cone brushing Alaska near the pole; at high latitude the shadow strikes the surface obliquely and the path stretches out.
North America's next total eclipses are 23 August 2044 (Montana and the Dakotas) and a coast-to-coast crossing on 12 August 2045; all three can be compared in the sky view.
Judging the chance of aurora on eclipse day means watching solar-activity indices as well. In 2033 the Sun is in the declining phase of its cycle, so auroras are less frequent than at maximum, but Fairbanks lies beneath the auroral oval and faint aurora appears often even on quiet nights. During totality the sky darkens only to twilight level, so aurora in those few minutes would need strong activity to coincide. Aiming for aurora on the nights before and after the eclipse is the realistic expectation.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Background
Alaska's previous total eclipse was 4 February 1943; the eclipse of 20 July 1963 grazed the southern coast, and that of 10 July 1972 crossed the unpopulated north.
The 2033 eclipse belongs to Saros 120; the previous member was the eclipse of 20 March 2015 over Svalbard and the Faroe Islands. Both are high-latitude March eclipses sharing the combination of snow and aurora.
On the American side the main points in the path are Nome, Kotzebue and the area west of Fairbanks; Anchorage and Juneau lie outside it. Anadyr in Russia's Chukotka is inside the path but hard to reach.
FAQ
How long is totality?
About 2 minutes 37 seconds at most.
Is it visible from Anchorage?
Anchorage is outside the path and sees only a partial eclipse; totality runs through the interior west of Fairbanks and the west coast.
What is the weather like?
The interior has more clear days than the coast, but late-March mornings are around −20 °C.
Can aurora be seen too?
Late March is the end of aurora season, so there is a chance on adjacent nights, but no guarantee.
Related
- The Great American Eclipse (2017)
- Total eclipse — North Africa & Middle East
- Total solar eclipse of August 2026
- 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.