--- title: The Last Total Solar Eclipse - History and Facts description: A total solar eclipse is crossing the US on August 21, 2017. Here's when the last one took place canonical: https://time.com/4909098/last-total-solar-eclipse-of-the-sun/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T16:31:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:05:33.236Z article:section: Science og:title: When Was the Last Total Solar Eclipse? og:description: Before the Great American Eclipse on Aug. 21 og:url: https://time.com/4909098/last-total-solar-eclipse-of-the-sun/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8104bce4ac8ea22f/6988da7a7cdbac80bad59ace/eclipse-july-22-2009.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Japan - Solar Eclipse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: When Was the Last Total Solar Eclipse? twitter:description: Before the Great American Eclipse on Aug. 21 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8104bce4ac8ea22f/6988da7a7cdbac80bad59ace/eclipse-july-22-2009.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Was the Last Total Solar Eclipse? by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 21, 2017 4:31 PM UTC  A total solar eclipse is observed in the Pacific Ocean Iwoujima Island near Japan at 11.36 am on July 22,2009. A total solar eclipse is observed in the Pacific Ocean Iwoujima Island near Japan at 11.36 am on July 22,2009.Noboru Hashimoto—Corbis/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 21, 2017 4:31 PM UTC A [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4874900/total-solar-eclipse-how-watch-online/) crossing the U.S. from coast to coast is [drawing the attention of millions of Americans](http://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/) on Aug. 21, but when was the last [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4834676/total-solar-eclipse-2017-rare/)? The answer depends on where you are. It’s been a while since America has seen a total solar eclipse, but Earth as a whole sees one about once every 18 months. Here’s what you need to know: ## Last Total Solar Eclipse in the U.S. It’s been more than three decades since the total solar eclipse of Feb. 26, 1979, which crossed through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, before heading north to Canada, [according to NASA](https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/when-was-last-solar-eclipse-seen-contiguous-united-states-and-when-will-next-one-happen). That’s the last time the contiguous U.S. has seen a total solar eclipse, until the one on Aug. 21, 2017. **_NEXT:_** [**_Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes_**](http://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/) ## Last Total Solar Eclipse Abroad The last time a total solar eclipse crossed Earth was March 9, 2016\. The total eclipse traversed parts of Indonesia, including Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi, while viewers in Australia and parts of south Asia and east Asia were able to see a partial eclipse, [according to NASA](https://web.archive.org/web/20080805092726/http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov:80/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2016Mar09Tgoogle.html). If you miss Monday’s eclipse, here’s a list of [all the upcoming total solar eclipses](http://time.com/4897581/total-solar-eclipse-years-next/) over the next 50 years. 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