Do Other Planets Have Total Solar Eclipses Too?

We all know that Earth can have total solar eclipses thanks to its unique position in the solar system. But what about the other planets? Can they witness total solar eclipses as well?

An image of a rare triple eclipse on Jupiter. Photograph courtesy of: NASA Visualization Explorer

On August 21, a total solar eclipse will cut a path through mainland America, plunging the country into twilight level darkness for around 90 minutes. Dubbed as The Great American Eclipse, the event is expected to draw huge crowds as the U.S hasn’t witnessed a total solar eclipse since February 1979.

As Earthlings, we have the privilege to revel in the celestial spectacle but what about the other planets in our solar system? Do they get to experience this cosmic phenomenon as well?

A total solar eclipse occurs when a planet, its moon, and the sun are aligned along the same plane, and a substantially sized moon passes between the planet and its sun blocking the sun’s disc entirely, casting a dark shadow over the planet’s surface.

While total solar eclipses happen on earth once every 18 months or so, Mercury and Venus cannot have an eclipse as both the planets don’t have any moons.

Mars, which has two moons, Deimos and Phobos, can only experience partial eclipses as both the satellites are too small to form a total solar eclipse that would be visible from the Red Planet.

“The gas giants — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — can all have total solar eclipses, as they have large moons and the sun appears small to them, But because these planets are made of gas, it would be impossible to stand on them and see such solar eclipses,” writes astronomer Matija Cuk on the Cornell University blog, Ask an Astronomer.

Jupiter has more than 60 moons, including Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system that exceeds even the planet Mercury in diameter. The planet can have total solar eclipses as Jupiter’s moons orbit on the same plane as the sun. In fact, it’s possible for there to be multiple eclipses occurring at the same time, according to Physics Girl creator Dianna Cowern.

“In other cases, such as that of Saturn’s moon Titan, the angular size of the satellite in the sky is far greater than that of the Sun, resulting in a solar occultation,” explains Gizmodo.

Uranus has 27 moons which circle around the lopsided planet in the band of rings stretched across the planet’s equator. The Ice Giant and its moons only align edge-on with the Sun every 42 years, making solar eclipses an extremely rare phenomenon for the seventh planet.

On Pluto, which takes 248 years to complete a single orbit, eclipses can happen for years on end. Charon, the largest of the five known moons of the dwarf planet is roughly half its size. “When Pluto’s in eclipse season, twice during its 248-year orbit, because Pluto and Charon essentially orbit around each other every six days, you get an eclipse every six days,” Planetary Society astronomer Bruce Betts tells Gizmodo.