An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, December 16 and Monday, December 17, 2085, with a magnitude of 0.9971. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 3.7 days before perigee (on December 20, 2085, at 14:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.
The path of annularity will be visible from parts of Micronesia and southwestern Mexico. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of northern Australia, Oceania, Hawaii, and western North America.
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.