19/01/2026
The Moon is currently moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.8 centimeters per year due to the tidal interaction between the two bodies. A straight linear extrapolation of that rate would indicate that total eclipses will no longer be possible in about 500 million years, because the Moon will then appear smaller than the Sun in the sky. But as some of the other responders here have pointed out, things are not so simple.
First, the rate of recession decreases as the Moon moves farther away, because the intensity of the tidal interaction decreases.
Second, the rate of recession varies depending on the configuration of the oceans and continents on Earth, since that affects the tidal drag on Earth’s rotation.
Third, the diameter of the Sun is slowly increasing as it evolves.
The first factor moves the time of last eclipse further into the future. The third factor moves it closer to the present. The second just muddies the calculation.
Put together all the details, and most likely the last regularly occurring eclipses will happen about 650 million years in the future.
But it gets even more complicated. The shape of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not constant, nor is the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Because of that, it is possible that there will be episodic eras of (very brief) solar eclipses continuing until 1.2 billion years in the future.
