Newcastle and the 22 July 2028 total solar eclipse

Newcastle eclipse times (AEST)

Eclipse begins 12:41:19 pm · Maximum 2:02:07 pm (99.7% covered) · Eclipse ends 3:15:12 pm.

What 99.7% looks like

At 99.7%, the Sun shrinks to a thin crescent. The light turns cold and metallic, shadows sharpen and it gets noticeably cooler. Keep your eclipse glasses on the whole time. Totality is just 24 km south if you want to add the corona.

Car-free option: take the train south

The Central Coast & Newcastle Line runs from Newcastle Interchange through Lake Macquarie to the Central Coast. Morisset, inside the path with about 1 min 40 s of totality, is under an hour away by train, and Wyong (about 2 min 43 s) a little further. Expect crowded services, so travel in the morning.

Driving south: timing matters

Hundreds of thousands of Hunter residents live just north of the edge, and many will drive south on the M1 and Pacific Highway on Saturday morning. Leave before 9 am. Catherine Hill Bay and Munmorah have small car parks and narrow roads, so have a backup further south like Norah Head, The Entrance or Wyong.

What you'll see from Newcastle, minute by minute

Times are AEST for Newcastle CBD.

1. 12:41:19 pmfirst contact. Look through your glasses, not around them: the Moon has just touched the right-hand edge of the Sun, a small dent at first.
2. About 1:32 pma little over half the Sun, about 55%, is covered. The light over the harbour loses its warmth and looks slightly metallic, and under street trees the dappled spots on the footpath turn into small crescents.
3. About 1:47 pmabout 79% covered. It is only mid-afternoon, but the light suggests dusk. On a July day that averages 15.9°C at 3 pm the cooling is noticeable, and birds may fall silent.
4. About 1:57 pmabout 95% covered. The Moon's shadow is racing in from the north-west at more than 4,000 km/h, bound for Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast, and the north-western sky may start to darken.
5. 2:02:07 pmmaximum eclipse, 99.7% covered. From Fort Scratchley a thin crescent of Sun hangs over the harbour entrance towards Stockton, still far too bright to look at without glasses. The city goes dim but never dark. Turn south: over Lake Macquarie and Catherine Hill Bay, where totality is happening at this moment, the sky may look much darker.
6. 3:15:12 pmlast contact. The Moon moves clear and the Sun over Newcastle is whole again.

Where the edge is

For Newcastle, the line that matters is about 24 km south of the CBD. The northern edge of the path reaches the coast at Caves Beach and Swansea, then heads north-west past Wangi Wangi and Toronto, under Cessnock, through Pokolbin, between Broke and Singleton and on past Denman and Merriwa. Everything on the city side of it, from the CBD and Merewether to Charlestown, Warners Bay and Belmont, gets about 99 to 99.99% of the Sun covered. Once you cross the line, totality builds quickly and then more slowly. Expect about 50 s at 2 km inside, 75 s at 5 km, 1 min 40 s at 10 km and about 2½ min at 22 km.

Where to go for totality

Catherine Hill Bay (about 1 min 13 s, 40 min), Wybung Head and Frazer Park in Munmorah SCA (1 min 31 to 42 s, 50 min), Morisset Showground (1 min 44 s, 45 min), Norah Head (2 min 16 s, 1 h) or The Entrance (2 min 43 s, 1 h). Leave before 9 am. Hundreds of thousands of people live just north of the line.

Where to look

At maximum the Sun is about 29° up in the north-north-west, on a bearing of 327° true, roughly a third of the way up the sky. From Fort Scratchley that is out over the harbour entrance towards Stockton, open water with nothing in the way. In the CBD the buildings are the problem. Anything on your NNW side hides the Sun if you are closer to it than about 1.8 times its height, so a 20-storey (60 m) tower needs 110 m of clear ground between you and it, and a 10 m tree 18 m. At Catherine Hill Bay the beach faces east, so turn your back to the sea: the Sun is behind you, over the village and hill.

In the city, check the buildings first: stand further from anything on your NNW side than about 1.8× its own height. A 20-storey tower needs 110 m of clearance; a 10 m tree, 18 m.

How long totality lasts around Newcastle

Times AEST, computed from JPL DE421 lunar ephemeris and cross-checked against NASA/Espenak Besselian elements. Swansea and Caves Beach sit on the edge itself, and for places close to it, like Catherine Hill Bay, durations can be out by 10 s or more.

Where to watch in Newcastle

Glasses on for the whole eclipse

Nowhere in the city reaches totality, and at no point in the eclipse is the Sun safe to look at with the naked eye, from Newcastle or anywhere else. Keep ISO 12312-2 certified glasses on from 12:41:19 pm right through to 3:15:12 pm, including the minutes around 2:02:07 pm when only a sliver is left: at 99.7% that sliver is still bright enough to burn your retina. If you go south into the path, the rule is the same: certified glasses stay on for the whole eclipse, from first contact to last contact, including the minutes of totality.

Will it be clear?

Nobbys averages 9.7 clear and 9.5 cloudy July days; Williamtown 11.3 clear. The Central Coast spots to the south have similar odds. (Mean 3 pm temperature in July: 15.9°C.)

Expect a mass southward drive on Saturday morning. Several hundred thousand Hunter residents live just north of the line, and the nearest totality sites (Catherine Hill Bay, Munmorah SCA, Morisset, Norah Head) are small. Leave early, or pick a bigger site further south (The Entrance, Wyong, Gosford).

Common questions

Schools, councils and events

Because 22 July 2028 is a Saturday, Newcastle schools need to hand out glasses and teach the safety rules on Friday 21 July or before. Councils, clubs, venues and accommodation hosts running a viewing event should plan on one certified pair for each person there. Newcastle has 168,873 people, and several hundred thousand Hunter residents live just north of the line, so expect stock to tighten in the last weeks. On offer: bulk cartons, fundraising boxes of 20 to 250 pairs for schools and clubs, and custom-branded glasses from 500 units with an artwork proof before printing. A viewing event at Fort Scratchley or anywhere else in the city stays in eclipse, so every guest keeps glasses on for the full two and a half hours.

• Bulk & wholesale
• Custom-branded glasses
• School & club fundraising
• Eclipse safety plan for schools

Nearby guides

• Lake Macquarie eclipse guide
• Central Coast eclipse guide
• Maitland eclipse guide
• Cessnock eclipse guide
• 2028 eclipse times across Australia
• Interactive eclipse map

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