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The total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027

The longest total eclipse on reachable land this century. Up to 6 minutes 23 seconds of darkness at midday, on a path from the Atlantic across southern Spain, North Africa, Egypt and the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

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until greatest eclipse, 10:07 UTC (13:07 Cairo · 14:07 Dubai · 12:07 Madrid).

Where the shadow goes

The Moon's shadow touches down in the Atlantic at sunrise and races east at roughly 2,000 km/h. In order, the path of totality crosses:

  1. Southern Spain: Cádiz, Málaga, and the coasts of Granada and Almería, with Gibraltar and Ceuta.
  2. Morocco (Tangier) and Algeria (Oran).
  3. Tunisia (Sfax) and Libya (Benghazi).
  4. Egypt: central Egypt including Luxor, where totality is longest.
  5. Saudi Arabia: Jeddah and Mecca in the south-west.
  6. Yemen (Sana'a) and the tip of Somalia, before the shadow leaves over the Indian Ocean.

Everywhere else from Iceland to India sees a partial eclipse: the Moon takes a bite out of the Sun, the light goes strange, but the Sun never disappears. That includes the whole Arabian Peninsula outside the path, so from the Gulf the choice is a deep partial at home or a short flight to Jeddah or Luxor for the real thing.

Why this one is special

Totality is usually two or three minutes. This eclipse gets over six because of a rare alignment of three things at once: the Moon is near perigee, its closest point to Earth, so its shadow is unusually wide; Earth is only a month past aphelion, its farthest point from the Sun, so the Sun looks slightly smaller; and the shadow crosses low latitudes around local midday, where Earth's rotation keeps pace with it for longest. The July 2009 eclipse lasted a few seconds longer at its peak, but that peak was out over the Pacific Ocean. This one peaks over land, within reach of Luxor.

What you will see in totality

In the last minute before totality the light drops as if a dimmer switch were turned, shadows sharpen, the temperature falls, and the western horizon darkens as the shadow arrives. Then the last bead of sunlight winks out, the corona appears as a pearl-white crown around a black disc, bright planets and stars come out, and the horizon glows with a 360-degree sunset. Six minutes later it runs backwards. The written answers below explain each piece of the physics; the episodes animate it.

The science, one question at a time

How to watch it safely

Looking at the partial phases with the naked eye, through sunglasses, binoculars or a phone camera can permanently damage your retina, and it does not hurt while it happens. Use eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard and are undamaged, or project the Sun through a pinhole onto a sheet of paper. Solar filters go on the front of a telescope or camera, never at the eyepiece. Only during totality itself, when the Sun is completely covered, is it safe to look directly, and the moment a sliver returns the glasses go back on.

Test yourself before the day

Watch the eclipse course in order

Figures follow NASA's eclipse predictions (Fred Espenak) as compiled on Wikipedia: greatest eclipse 10:07:50 UTC, magnitude 1.079, maximum totality 6 min 23 s in Egypt's New Valley Governorate. Local circumstances for any town are worth checking on a dedicated eclipse map before you travel.

Get the eclipse episodes as they land

New episodes on the 2027 eclipse are coming. One email per full episode, nothing else.