Total Solar Eclipse of August 2, 2027: Where, When and How Long

On Monday, August 2, 2027, the Moon's shadow will cross from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and turn day into dusk over southern Spain, North Africa and Arabia. The Sun will vanish for 2 min 54 s in Cádiz, 4 min 50 s in Tangier and 6 min 21 s in Luxor. The Moon will cover 42% of the Sun in London, 86% in Madrid and 95% in Cairo. The United States gets almost nothing.

• 42%London
• 75%Rome
• 86%Madrid
• 95%Cairo
• 100%Luxor

What time, and how much, in your city

The eclipse can be seen across Europe, northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and the clock is different everywhere. In London it begins at 9:03 am and peaks at 10:00 am. In Cairo it peaks just before 1:00 pm, in Mumbai at 4:41 pm. Type your city to see its local times and how much of the Sun will be covered, then press play and watch the eclipse run minute by minute.

In the Americas, it barely registers. Atlantic Canada sees it at sunrise: St. John's reaches 29% about half an hour later, and Halifax catches the end, with 15% covered as the Sun comes up. Parts of northern and eastern Maine get a sliver at sunrise, up to about 3%, and the rest of the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean see nothing. The same goes for Australia, Japan and South Africa.

Where the Sun disappears completely

The path of totality is about 250 km (155 miles) wide. It comes in from the Atlantic and crosses southern Spain, Gibraltar, northern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, then clips a corner of Sudan before running across Saudi Arabia, Yemen and northern Somalia. From Cádiz to Somalia the shadow takes a little over two hours. As far as Egypt, the farther east it goes, the longer the darkness lasts and the higher the Sun stands.

The path of totality and August's clouds

Few cloudsMore clouds

Where the Sun disappears completely

Place	Totality begins (local time)	Lasts	Sun height	Clouds in August
Cádiz Spain	10:45 am	2 min 54 s	37°	24%
Málaga Spain	10:48 am	1 min 52 s	39°	22%
Tarifa Spain	10:45 am	4 min 38 s	38°	22%
Gibraltar	10:45 am	4 min 27 s	38°	22%
Ceuta Spain	10:45 am	4 min 49 s	38°	24%
Tangier Morocco	8:44 am	4 min 50 s	38°	24%
Oran Algeria	9:51 am	5 min 08 s	43°	30%
Mahdia Tunisia	10:10 am	2 min 45 s	56°	24%
Sfax Tunisia	10:08 am	5 min 39 s	56°	21%
Djerba Tunisia	10:09 am	4 min 25 s	56°	19%
Benghazi Libya	11:27 am	6 min 09 s	67°	15%
Sohag Egypt	12:58 pm	6 min 22 s	81°	7%
Luxor Egypt	1:02 pm	6 min 21 s	82°	8%
Jeddah Saudi Arabia	1:22 pm	5 min 58 s	77°	41%
Abha Saudi Arabia	1:34 pm	6 min 03 s	72°	58%
Sanaa Yemen	1:44 pm	2 min 25 s	67°	64%
Bosaso Somalia	1:58 pm	4 min 04 s	58°	36%

Inside the path, what counts is how close you are to its center line. Tarifa and Ceuta, close to the middle, get more than four and a half minutes. Málaga, near the northern edge, gets less than two.

A 99% eclipse is not a total eclipse

Seville will reach 98.4% and Granada 99.2%. Faro, in Portugal's Algarve, 99.2%. Tripoli stops at 99.9%, Algiers and Aswan at 99.8%. Casablanca and Tunis get 97%, Cairo 95%. These numbers sound almost like 100%, but a partial eclipse is a different event.

The last 1% of the Sun still shines about 4,000 times brighter than a full Moon. It stays daytime, you still need your glasses, and you never see the corona, the Sun's pale outer atmosphere, which is the thing people cross the world for. Only when the last point of light goes out does twilight fall in seconds and the stars come out.

So if you are close to the path, go. From Almería to Roquetas de Mar, about 20 km, you go from nothing to 1 min 34 s. From Granada to Motril, about 70 km, to 1 min 41 s. From Seville to Jerez, about 90 km, to about a minute and a half. Just do not stop at the line itself: where totality lasts a few seconds, a small error in the place you pick can cost you all of it. Go far enough in to get at least a minute.

How much of the Sun, everywhere else

Outside the path, coverage falls away gradually with distance. Britain and Ireland get a morning eclipse: 27% in Edinburgh, 36% in Dublin, 42% in London, 47% in Cornwall. Paris gets 51%. Rome and Athens are around three quarters. In Spain, Barcelona reaches 82%. South Asia gets it in the late afternoon, with 32% in Mumbai and 30% in Karachi, and by Delhi and Moscow it has faded to a nibble of 8% or 9%.

How much of the Sun the Moon will cover

1-20%20-40%40-60%60-80%80-95%95%+Totality

The eclipse around the world, in local time

City	Begins	Deepest	Ends	Covered
Luxor	11:40 am	1:05 pm	2:26 pm	100%
Tangier	7:40 am	8:47 am	10:00 am	100%
Gibraltar	9:41 am	10:47 am	12:01 pm	100%
Cádiz	9:40 am	10:46 am	11:59 am	100%
Málaga	9:42 am	10:49 am	12:02 pm	100%
Seville	9:41 am	10:47 am	12:00 pm	98%
Casablanca	7:38 am	8:44 am	9:57 am	97%
Cairo	11:33 am	12:55 pm	2:16 pm	95%
Lisbon	8:40 am	9:44 am	10:55 am	93%
Madrid	9:45 am	10:51 am	12:02 pm	86%
Barcelona	9:50 am	10:58 am	12:11 pm	82%
Athens	11:16 am	12:32 pm	1:50 pm	78%
Riyadh	12:13 pm	1:32 pm	2:44 pm	76%
Rome	10:02 am	11:12 am	12:26 pm	75%
Istanbul	11:27 am	12:39 pm	1:50 pm	59%
Dubai	1:33 pm	2:44 pm	3:48 pm	53%
Paris	10:00 am	11:01 am	12:05 pm	51%
London	9:03 am	10:00 am	10:59 am	42%
Dublin	9:03 am	9:56 am	10:51 am	36%
Berlin	10:17 am	11:13 am	12:11 pm	34%
Mumbai	3:47 pm	4:41 pm	5:31 pm	32%
Nairobi	12:52 pm	2:01 pm	3:04 pm	31%
Edinburgh	9:11 am	10:00 am	10:51 am	27%

All 80 cities

What you will actually see

Below about 80%, you may not notice if nobody tells you. The eye adapts, and what remains of the Sun is plenty for an ordinary August day. The surprise is on the ground: under a tree, the gaps between the leaves project hundreds of tiny crescent Suns.

Around 85%, as in Madrid, the light starts to drop for no obvious reason. Shadows sharpen and colors lose some of their strength.

Above 90%, it is impossible to miss. The light turns cold and metallic, strange for a summer day, and the air cools.

From 96% up, the sky deepens to an intense blue and the Sun shrinks to a very thin sickle. It is almost the whole show, without the ending.

Inside the path, the light falls faster and faster in the final minutes. The darkness arrives from the west, and just before totality a few beads of light are left on the Moon's edge, then only one, like a diamond on a ring. Then nothing: a black disc ringed by the corona, the brightest stars and planets in a twilight sky, and a sunset glow along the whole horizon. The temperature falls by a few degrees, though the coldest moment usually comes a little later. Minutes later, the first flash, and it is day again. Do not spend it behind your phone, and put your glasses back on before the Sun returns.

Where to go

The choice comes down to how long totality lasts, what the sky usually does at that hour, and how many people will have had the same idea. Few eclipses of recent decades come with better prospects, but the averages hide a few traps.

Spain is the easiest to reach, with the shortest totality. It comes around 10:45 am, with the Sun about 38° up and toward the east, so check that no building, tree or hill will block it from your spot. The enemy in August is not storms but the low cloud that drifts in from the sea in the morning.

Where it goes dark in southern Spain

The Atlantic coast of Cádiz has long totality, with 4 min 01 s in Conil, 4 min 16 s in Barbate and 4 min 38 s in Tarifa, but it is the most exposed to early sea fog. In observations from July 12 to August 18 in 2024 and 2025, the Sun was visible at eclipse time on 88% of days in Cádiz and 74% between Barbate and Tarifa. A few dozen kilometers inland, average cloud falls below 15%, and totality is still long: 4 min 06 s in Vejer de la Frontera, 3 min 21 s in Medina Sidonia. That is the safest bet in Spain.

The Costa del Sol nearly always escapes the Atlantic cloud, which rarely gets past Tarifa: 3 min 37 s in Estepona, 3 min 16 s in Marbella, 3 min 10 s in Fuengirola, 1 min 52 s in Málaga. If you can choose, every kilometer west of Málaga adds seconds. It is also one of the most crowded coasts in Spain in August.

How long the Sun disappears in Spain and Gibraltar

Place	Totality begins	Lasts	Sun height
Ceuta	10:45 am	4 min 49 s	38°
Tarifa	10:45 am	4 min 38 s	38°
Melilla	10:48 am	4 min 34 s	41°
Algeciras	10:45 am	4 min 27 s	38°
Gibraltar	10:45 am	4 min 27 s	38°
Barbate	10:45 am	4 min 16 s	37°
Vejer de la Frontera	10:45 am	4 min 06 s	37°
Estepona	10:46 am	3 min 37 s	38°
Chiclana de la Frontera	10:45 am	3 min 29 s	37°
Medina Sidonia	10:45 am	3 min 21 s	38°
Marbella	10:46 am	3 min 16 s	39°
San Fernando	10:45 am	3 min 12 s	37°
Fuengirola	10:47 am	3 min 10 s	39°
Cádiz	10:45 am	2 min 54 s	37°
El Puerto de Santa María	10:45 am	2 min 28 s	37°
Málaga	10:48 am	1 min 52 s	39°
Almuñécar	10:49 am	1 min 51 s	40°
Adra	10:49 am	1 min 45 s	41°
Motril	10:49 am	1 min 41 s	40°
Jerez de la Frontera	10:46 am	1 min 37 s	37°
Roquetas de Mar	10:50 am	1 min 34 s	41°
El Ejido	10:50 am	1 min 23 s	41°
Ronda	10:47 am	1 min 19 s	39°
Vélez-Málaga	10:48 am	1 min 03 s	40°

Gibraltar sits close to the center line, with 4 min 27 s. When the easterly levanter blows, the Rock trails its own cloud, so check the wind the day before.

In Morocco the exact spot matters. Tangier gets 4 min 50 s and Tetouan 4 min 51 s. In Tangier, choose the center or east of the city and the beaches on the bay: on the western beaches, and at Asilah or Larache, the cloud can outlast totality. Also check your clocks. Morocco stays on UTC all year now, so totality in Tangier comes at 8:44 am, while in Tarifa, just across the Strait, it comes at 10:45 am.

Tunisia is the sensible compromise. The Sun stands at 56° and mornings are rarely cloudy: 5 min 39 s in Sfax, 4 min 25 s on Djerba, 2 min 45 s in Mahdia. In Tunisia as in Algeria, where Oran gets 5 min 08 s, clouds build mostly in the afternoon, after the eclipse is over. The real enemy is dust on the sirocco, which can be forecast up to three days ahead.

Egypt is the safe bet for clear skies. In Luxor the Sun disappears for 6 min 21 s almost straight overhead, at 82°, a little after 1:00 pm, with the temples of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings inside the path. The average high on this date is 42 °C (108 °F), so plan the day around shade and water. A camera can shut itself down in that heat: keep it shaded, dry and well ventilated. In parts of the path through Libya and western Egypt, 23 years of records show no cloud on August 2. The main threat is thin high cloud, which does not stop you from seeing the eclipse.

Beyond the Red Sea, totality is still long, but clouds and dust increase. Jeddah gets 5 min 58 s, with cloud covering about 40% of the sky on average, and it builds toward the highlands around Abha and in Yemen.

Before you book anything, read your government's travel advice, which matters for several countries on this list. The UK Foreign Office, for example, advises against travel to all or parts of Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

And plan early. By August 2026, a villa in El Palmar, on the Cádiz coast, was already advertised at €33,129 a night, lodgings in Tarifa at more than €11,000, and some hotels in Cádiz had closed bookings for those dates. Arrive the day before, do not stop on the shoulder of a road, do not park on dry grass, and bring water and shade: the whole eclipse takes more than two hours, in the middle of an August day. Have a plan B as well. The eclipse itself cools the air, and on a humid coast that can bring the fog back just before totality, so if the morning looks doubtful, move early and stay inside the path.

Why it lasts so long

Three things line up. Earth is only a month past its farthest point from the Sun, reached on July 5, so the Sun looks a little smaller. The Moon reaches its closest point to Earth that very morning, at 357,362 km, so it looks a little larger. And the shadow crosses low latitudes, where Earth's surface moves quickly eastward in the same direction, reducing the shadow's speed over the ground.

The result is 6 minutes and 23 seconds at most, near Luxor. You will read that it is the longest of the century. It is not: on July 22, 2009, totality reached 6 minutes and 39 seconds, over the Pacific. The 2027 eclipse is the second.

How to watch without damaging your eyes

• Use eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard, with no scratches or tears. Sunglasses are not enough, however dark. Neither are smoked glass, CDs, X-ray film or homemade filters.
• Binoculars, telescopes and cameras need a purpose-made solar filter, secured over the front of the lens. Eclipse glasses behind an eyepiece do not protect you.
• Inside the path of totality, take the glasses off only when the Sun has disappeared completely, and put them back on at the first flash of light. If you are not sure, keep them on: missing the corona is far better than damaging your sight.
• Without any equipment: stand with your back to the Sun, hold up a colander or a card with a small hole in it, and look at the crescents it projects on the ground.
• With a phone: during the partial phases, no photo of the Sun without a solar filter in front of the lens, fitted before you point it. Only during full totality can you take it off to photograph the corona. The easiest shots need no filter: the light on people's faces, the crescents on the ground.
• With children: an adult beside them at all times, glasses on before they look up and off only after they have turned away, seated rather than walking, and over their own glasses if they wear them. For the very young, the colander is the safest way.

Eclipse glasses: old ones and new ones

After the eclipse of August 2026, Spain counted more than 530 health care visits, most of them for eye discomfort and generally mild. Symptoms can take a day or two to appear. If you see blurring, a dark spot in the center or altered colors after an eclipse, see a doctor.

Glasses saved from an earlier eclipse are only good if they are still flawless: no scratches, no creases in the filter, the standard clearly marked, and within any date the manufacturer gives. Throw away anything more than ten years old. If you need new ones, buy ahead of time from a seller you can identify. The American Astronomical Society lists suppliers it has checked, and for buyers in Spain, a volunteer astronomy group does the same at Eclipse Seguro. A printed ISO code proves little, because it can be faked: look also for the manufacturer's details and the instructions and, in the EU, the CE mark and the declaration of conformity.

Then test them. Indoors you should see nothing through them except very bright lights, and those only faintly. Outside on a sunny day, the same. Only then glance at the Sun for less than a second: it should be a sharp, round disc, comfortably bright. If any of this fails, throw them away. And if they pass, that is still no guarantee: these tests catch some bad filters, but they do not certify good ones. That is why it matters so much where you buy.

When the next one will be

You won't wait long: the next total eclipse comes less than a year later, on July 22, 2028. These are the ones through 2045, and where you can see them.

Date	Where you can see totality
July 22, 2028	Australia, New Zealand
November 25, 2030	Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Australia
March 30, 2033	Alaska, and eastern Russia on March 31
March 20, 2034	Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China
September 2, 2035	China, Korea, Japan
July 13, 2037	Australia, New Zealand
December 26, 2038	Australia, New Zealand
December 15, 2039	Antarctica
April 30, 2041	Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia
April 20, 2042	Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines
April 10, 2043	Northeastern Russia
August 22, 2044	Greenland, Canada, United States
August 12, 2045	United States, the Caribbean, northern South America

And here is when one next reaches your part of the world.

West Africa gets totality from that same eclipse of March 20, 2034, with 2 min 29 s in Lagos. Cádiz, Málaga, Madrid, Seville, Cairo and Luxor will not see another in this century.

Want to know how all this works? Read why we have solar eclipses.