21-07-2025
When will the next total solar eclipse be visible in the UK?
The sky goes dark, birds fall silent, and a chill comes to the air - there's no question total solar eclipses are the most spectacular event in the celestial calendar.
On 2 August, 2027, parts of southern Europe will see a total solar eclipse.
It won;t be quite as spectacular in the UK. Londoners will experience a 42% eclipse - with the sun appearing as a crescent. People in the Scilly Isles will see a partial eclipse of 48%, while those in the Shetlands will see a 13% eclipse.
In a partial eclipse, the sky will not go dark, but shadows might look different, and the sun is visibly 'blocked' by the moon - while a total eclipse offers a few minutes of darkness which often provokes audible gasps.
The total eclipse will see areas such as the Straits of Gibraltar, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with up to six minutes, 23 seconds of 'totality'. Luxor in Egypt and Mecca in Saudi Arabia are among the areas on the path of totality, according to Sky at Night magazine.
Despite online reports this week, which possibly mixed up the events in 2027, there is most definitely no eclipse in August 2025 - the only eclipse this year came earlier, when the UK saw a partial eclipse with up to 30% eclipse on 29 March 2025.
When will the next total solar eclipse be in the UK?
Next year will see a partial eclipse on 12 August, 2026, with the eclipse peaking at 96% in the Scilly Isles. Most areas in the UK will see an 89% eclipsed sun.
But if you're waiting for a proper total solar eclipse in the UK, you're in for rather a long wait (and it will also help to be young at this point) as the next one will not be until 23 September, 2090, when it will be visible from southern England and southern Ireland.
What happens during a total solar eclipse?
Total solar eclipses happen when the moon completely covers the sun, and is only visible from a certain area (known as 'the path of totality').
Areas nearby witness a partial eclipse instead.
The reason it happens is that the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, and also 400 times closer to us than the Sun (by complete coincidence), so that they appear 'the same size' at the time of an eclipse.
In the darkest part of the shadow, the Sun's light is almost completely blocked out.
NASA says, 'People viewing the eclipse from locations where the Moon's shadow completely covers the Sun – known as the path of totality – will experience a total solar eclipse. The sky will become dark, as if it were dawn or dusk.
'Weather permitting, people along the path of totality will see the Sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, which is usually obscured by the bright face of the Sun.'
Some observers report feeling a chill, and birds stopping singing because they think it's night time.
The last total solar eclipse in the UK was in 1999, although it was only visible from Cornwall and the Scilly isles, according to the Royal Observatory.
Patchy weather meant that only some eclipse-watchers got a good sight of the eclipse (and some were soaked with rain instead).
The Guardian describes how 'gasps of amazement' rang out in Penzance as totality descended for two minutes and six seconds.
