Total eclipses are only visible from a narrow strip of land
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The total solar eclipse on 8 April will be visible from a path across North America. While people in Ireland and Scotland will glimpse a brief partial eclipse, those in the rest of Europe won’t see anything at all.
Solar eclipses are only ever visible from narrow bands on Earth, since the moon is so much smaller than the sun. This means the shadow the moon casts on Earth during an eclipse is small, and you have to be in the right place to see it.
If you live in the UK, you will be waiting a long time for the next total solar eclipse. But, if you live elsewhere in Europe or are willing to travel, there are a few options in the coming years.
When is the next total solar eclipse visible from the UK?
If you live in the UK and want to see a total solar eclipse without travelling anywhere, I have some bad news for you. The next total eclipse visible over part of the UK is in September 2090, but even then, the path of totality will only brush past the south-west tip of the country – covering Cornwall and Devon, similar to the path of the 1999 eclipse.
Totality will be visible from the north-west of Scotland during an eclipse in June 2133, then over central Scotland and north-east England in another in 2135. The next total eclipse visible from a larger area of the UK will be in 2151, when an eclipse will be seen from south-west Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, north-east Wales and north of England, down to the Suffolk coast on the east.
When is the next total solar eclipse visible from Europe?
If you would like to see an eclipse from Europe, you don’t have to wait quite as long. The total eclipse in August 2026 will be visible from part of Greenland, the west of Iceland, and a band of land across Spain that stretches from the north-west of the country to the island of Mallorca.
Then, in August 2027, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the southern tip of Spain and north Africa, crossing through Egypt to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
When is the next total eclipse visible from the US?
After 8 April 2024, the next total solar eclipse visible from north America will be in August 2044. But the path of totality will only reach part of Alaska, stretching mostly across Canada.
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