The total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027

The penumbra touches down over the Atlantic at sunrise. The umbra comes ashore at the Strait of Gibraltar, where the southern tip of Spain and the north of Morocco go dark in the middle of the morning, then runs along the Algerian and Tunisian coast, across Libya, and is at its longest over the Nile near Luxor. From there it crosses the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia and Yemen and leaves the Earth over the Indian Ocean. This is the opposite of 2026: the Sun is high all along the path, about 82° at greatest eclipse, so nobody needs a clear western horizon.

Magnitude

1.080

Longest totality

6 min 23 s

Greatest eclipse

25.5°N 33.2°E

Saros / member

136 / 38

Every eclipse belongs to a family. This one is member 38 of Saros 136, which produced the eclipse of 2009 over India and China and will produce the next of its line in 2045. Members arrive 18 years and 11 days apart, each one about eight hours of Earth-rotation further west than the last.

The previous total solar eclipse over Spain was on August 12, 2026, less than a year before this one.

At greatest eclipse the umbra is about 258 km wide, and it still covers only a narrow band. Of the cities listed here, 18 are inside it; the longest totality is in Luxor, at 6 min 20 s. Everywhere else in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East gets a partial eclipse, and how much of one depends on how close you are to that band.

At greatest eclipse the Sun stands at 9°55′ Leo and the Moon at the same degree. That is what a solar eclipse is: a new Moon exact enough to land on the lunar node.

Sun

♌ 9°55′

Moon

♌ 9°56′

Venus

♌ 7°16′

Mars

♎ 10°42′

Uranus

♊ 9°09′

North Node

♒ 11°29′R

Venus is with them at 7°16′ Leo, 2.65° from the meeting point. Mars at 10°42′ Libra and Uranus at 9°09′ Gemini each sextile the eclipse degree within a degree (0.78° and 0.76°) and trine each other, a small grand trine with the eclipse at its apex. Pluto at 5°52′ Aquarius stands opposite, 4.06° wide. The Moon's true south node is at 11°29′ Leo, 1.57° from the eclipse, so this is a south-node eclipse.

The fixed star nearest the eclipse degree is Asellus Australis, 0.81° away.

This season has three eclipses, not two. A penumbral lunar eclipse opens it on July 18, with the Moon at 25°58′ Capricorn, and another closes it on August 17 at 07:13 UT, with the Moon at 24°04′ Aquarius. Penumbral means the Moon passes only through the Earth's outer shadow: the dimming is faint, and most people looking up would not notice it.

After this one, Spain waits a long time. The next total solar eclipse over Spanish soil is on September 12, 2053.