Friday, March 28, 2025
Tomorrow is partial solar eclipse day, peaking at 11:03am in London.
The weather, I'm pleased to say, looks perfect.
The eclipse will be visible across northwest Europe, peaking in eastern Canada where 92% of the solar disc will be obscured. In London it's 31%.
Nova Scotia 80%, Reykjavik 68%, Stornoway 47%, Glasgow 42%, Dublin 41%, London 31%, Paris 24%, Rome 2%
You might not think 31% is great, and it is indeed low enough that most of the population won't notice anything eclipsy is happening. But solar eclipses are so rare that only four in the last 25 years have been better, as seen from London.
All the solar eclipses visble from London during the last 25 years
• 31st May 2003 (52%)
• 3rd October 2005 (57%)
• 29th March 2006 (17%)
• 1st October 2008 (12%)
• 4th January 2011 (67%)
• 20th March 2015 (84%)
• 21st August 2017 (4%)
• 10th June 2021 (20%)
• 25th October 2022 (15%)
In good news the next 25 years are better, indeed the next 12 years are particularly good, kicking off with a monster obscuration next summer. That'll be 91% covered in London which is the greatest extent since 1999 and won't be exceeded until 2081, so for most Londoners the last significant eclipse of their lifetime. Plymouth'll do even better with 95% and the Scillies 96%, but if you can get to Reykjavik or northern Spain you could see the magic 100%.
All the solar eclipses visble from London during the next 25 years
• Wed 12 August 2026 (19:13 BST) 91%
• Mon 2 August 2027 (10:00 BST) 42%
• Wed 26 January 2028 (16:34 GMT) 51%
• Sat 1 June 2030 (06:21 BST) 48%
• Thu 21 Aug 2036 (19:07 BST) 60%
• Fri 16 January 2037 (09:06 GMT) 46%
• Tue 5 January 2038 (14:34 GMT) 5%
• Fri July 2038 (15:03 BST) 8%
• Tue 21 June 2039 (19:35 BST) 63%
• Thu 11 June 2048 (13:22 BST) 62%
But notice the drought after 2039 with just the one solar eclipse during the entire 2040s, because celestial geometry is nothing if not predictably irregular.
Best make the most of tomorrow's eclipse, which in a clear blue sky means using eye protection or projecting shadows rather than staring direct. I have eclipse glasses leftover from the 1999 event and they're excellent, so through those I hope to see a bite of sun missing from the top of the disc, starting at 10.07am, ending at noon and peaking at 11.03. You don't get many chances, and for once the weather is playing ball.
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