On 12 August, a total solar eclipse will sweep across parts of Europe and the Atlantic ocean as the moon passes between Earth and the sun, blocking out sunlight. Parts of the US and Africa, along with the entire UK and much of Europe and Canada, will see a partial solar eclipse.

Where can I see the eclipse in the UK and US?

While the total eclipse will be short and only visible in a few areas, a partial eclipse, with the moon taking a “bite” out of the sun, will last much longer across about a quarter of the entire planet. It won’t be as dramatic as a total eclipse – the corona will not become visible, and the ambient light levels and temperatures won’t drop as dramatically – but will be watchable for many more people.

In the UK and Ireland, 90 to 96 per cent of the sun will be covered by the moon. In London, the eclipse will last from 6.17 to 8.06pm, with the maximum at 7.12. The sun will be setting, so you need to be somewhere with a clear view to the west.

In most of Canada, Alaska and the northeastern US, the moon will cover less than half of the sun. Montreal will get an 18 per cent eclipse at 1.45pm and New York will get a 9 per cent eclipse at 1.54pm.

Where can I see the total eclipse?

Totality, which occurs when the moon lines up perfectly with the disc of the sun and blocks it out entirely, will begin in Russia around midday before sweeping eastward across the Arctic ocean. It will pass just south of the North Pole and make landfall in northeastern Greenland just after 4.00pm local time.

The shadow will then rush along the eastern coast of Greenland at a speed of more than 3400 kilometres per hour. The maximum length of totality will be about 2 minutes and 18 seconds, as the moon’s shadow crosses from Greenland into the Atlantic ocean. It will cross to Iceland, at which point the eclipse will become visible from more heavily inhabited areas – everywhere it will have passed so far is home only to small villages, research stations and those specifically making the journey to see the eclipse. In Reykjavík, though, totality will be visible for just over one minute at 5.48pm local time. This is the first time a total eclipse has been visible in Iceland since 1954, and the last time one will be visible there until 2196.

After skimming the western coast of Iceland, the total eclipse will make another ocean crossing and reach land again in northern Spain just before 8.30pm local time, grazing the northeast corner of Portugal and crossing the Balearic Islands off Spain’s east coast before the sun sets and the eclipse is over.

How can I watch the eclipse safely?

During a total or partial eclipse, eye protection is needed the whole time. If you don’t have eclipse glasses, you can use a pinhole camera or even natural shadows to create a projection of the sun’s shape as the moon passes in front of it. Read this article for more details of how to do that.

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What happens during a total solar eclipse?

During totality, when the disc of the sun is completely concealed by the moon, temperatures on the ground rapidly drop by several degrees and daytime transforms into twilight. The stars and the outer reaches of the sun become visible. Usually, the sun’s outermost layer, the corona, is completely lost in the glare from its far brighter inner regions, but when those are blocked out, its shimmering sheets of extraordinarily hot plasma become briefly visible to the naked eye. In all other phases of the eclipse, it is crucial to wear eclipse glasses or use a solar filter while looking directly at the sun to prevent eye damage, but during totality it is safe to look at the corona.

That is precisely what many solar scientists will be doing during August’s eclipse. Total eclipses mark a valuable opportunity to observe the corona and try to unravel its many mysteries, including why it is so much hotter than the sun’s surface.

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During a solar eclipse, the shadow of the moon moves across the surface of Earth as the moon travels between our planet and the sun. Thanks to a cosmic coincidence – the fact that the sun is both about 400 times larger than the moon and about 400 times as distant – when the two line up just right, they appear the same size and the moon completely covers the disc of the sun in a total eclipse.��

Totality, the period in which the disc of the sun is completely hidden, is the only time when it is safe to look directly at the sun; otherwise, looking at the sun can burn your retinas and cause vision loss. But during a partial eclipse, or even when no eclipse is happening at all, you can still look at the sun – you just need proper eye protection or a clever trick to project its image so you don’t have to look directly at it. Here are four ways to look at the sun without burning your eyeballs.

1. Wear eclipse glasses

This is the safest way to view a solar eclipse, and the only one that actually involves staring straight at the sun. Regular sunglasses won’t do the trick: eclipse glasses are about 100,000 times darker, letting through only a tiny fraction of sunlight to protect your eyes.

Looking through a pair of eclipse glasses, or any other kind of proper solar filter, you shouldn’t be able to see anything but the sun – even the brightest indoor light should appear extremely dim. The American Astronomical Society has put together a list of trusted suppliers, which you can see .

If you aren’t sure about the safety of your eclipse glasses or if they don’t seem quite dark enough, stick with one of the other methods on this list. If you are looking through a telescope or binoculars, eclipse glasses won’t be enough to protect your eyes – make sure any magnifying device has a proper solar filter over its objective lens or lenses, which are the ones through which light enters the device.

2. Use the shadows

The easiest way to view a partial eclipse doesn’t require any special equipment at all. When light passes through a small opening, it projects the shape of whatever emitted it onto the next surface that it hits.

During a partial eclipse, this means you can use shadows to see how much of the sun is hidden behind the moon. Anything can create the small openings necessary for this: a colander, cheese grater, straw hat or even your outstretched hands with fingers creating a sort of grid shape.

Even just standing under a tree and looking at the shadows cast by the leaves can reveal a smattering of crescent sun shapes on the ground.

3. Pinhole projection

If you want to get a little bit more involved, you can use the same effect to create a pinhole projector, which is essentially just a surface with a tiny hole poked in it.

If you take a cardboard box and poke a small hole in one end with a pushpin or pen, the shape of the sun will be projected on the other end. All you have to do is face away from the sun with the hole pointing towards the sun and look down to the other end of the box (if you have a big enough box, you can even put your head inside – if not, you might have to cut a slot to look through in the same side as the hole) and the shape of the sun will be projected there.

Don’t look through the tiny hole, because your head will block the light that should be shining through it. Looking through the hole directly at the sun will still burn your eyes, so you should only look at the projection on the other end of the box.

4. Mirror projection

This projection method is similar to the others – the theme being, don’t look right at the sun – but may be easier if you want a large projection of the sun that lots of people can look at.

All you need is a small, flat mirror and some way of angling it so that it reflects the sunlight onto a flat surface such as a wall or screen. If you cover the mirror almost entirely using a sheet of paper or cloth with a small hole cut in the middle, it will work just like the pinhole projector to shine an image of the sun on the wall.

The smaller the hole is, the sharper the image will be, although it will get dimmer as less light shines through. But if you can get your image big or sharp enough, you might even be able to see any sunspots that happen to be pocking the sun’s face during the eclipse.

Once again, don’t look at the sun via its reflection in the mirror, which is just as dangerous as looking directly at it if you don’t have eclipse glasses on. Only look at the projection of the sun, and you will be able to enjoy the eclipse without any unnecessary visits to an ophthalmologist.

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During the total solar eclipse on 12 August, scientists from around the world will have their eyes – and scientific instruments – on the sun. But even if you aren’t a scientist, you can help in their investigations, both during the eclipse and year-round.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the sun and moon line up just right so that the moon blocks out the entire disc of the sun from the perspective of Earth. It is a huge cosmic coincidence that both the sun and the moon happen to be just the right size and at the right distance to give us such a spectacle, and a scientifically useful one at that.

On 12 August, a total eclipse will be visible over parts of Europe and the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, with a partial eclipse covering much of Europe, Canada, north-west Africa and parts of the US. An eclipse like this one is visible from somewhere on Earth just once every 18 months approximately, so during each eclipse, scientists rush out to gather as much data as they can. Here are some ways that you can help out:

1. Record shadow bands from the path of totality: In the moments before and after a total solar eclipse, strange phenomena called shadow bands billow across the ground. These bands are caused by the combination of Earth’s atmosphere and the hidden disc of the sun – it is similar to the effect that causes more distant stars to twinkle. If you are in the path of totality, all you have to do to see them is set out a white sheet or piece of cardboard perpendicular to the direction of the sun. To , which aims to quantify how shadow bands differ based on altitude and distance from the centre of totality, just set up a camera to film the sheet.

2. Photograph the sun with your smartphone: The sun is very nearly spherical, but it isn’t perfect. One of the best ways to measure its shape with precision is to have lots of pictures taken from lots of different locations – that’s what does. It’s a smartphone app that you can set up and leave running as you enjoy watching the eclipse, and it will take carefully timed pictures to capture a phenomenon called Baily’s Beads, or the diamond ring effect. When the very last of the sun is about to be covered by the moon, the lunar landscape lets through tiny points of light, which shine along its edge. The same happens when the other side of the moon is just about to let the sun shine past it again, and these points of light are Baily’s Beads. When lots of photos of the beads, all precisely geolocated, are combined with a map of the lunar topography, that can give us an extraordinarily precise measurement of how far the disc of the sun is from a perfect circle.

3. Measure the darkening of the sky during the eclipse: Even if you are only going to see a partial eclipse, you can still help with scientific research. The Gaia4Sustainability project requires a little bit more equipment and set-up time, but once you have it sorted, you can leave it running all year round and keep collecting useful data. It consists of a small device with a bunch of sensors on it to measure the brightness of the sky and other meteorological factors, and the overarching goal of the programme is to measure light pollution so we can better understand its effects. But during the eclipse, the same sensors can be used to , and the more different spots the team has data from, the more they will be able to learn about atmospheric dynamics during eclipses.

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4. Hunt for sun-grazing comets: As is the case for pretty much all astronomical events, a huge portion of the world won’t be able to see August’s total eclipse at all. Not to worry! There are still ways to get involved in solar science. In the , you can download satellite pictures of the sun and look for moving objects on its outskirts. Some of the objects will be comets skimming past the sun, and once researchers know those comets are there, they can do more detailed research. A huge proportion of the known comets were discovered through Sungrazer. All it takes is a computer, an internet connection and some spare time.

5. Join a DEB observation team for next year: If you want to do something a bit more involved, the might be more up your street. It’s an scheme where teams receive training and some relatively basic equipment to observe eclipses across the path of totality, building up a huge repository of data that can then be used to study the evolution of the corona, the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere. Because of the training required, it is too late to join or create a DEB team for this year, but if you are going to be able to spot the 2027 eclipse that will sweep over northern Africa, you can sign up ahead of time.

Even during the eclipse, you shouldn’t look directly at the sun without a solar filter or eclipse glasses to protect your eyes.

My feelings about the moon changed in the past year, when I gave birth on the day of not just a full moon, but a Harvest Moon.

For the first few months of my son’s life, the passing of time felt very strange – there was little distinction between day and night. But the moon’s almost-monthly cycle was there to remind me that the months were ticking on. Every time I saw a full moon, I knew another 29.5 days had passed by. It was a reminder that my son was around another month older.

It is now almost a year later, and the next full moon is going to be particularly special. On 7 September 2025, there will be a total lunar eclipse.

It will be visible to people in most of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and parts of South America, too. From where I live, in the UK, the eclipse will begin when the moon is below the horizon, but about 20 minutes later, around 7:30pm, it will become visible and will stay that way until the eclipse finishes.

As I said, the moon orbits Earth every 29.5 days. During a full moon, our planet sits between the moon and the sun, so that the entirety of the moon’s face reflects light back towards Earth.

But because the moon’s orbit is slightly tilted compared with Earth’s around the sun, the three bodies don’t line up in one plane – a phenomenon known as syzygy – during every orbit.

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When syzygy happens during a new moon, we get a solar eclipse. When syzygy occurs during a full moon, there is a total lunar eclipse.

When this happens, the moon moves into a shadow cast by Earth. This is why the moon is always visible during a lunar eclipse – it just appears darker and redder. The only light that still reaches the surface of the moon and is reflected back at us has passed through Earth’s atmosphere, which scatters most of the wavelengths of light except the red ones.

To work out when to see the eclipse, and how much of it will be visible from where you live, you can use . These will give you the best idea of how to view it.

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Unlike a solar eclipse, you don’t need any special protective equipment to view a lunar eclipse – just a clear sky. Once you know when to look, find the moon and watch it darken and redden (pictured). You might want to see how it looks through some binoculars. If you live in the UK, the moon will be low in the eastern horizon that night, so you will need to find a spot with a clear view to the east.

This specific event is known as a Harvest Blood Moon – “Harvest” because it is the full moon that occurs right before the autumn equinox, and “Blood” because of the moon’s red colour during an eclipse.

I am not sure if he is old enough to appreciate it yet, but I will be taking my son, born on a Harvest Moon, out to show him the total eclipse.

Abigail Beall is a features editor at New Scientist and author of The Art of Urban Astronomy. Follow her @abbybeall

For other projects visit newscientist.com/maker

A carefully coordinated dance between twin satellites has created the first artificial solar eclipse in space, revealing the sun’s scorching corona in extreme detail.

The Proba-3 mission, which launched in December last year, is operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and consists of two satellites flying at a distance of 150 metres from each other.

One of the satellites, called the Occulter, carries a 1.4-metre-wide carbon fibre and plastic disc, which blocks out the sun’s light for the second satellite, the Coronagraph, which is equipped with a camera and scientific instruments. To take the pictures, there can’t be more than a 1-millimetre error in how the two satellites are aligned.

In March, the satellites flew autonomously and lined up for several hours, taking multiple seconds-long exposures of the eclipsed sun. ESA scientists could stitch these together to produce full photos of the sun’s corona, the outermost part of its atmosphere, which can reach temperatures that are millions of degrees hotter than its surface.

“The first time I saw these pictures, it was difficult to believe,” says at ESA. “But quickly, it was also a very, very strong feeling of achievement and pride for everything we have done over the years.”

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The above image shows the visible light of the corona, the same as would be seen by the human eye, but with a green filter.

Proba-3’s camera can also look at frequencies of light that correspond to specific elements in the sun’s corona, such as the darker green image above, which shows light emitted from extremely electron-depleted iron that exists in the hottest regions of the corona.

“We can clearly see the corona, which is already a major achievement,” says Galano.

The above image shows the sun’s corona, coloured artificially to appear violet, in polarised white light. This was captured using a special technique that allows scientists to separate the polarised light of the hot corona from light that is scattered by interplanetary dust.

These images were mainly to test that Proba-3 was working correctly, but when the mission is fully up and running it will be able to take pictures of artificial eclipses every 19.6 hours, each time it orbits Earth, including much longer exposures lasting up to six hours.

This will improve our understanding of the sun’s corona physics, says Galano, as well as help us to better understand the solar wind and coronal mass ejections, which affect space weather.

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Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish ideas about how to tinker with the cosmos – from snapping the moon in half to causing a gravitational wave apocalypse – and subjects them to the laws of physics to see how they fare. Listen on , or on our .

A total solar eclipse is one of the most incredible cosmic events we can witness from Earth – but they can also be��inconvenient. Any particular location only experiences a solar eclipse about once every few hundred years or so, and travelling to the path of totality isn’t always feasible.

In this episode of Dead Planets Society, hosts Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte are joined by astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in their attempts to fix this problem and conjure up a total solar eclipse that is accessible to all.

Natural solar eclipses occur when the moon passes in front of the sun, casting a shadow on Earth’s surface. To create an artificial eclipse, our hosts will have to put something else between Earth and the sun. A relatively small sunshade could work, but it would have to be fairly close to Earth’s��surface to block out the entire��sun – and to stay that close, it would need to orbit at extraordinary speeds. The eclipse from such a small, fast-moving shade would only last a few seconds.

Instead, our hosts are taking on the challenge of parking something much larger in front of the sun to block it. A planet might work, but none in our solar system are quite the correct size – plus it would be difficult to move a whole world, and the consequences for Earth might be dire. In fact, changing how much sunlight reaches the ground at all��could be a problem…

The solution may be a series of small panels, blasted into space individually and flown in formation to block the sun. There would need to be a whole lot of them, but changing their orientation in flight could provide��solar eclipses on demand – without necessarily destroying all life on Earth.

The total solar eclipse that passed across North America on 8 April drew millions out to the path of totality – the thin strip of land across which the moon’s silhouette blocked out the entire disc of the sun. Even more gawked at the partial eclipse visible across most of the continent. Here are five of New Scientist’s favourite images from 2024’s total eclipse.

On the right side of this image, which was taken in Kerrville, Texas, you can see the edge of the moon just beginning to encroach on the sun. Closer to the centre and left side of the sun are a pair of sunspots – dim areas where the surface of the sun is unusually cool.

This picture, also taken in Kerrville, Texas, shows a phenomenon called Baily’s Beads. Just before and after complete totality, the topography of the moon allows small beams of sunlight to peek around its edges, creating bright spots on the edge of the moon’s silhouette.

This image was taken by the GOES-East satellite, which observes Earth from space for weather monitoring and forecasting. The moon’s shadow swept across Mexico and the US during the eclipse, creating a pool of twilight-like darkness at its centre and partial eclipses at its edges.

During totality, pictured here from Indianapolis, Indiana, several prominences were visible on the edges of the sun. These are areas where the sun’s complex magnetic field shapes hot plasma into bright loops and flares that burst off the sun’s surface, and they are easiest to observe when the disc of the sun is blocked by the moon.

For scientists, the main importance of a total solar eclipse is that it provides a unique opportunity to view the sun’s diaphanous outer layer, the corona. When the disc of the sun is not blocked, it far outshines the corona, so an eclipse is the perfect time to study this mysterious sheet of plasma, shown here during totality in Dallas, Texas.

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Solar Eclipse 2024

On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.

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On 8 April, a total solar eclipse will sweep across Mexico, the US and Canada. This kind of eclipse only occurs when the sun and moon line up perfectly in the sky so the moon covers the entire disc of the sun, casting a shadow on Earth. The path that this shadow takes as it rushes across the ground at speeds in excess of 2400 kilometres per hour is called the path of totality, and during this eclipse it will pass from Mexico’s west coast, up across 13 US states and through Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland in Canada. At any given location, totality will last between about 90 seconds and nearly 4.5 minutes.

Solar Eclipse 2024

On 8 April a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada. Our special series is covering everything you need to know, from how and when to see it to some of the weirdest eclipse experiences in history.

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During this time, the sky will be dark as twilight and temperatures will drop up to 10 degrees. Viewers will be able to remove their eclipse glasses – crucial during the partial phase of the eclipse – and look directly at the sun as it is covered by the moon. This coverage renders the sun’s outermost layer, the corona, visible. During other times, it is too dim to see in the glare of sunlight. Total solar eclipses like this one are valuable times for researchers studying the sun, and they have led to enormous scientific advances over the years.