{"id":573741,"date":"2026-07-29T12:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573741\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T12:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:09:09","slug":"august-2026-solar-eclipse-uk-date-time-and-ultimate-viewing-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573741\/","title":{"rendered":"August 2026 Solar Eclipse UK: Date, Time and Ultimate Viewing Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

A total solar eclipse is a stunning and extremely rare spectacle. When the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, it plunges parts of the planet into darkness and creates a spooky-looking halo in the sky. Next month parts of the world will experience a total solar eclipse \u2013 and while the UK<\/a> isn\u2019t getting the full thing, it\u2019s getting a\u00a0near-total eclipse. A whopping 90 percent of the Sun will be covered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although total solar eclipses\u00a0happen every 18 months or so, they\u2019re only visible from a specific location once every 366 to 400 years. So, for most of us, it\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Partial eclipses, on the other hand, are much more common. They\u2019re when the Moon covers\u00a0any part of the Sun. A partial solar eclipse is what the UK is getting in August 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

August\u2019s solar eclipse will be the most significant eclipse that the UK has seen in almost 30 years.\u00a0Here\u2019s everything you need to know about viewing it, from the date and time to how to see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SKIP TO
\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Date<\/a>
\u23f0 Time<\/a>
\ud83d\udd76\ufe0f How to view<\/a>
\ud83d\uddfa\ufe0f Best places to see\u00a0it<\/a><\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED: The best\u00a0places to see the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse in Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When is the August 2026 solar eclipse?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll occur on Wednesday August 12 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will the UK get a full solar eclipse?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,\u00a0Brits at home won\u2019t witness the full solar eclipse. What we will be able to see is a deep partial eclipse\u00a0in which around 90 percent of the Sun will be covered by the Moon. That\u2019s\u00a0the most coverage seen from the UK and Ireland since the 1999 solar eclipse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The further southwest you are, the more coverage of the Sun there\u2019ll be. Viewers in Cornwall<\/a> will see roughly 95 percent and\u00a0spectators in Pembrokeshire will see around 94 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What time\u00a0is the solar eclipse in the UK?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll depend on what part of the UK you\u2019re in. People in Edinburgh and Glasgow will be\u00a0among the first to witness the partial eclipse and those down in Truro will be the last. Here\u2019s when the eclipse maximum (when most of the Sun is covered) will happen in each region, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich:\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to view the eclipse in the UK<\/p>\n

Make sure not to look directly at the eclipse \u2013 find a pair of special glasses or make yourself a pinhole projector which will\u00a0allow you to see the eclipse by projecting the Sun\u2019s light, and the chunk of it being blocked, onto another surface.<\/p>\n

Best places to see the full eclipse<\/p>\n

If you want to see the full eclipse, you\u2019ll have to\u00a0be in\u00a0either\u00a0Greenland, the western tip of Iceland or\u00a0the north of Spain.<\/p>\n

\"Solar
\nPhotograph: ShutterstockSolar eclipse <\/p>\n

How often do solar eclipses happen?<\/p>\n

Total solar eclipses are super rare \u2013 they tend to only occur once every 400 years at any given location. Partial solar eclipses are more common, typically occurring at an average of twice per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When will the UK get a full solar eclipse?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not for a long, long time. The British Isles won\u2019t witness a full solar eclipse until September 23 in the year 2090.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up to our\u00a0free Time Out Travel newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A total solar eclipse is a stunning and extremely rare spectacle. When the Moon passes between the Earth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[221302,20201,221301,61,60,35382,242128,82,247,6490],"class_list":["post-573741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-audience-location-audience-united-kingdom","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-europe-united-kingdom","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news-city-life","tag-outside-kl-london","tag-science","tag-space","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}