![\"Solar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Solar-Eclipse-Credit-Kevin-Baird-CC-BY-2.0.jpg\")
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Perfect Ring of Fire \u2013 Annular Solar Eclipse, Mid-eclipse, perfectly centered ring of fire. At sunset. Credit: Kevin Baird<\/a> \u2013 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr.\u00a0<\/p>\n Skywatchers will witness a rare, extended total solar eclipse<\/a>\u2014set to be the longest in a century\u2014visible from southern Spain and Morocco across North Africa and into the Middle East on August 2, 2027, according to NASA.<\/p>\n At peak totality, the moon will blot out the sun for about 6 minutes and 23 seconds, a span experts say is exceptional by modern standards. The point of maximum eclipse is expected in southern Egypt near the Nile cities of Luxor and Aswan, famed for their ancient temples, where observers will see daylight fall to near-night and the sun\u2019s corona glow around the silhouetted moon.<\/p>\n The eclipse path, according to NASA, will begin over the Atlantic and move ashore in southern Spain and Morocco before advancing through Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt and continuing into parts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with the moon\u2019s shadow reaching the coast of Somalia. Areas outside that narrow corridor will witness a partial eclipse.<\/p>\n The longest solar eclipse in 100 years is a product of favorable alignment<\/p>\n Astronomers say the unusually long totality is the result of a favorable alignment as the moon will be relatively close to Earth, appearing slightly larger in the sky, while Earth will be a bit farther from the sun, making the sun appear marginally smaller. That geometry allows the moon to cover the solar disk<\/a> for an extended interval, producing a longer period of darkness and an extended view of the corona.<\/p>\n By comparison, the April 2024 eclipse that crossed North America lasted about 4 minutes, 28 seconds, and a total eclipse visible in parts of Spain in August 2026 will last only about 1 minute, 43 seconds. The last substantially longer event was July 11, 1991, when totality reached about 6 minutes, 52 seconds, a mark not equaled in the decades since.<\/p>\n