UK Solar Eclipse 2026: Everything You Need to Know

Britain hasn't had a solar eclipse worth planning your evening around since 1999. That changes on Wednesday 12 August 2026, when the Moon crosses in front of the Sun and covers up to 96% of it as seen from the UK.  

It's not a total eclipse here; that darkness stays out over Spain, Iceland and Greenland, but from Cornwall to Aberdeen the sky is still going to do something most of us have never seen it do before. 

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What Exactly Is Happening on 12 August 

A solar eclipse happens when the Moon travels directly between the Earth and the Sun, throwing its shadow across our planet. Whether you get a total eclipse, a partial one, or nothing at all depends entirely on where you're standing.  

Dr Megan Argo, an astrophysicist at the University of Lancashire, explains that the Moon and Sun have to line up with real precision for anyone to see totality, and because the Moon's orbit is slightly tilted, that perfect lineup is rare from any single spot-on Earth.  

The narrow path of full darkness runs across the Arctic, Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain and a corner of Portugal, giving up to two minutes eighteen seconds of totality. The UK sits just outside that band, but only by a whisker. 

How Much of the Sun Will the UK Actually See 

Coverage here is unusually deep for a country outside the path of totality. According to the Royal Observatory, the UK and Ireland will see between 90% and 96% of the Sun covered, depending on location. Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly reach close to 96%, London sits around 90 to 92%, Cardiff and Belfast near 93%, and northeast Scotland slightly less at roughly 88%. As astronomer Dr Carys Herbert put it, everyone in the UK is in for a very good eclipse. 

The partial eclipse begins in London around 6.17 pm BST, builds to its deepest point at roughly 7.12 pm BST, then ends around 8.06 pm BST. Times shift slightly elsewhere. Because this happens so late in the day, the Sun sits low, only 10 to 16 degrees above the horizon, making this a sunset event rather than a midday one.