UK and Ireland brace for rare solar eclipse this week

Certified eclipse glasses are running short on the UK high street as the UK and Ireland prepare for Wednesday’s partial solar eclipse. The Royal Observatory Greenwich says viewers will see about 90% to 96% of the Sun covered by the Moon, depending on location, and BBC coverage puts the best viewing window across Yorkshire and much of the UK between 18:00 and 20:15 BST. In Sheffield, TheSkyLive lists the maximum eclipse at 19:10:16 local time, when 90.96% of the Sun’s surface will be hidden.

The narrow strip of totality will miss the UK and Ireland entirely, but it will cut across Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain and Portugal. National Geographic said viewers along that corridor will see the Sun’s corona during totality, while the Exploratorium described the event as the first total solar eclipse for mainland Europe since 1999. European Space Agency guidance also calls it the first total solar eclipse to cross continental Europe in 27 years.

That rarity is driving demand for safe viewing gear. The UK Health Security Agency published eclipse safety guidance on July 23, and NASA, National Geographic and other astronomy guides have stressed that even a partial eclipse requires proper eye protection. ESA also published a guide on August 5 on how to watch the total eclipse live from home, giving viewers outside the path of totality another way to follow the event without looking directly at the Sun.

For the UK, the August 12 event is notable because it will be the deepest partial solar eclipse visible for decades. BBC Sky at Night Magazine said the British Isles have not seen a deep solar eclipse since 2015, while the Royal Institution said this will be the deepest partial eclipse visible from the UK for the next 55 years. BBC has also said anyone waiting for a full solar eclipse to pass over the UK will be waiting until 2090.

That combination of rare spectacle and limited supply has left the safest viewing option in plain view: certified eclipse glasses for anyone outside the narrow totality track, or indirect methods for anyone who cannot get them. With totality reserved for Greenland, Iceland, Spain and Portugal, much of the UK and Ireland will be watching a near miss rather than the full corona.