London will see 91% of the Sun covered in August 12 eclipse

Britain will get a striking partial solar eclipse on Wednesday, Aug. 12, even though the path of totality misses the UK. NASA calculates that London will see about 91% of the Sun’s visible area covered at maximum. The partial phase in London is expected to begin at about 6:17 p.m., peak around 7:13 p.m. and finish at roughly 8:06 p.m. Dublin is even closer to the central path, with NASA listing about 94% coverage there. The total eclipse itself crosses Greenland and Iceland before reaching Spain and a small section of northeastern Portugal. For most places in the totality path, complete darkness is fleeting: NASA says it lasts less than two minutes, with the ground-level maximum for this eclipse about two minutes and 18 seconds. In northern Spain, cities including León and Zaragoza are positioned for the full phase close to sunset. The UK’s eclipse never becomes total, which means solar protection is required from beginning to end. Proper eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers should meet ISO 12312-2. Regular sunglasses are unsafe, and telescopes, cameras and binoculars need their own solar filter fixed in front of the optics.