Where and when to see 2027’s ‘solar eclipse of the century’
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- The August 2, 2027 total solar eclipse will pass across northern Africa and south-west Asia, with totality lasting up to 6 minutes and 23 seconds — near the theoretical maximum of 7 minutes 32 seconds set by orbital geometry.
- Only one longer total solar eclipse has occurred in the 21st century, in 2009, and the next one exceeding 2027's duration will not happen until 2114.
- Cities along the path of totality — including Luxor in Egypt, Tangiers in Morocco, and Cádiz in Spain — have very low cloud-cover risk, and hotels there are already reporting huge booking volumes nearly a year in advance.
- Totality will occur in late morning or early afternoon, when the sun sits nearly directly overhead, and planets including Mercury — normally invisible to the naked eye due to its proximity to the sun — will become visible against the darkened sky.
- The sun's corona, which is more than 150 times hotter than the solar surface, can be observed in its closest-in regions during a natural eclipse, an area coronagraph instruments cannot replicate.
- Much of Africa, Europe, and Asia outside the totality path will experience a partial solar eclipse, with the moon only impinging on the edge of the sun.
Why it matters: With 6 minutes and 23 seconds of totality — longer than any eclipse this century except 2009 — the August 2, 2027 event gives eclipse chasers a near-lifetime window before the next comparable event in 2114, and prime-path cities like Luxor, Tangiers, and Cádiz are already filling up nearly a year out. Scientists also gain their tightest natural window into the corona's innermost regions, where coronagraphs fall short.
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