Social media pages are full of a story that there will be a total eclipse of the Sun on 2 August 2025 that will make the whole world go dark for six minutes. Actually, there won’t be, though there is a six-minute eclipse on 2 August 2027. And much of the world won’t even see it, let alone go dark. The story was good clickbait, but here’s the truth about eclipses – and where the six-minute eclipse will actually take place.
Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth are in line, so the shadow of either the Earth or the Moon is cast on the other. As the Moon goes around the Earth in 29½ days you might think there would be an eclipse every couple of weeks. But it isn’t as simple as that, because the Moon’s orbit is tilted to that of the Earth around the Sun. Usually the alignment isn’t perfect, so no eclipse takes place.
The alignment only takes place about every six months, during what are called eclipse seasons that last just over a month, but even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll see an eclipse. There are always eclipses somewhere during each eclipse season, either of the Sun or the Moon, but they may not be total eclipses and they may not be visible from where you are.
There’s no way that a total eclipse of the Sun could be visible from the whole world at the same time. It’s caused by the Moon obscuring the Sun. And because the Moon is only a quarter the diameter of the Earth, it could never block off all the Sun’s light. In fact, because the Moon is a quarter of a million miles away, the deep shadow is only about 100 miles across at most.
In the case of the 2 August 2027 eclipse, this track will be in the southern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. The darker strip on the map below shows the areas that will see the total eclipse where it truly will go dark for six minutes or more. The track covers Gibraltar, Oran in Algeria, Benghazi in Libya and Asyut in Egypt. So if you want a good chance of seeing a total eclipse, book your hotel now!
Outside that track people will see a partial eclipse, where the Sun isn’t fully covered. The UK, for example, will see the Sun 50% covered, while Rome and Athens will see about 75% of the Sun covered.
There will also be a partial eclipse visible from the UK on 12 August 2026. That one will be total from the North Atlantic, visible from many cruise ships! The next total eclipse visible from the UK mainland will not be until 23 September 2090, seen from southern England.
But you can view a total lunar eclipse, where the Moon goes dark, much sooner – there’ll be one on 7 September when the Moon will rise fully eclipsed at sunset. It will be best visible from south-eastern England.