The greatest total solar eclipse of your life is coming soon
You’ve decided to go see a total solar eclipse. You’ve made a good choice — it’s one of nature’s great events. But which one?
That’s easy — the next one. Given that life is short and global pandemics are not unheard of, I advise grabbing the very next opportunity. That’s in 2026, but there are others this decade in 2027, 2028 and 2030.
When is the next eclipse?
The next total solar eclipse will occur on August 12, 2026, when eastern Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain will experience a short totality of about two minutes. The one after that, however, is so tempting. It crosses southern Spain, North Africa and Saudi Arabia. It crosses the Valley of the Kings and Mecca. Totality lasts a whopping six minutes and 23 seconds.
Choosing between eclipses
Total solar eclipses should never be judged by how long totality lasts. That’s fool’s gold. It’s that they happen at all — even a one-second eclipse is worth seeing. However, there’s so much going for the total solar eclipse on August, 2, 2027, that you need to know about it right now — before all the organized trips get booked and the hotel rooms are filled.
Total solar eclipse 2027
The 2027 total solar eclipse will be visible from a 160-mile (275-km) wide path of totality 9,462 miles (15,227 km) long that crosses southern Spain (that country’s second totality within a solar year), northern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Southern Spain and Morocco are good choices for an easy, uncrowded eclipse, albeit with substantially shorter totality (again, that’s not important). According to timeanddate.com, 88.9 million people live in that path of totality.
The ultra-long totality on August 2, 2027, is no surprise. It’s part of a family of very long total solar eclipses that occur every 18 years in the 21st century. One last one was in China and Japan in 2009. The next one is in 2045 across the U.S.
This site is supported by its audience. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more
When Is The Next Eclipse? A traveler’s guide to total solar eclipses 2026-2035
Why everyone’s going to Luxor
However, eclipse chasers will flock to Luxor in Egypt, home to both almost certain clear skies and the temples at Karnak and Luxor on the east bank, and on the west bank, the huge temple of Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens.
Remarkably, this is where the maximum totality will occur. Even better, there will be almost no chance of clouds (a sandstorm is a small worry).
“Some parts of the eclipse track — over Libya and western Egypt — have seen no August cloud on eclipse day whatsoever in the past 23 years,” writes Jay Anderson, a Canadian meteorologist and eclipse chaser, in his climate analysis. The only climatic problem is temperature, which can reach 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in Luxor in August. The momentary drop in temperature will be hugely welcome.
Total solar eclipse 2027: six other places to go
For some, this eclipse will be all about Luxor. That includes me. It’s a spell-binding place; I wouldn’t miss this for the world. But there are plenty of other, completely different, places where a fabulous total solar eclipse can be experienced on August 2, 2027:
- Cadiz, Spain (2 minutes and 47 seconds)
- Tangier, Morocco (4 minutes and 48 seconds)
- Oran, Algeria (5 minutes and 6 seconds)
- Kerkennah Islands, Tunisia (5 minutes and 42 seconds)
- Siwa Oasis, Egypt (5 minutes 29 seconds)
- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (5 minutes and 54 seconds)
When is the next eclipse in the U.S.?
The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. will occur on August 22, 2044. At 281 miles (453 kilometers) wide on average, a very broad path of totality will travel from Greenland through Canada’s Northwest Territories (with maximum totality close to Great Bear Lake, at 2 minutes and 4 seconds), then Banff National Park, with an eclipsed sunset from Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota in the U.S. My advice? Go to all of them you can afford to. After all, not only do you get to experience nature’s greatest event, but you get to meet the kind of people who are as crazy as you.
Previously published on Forbes.com
Featured image: Squirrel_photos from Pixabay
