From Spain to Luxor... the world awaits the two most beautiful solar eclipses in less than a year

 

In a few days, millions of people will turn their attention to the skies of the North Atlantic and the Iberian Peninsula to follow the total solar eclipse that will cross Greenland, Iceland and Spain on August 12, 2026, while large parts of Europe, North Africa and West Asia will witness a partial eclipse to varying degrees.

The event will serve as a global rehearsal for a more famous eclipse that the world awaits in less than a year, when the moon's shadow crosses the skies of Egypt on August 2, 2027, in one of the longest and most beautiful total eclipses of the 21st century.

The path of the total eclipse in 2027 will pass over Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Somalia, while the eclipse will be partially visible from most of the rest of the Arab countries, such as Mauritania, Sudan, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Gulf Arab states, with varying degrees of obscuration depending on the location.

This phenomenon is not seen merely as a passing astronomical event, but as a rare human experience that combines the wonder of science and the beauty of nature, and reminds man of his place in this vast universe.

What is a solar eclipse and why doesn't it happen often?

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking its light from reaching part of the Earth's surface. Although the Moon orbits the Earth approximately every month, eclipses do not occur every month because the Moon's orbit is inclined at about 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Therefore, the Moon usually passes above or below the Sun without completely blocking it.

The world experiences two to five solar eclipses each year, but a total eclipse remains rare in the same place; the inhabitants of a single city may have to wait more than three or four centuries before a new total eclipse passes through it.

This is why thousands of amateurs and scientists travel across continents to catch just a few minutes of darkness created by the moon in broad daylight, because each eclipse has different characteristics in terms of the duration of the eclipse, the altitude of the sun, weather conditions, and the nature of the place from which it is viewed.

Partial eclipse... and total eclipse

Not all eclipses are the same. In a partial eclipse, the moon covers part of the sun's disk, the daylight remains largely visible, the solar corona does not appear, and looking at the sun remains dangerous throughout the eclipse.

As for the total eclipse, it is the event that everyone is waiting for, as the moon completely covers the sun's disk for a few minutes, so the direct light disappears, and the white solar corona surrounding the sun appears, which is its extremely hot outer layer, which cannot usually be seen because of the brightness of the solar disk.

During these brief moments, the sun transforms into a black disk surrounded by glowing silver filaments, in a spectacle that many astronomers consider the most beautiful phenomenon the naked eye can see in the sky.

What happens when day turns into night?

A few minutes before the full phase begins, the scene gradually changes. The light the eye is accustomed to becomes unusually dim, as if the world is slowly losing its colors. This light is unlike what happens at sunset, because the sun remains high in the sky, yet its intensity decreases unnaturally, making things around the observer appear as if illuminated by a dim lamp.