UK Solar Eclipses: Past, Present & Future
Every UK total solar eclipse since the 15th century, every partial eclipse of the last 20-odd years, and everything still to come.
Coming up: Partial Solar Eclipse - Wednesday 12 August 2026
Already happened. Around 90% of the Sun will be covered by the Moon as seen from Southampton - the closest to a total eclipse seen from Britain since the total eclipse of 11 August 1999 over Cornwall and Devon, almost 27 years ago.
Approximate timings for southern England - first contact around 6:17pm BST, maximum (most of the Sun covered) around 7:12pm BST, ending around 8:06pm BST, low in the western sky as the Sun sets. The Perseid meteor shower peaks the same night, and the new moon that causes the eclipse means a dark sky for that too - see the Meteor Shower Calendar.
Looking further ahead: the next Total Solar Eclipse in the UK
23 September 2090 - roughly 63.9 years from now. The Moon will fully cover the Sun over Cornwall, on a track similar to 1999's but shifted slightly further north and happening very near sunset. Totality in Cornwall is expected to last 2 minutes 10 seconds.
Total solar eclipses visible from the UK, 1424-2090
A true total eclipse - the Moon completely blotting out the Sun - is rare from any one place on Earth, on average only around once every 400 years. Britain's full list since good records began:
| Date | Track / what was seen |
|---|---|
| 26 June 1424 | Total, extreme north of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland - almost 4 minutes of totality. |
| 17 June 1433 | Total, from the Hebrides in the north-west across to the Yorkshire coast. |
| 25 February 1598 | Total, a diagonal track from Cornwall in the south-west to Aberdeen in the north-east. |
| 8 April 1652 | Total, across the extreme west of Wales, the Lake District, then Scotland south-west to north-east. |
| 12 August 1654 | Total, another track for Scotland, near Aberdeen in the north. |
| 23 September 1699 | Total, a narrow path clipping the north-east corner of Scotland, including Wick. |
| 3 May 1715 | Total, Cornwall to Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Edmond Halley observed 3 minutes 19 seconds of totality from London. |
| 22 May 1724 | Total, south Wales and Devon eastwards to Hampshire and Sussex - the closest of these historic tracks to Southampton, though it passed just south of London. |
| 24 January 1925 | Total, but only at sunset over the sea north of the Hebrides - never touched land. |
| 24 June 1927 | Total, just 24 seconds, North Wales through Lancashire to the north-east coast. Mostly clouded out; the Astronomer Royal's expedition at Giggleswick, Yorkshire, was among the few to see it. |
| 30 June 1954 | Total at Unst in the Shetland Islands (centre line just north of UK waters); a large partial eclipse was widely seen across the rest of the UK. |
| 11 August 1999 | Total over Cornwall and part of south Devon, partial across the rest of the UK. Mostly clouded out on the mainland, though visible from the English Channel and Alderney. |
| 23 September 2090 | Total over Cornwall (still to come) - a track similar to 1999's, shifted slightly north, very near sunset. Up to 2 minutes 10 seconds of totality. |
Note: there were no total solar eclipses visible from the UK at all between 1724 and 1925 - a 201-year gap.
Recent and upcoming partial eclipses
Partial eclipses - where the Moon covers only part of the Sun - are far more frequent. Maximum percentage of the Sun's disc covered, as seen from the UK (this varies by location on the day; Southampton generally sits close to the southern-England figure shown):
UK Maximum % of Sun Obscured
| Date | UK max. | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 2003 | ~8% | Annular eclipse at sunrise, visible only from the far north-west of Scotland. |
| 29 Mar 2006 | ~25% | Around 25% in south-east England, 15% in northern Scotland. |
| 1 Aug 2008 | ~20% | Around 20% in the south-west of England, up to 40% in northern Scotland. |
| 4 Jan 2011 | ~75% | Up to 75% at sunrise in south-east England, with a clear horizon. |
| 20 Mar 2015 | ~85% | Greater than 80% everywhere in the UK (total across the Faroe Islands). |
| 11 Aug 2018 | ~4% | A very small eclipse confined to the northern coast of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland - not visible from Southampton. |
| 10 Jun 2021 | ~30% | Around 30% in south-east England, up to 50% in northern Scotland. |
| 25 Oct 2022 | ~22% | Around 20% in Cornwall, up to 35% in north-east Scotland. |
| 12 Aug 2026 | ~90% | Up to 90-96% - the closest to total the UK has seen since 1999. See the spotlight box above. |
| 2 Aug 2027 | ~45% | Around 45% from London, mid-morning. |
| 26 Jan 2028 | ~56% | Up to 56% in Cornwall and west Wales at sunset, less further east. |
| 12 Jun 2029 | ~19% | Only around 19% at sunrise, and only from north-east England and eastern Scotland - marginal further south. |
| 1 Jun 2030 | ~49% | Up to 49% at sunrise in south-east England, around 40% in Scotland. |
Viewing safely
Never look directly at the Sun, even during an eclipse - doing so can cause serious eye damage. Ordinary sunglasses are not safe, however dark. Use eclipse glasses certified to ISO 12312-2, a solar telescope or binoculars fitted with a proper solar filter, or a simple pinhole projector (a hole in a card, held up to the Sun, with the image projected onto a second piece of card or paper behind it - completely safe, since you never look at the Sun directly).
See also: Sun, Earth & Moon · Meteor Shower Calendar · Night Sky Viewer
Sources: Royal Museums Greenwich - Royal Observatory Greenwich, timeanddate.com, and UK Solar Eclipses from Year 1 (Sheridan Williams, Clock Tower Press, 1996).