Solar eclipse of 2 August 2027
Total from southern Spain to Egypt, with 6 min 23 s of totality, one of the longest of the century. In France, a partial eclipse hiding up to 77% of the Sun, late in the morning and with the Sun high.
Key facts
- Date: Monday 2 August 2027, late morning (CEST).
- Totality: southern Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia. Maximum duration 6 min 23 s.
- France: partial phase. Corsica and Roussillon around 76-77%. South-west and PACA around 72-74%. Centre and Rhône-Alpes around 62-65%. Paris region around 51%. Far north around 43-45%.
- High Sun: between 41° and 51° above the horizon at maximum. Unlike 2026, no clear horizon is needed.
- Safety: ISO 12312-2 glasses required from first to last contact - there is never a safe moment in France.
One of the longest eclipses of the century
On 2 August 2027 the Moon's shadow sweeps across the Atlantic, reaches Europe over southern Spain, crosses the Strait of Gibraltar and then North Africa, Egypt and the Arabian peninsula. Under the path of totality the Sun disappears completely for up to 6 min 23 s, against 2 min 18 s on 12 August 2026. Three conditions rarely combine this well: the Moon is near perigee and so looks larger, the Earth is near aphelion and so the Sun looks smaller, and the path runs close to the equator, where the Earth's rotation best keeps pace with the shadow.
For anyone travelling from France, totality is within reach: Cádiz, Tarifa and Málaga sit inside the path, about two hours away by plane, with maximum around 10:45 local time. Luxor, in Egypt, is the most famous point on the track, with close to 6 min 25 s of total darkness and the Sun almost overhead.
What will be visible from France?
From mainland France the Moon never covers the Sun entirely, but it hides a substantial share, the more so the further south you stand. The partial phase runs for about 2 h 15, from first contact at around 09:50 to 10:05 to last contact at around 12:02 to 12:20 depending on the city, with maximum between 10:54 and 11:07 CEST.
The most practical difference from the 2026 eclipse is the height of the Sun. In 2026 maximum happened just above the western horizon in the early evening and demanded a completely open viewpoint. On 2 August 2027 the Sun sits high, between 41° and 51° above the horizon depending on the city. A balcony, a courtyard or a garden is enough. In exchange the obscuration is lower: the drop in light will be noticeable in the south, subtle in the north, and it never gets dark.
Times and obscuration city by city
Local circumstances computed for each city from topocentric Sun and Moon positions (astropy ephemerides), accounting for observer parallax. The same routine reproduces the published values for the 12 August 2026 eclipse to within 0.1 point and returns 6 min 24 s of totality at Luxor against the 6 min 23 s of reference ephemerides. Times rounded to the minute (CEST). For a forecast at your exact address, including cloud cover on the day, use the Pulsar app.
| City | Region | Max obsc. | Max (CEST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ajaccio | Corse | 76.9 % | 11:07 |
| Perpignan | Occitanie | 76 % | 10:59 |
| Bayonne | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 73.4 % | 10:54 |
| Toulon | PACA | 73.2 % | 11:03 |
| Marseille | PACA | 72.7 % | 11:02 |
| Toulouse | Occitanie | 72.5 % | 10:58 |
| Montpellier | Occitanie | 71.9 % | 11:01 |
| Nice | PACA | 70.2 % | 11:05 |
| Bordeaux | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 67.7 % | 10:56 |
| Grenoble | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 64.8 % | 11:03 |
| Saint-Étienne | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 64.2 % | 11:02 |
| Limoges | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 63.4 % | 10:58 |
| Clermont-Ferrand | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 63.2 % | 11:00 |
| Lyon | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 62.8 % | 11:02 |
| La Rochelle | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 62.4 % | 10:56 |
| Annecy | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 61.8 % | 11:04 |
| Nantes | Pays de la Loire | 58.2 % | 10:56 |
| Tours | Centre-Val de Loire | 57.3 % | 10:58 |
| Dijon | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 56.5 % | 11:03 |
| Besançon | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 56.5 % | 11:04 |
| Lorient | Bretagne | 56.2 % | 10:55 |
| Quimper | Bretagne | 55.2 % | 10:54 |
| Orléans | Centre-Val de Loire | 55.1 % | 11:00 |
| Le Mans | Pays de la Loire | 54.9 % | 10:58 |
| Rennes | Bretagne | 54.7 % | 10:56 |
| Mulhouse | Grand Est | 54 % | 11:06 |
| Brest | Bretagne | 53.7 % | 10:54 |
| Saint-Malo | Bretagne | 52.7 % | 10:56 |
| Paris | Île-de-France | 51.3 % | 11:01 |
| Nancy | Grand Est | 50.8 % | 11:05 |
| Strasbourg | Grand Est | 50.7 % | 11:06 |
| Caen | Normandie | 50.5 % | 10:58 |
| Reims | Grand Est | 49.4 % | 11:03 |
| Le Havre | Normandie | 49.3 % | 10:59 |
| Rouen | Normandie | 49.3 % | 11:00 |
| Metz | Grand Est | 49.2 % | 11:05 |
| Amiens | Hauts-de-France | 47.4 % | 11:01 |
| Lille | Hauts-de-France | 44.5 % | 11:02 |
| Calais | Hauts-de-France | 43.6 % | 11:01 |
| Dunkerque | Hauts-de-France | 43.2 % | 11:02 |
The Sun stays high throughout: unlike 12 August 2026, no French city has the end of the partial phase cut short by sunset.
Safety: ISO 12312-2 glasses required
In France there is no safe moment to look at the Sun unprotected on 2 August 2027. The partial phase stays dangerous from first to last contact, and a high Sun changes nothing.
Suitable equipment
- Eclipse glasses marked ISO 12312-2:2015 or ISO 12312-2. Check the standard printed on the arm.
- Pinhole projection: a pierced piece of card projecting the Sun's image onto another card.
- Eyepiece projection from a telescope or binoculars onto a white sheet, never looking through the eyepiece.
- A dedicated solar filter mounted in front of the objective of a telescope, binoculars or camera.
Never use
- Sunglasses, however dark: the infrared they transmit remains dangerous.
- Photographic negatives, CDs, DVDs, smoked glass: no UV or IR protection.
- Survival blankets or food-grade mylar: microscopic pinholes invisible to the eye.
- Eclipse glasses together with a telescope, binoculars or a telephoto lens: the concentrated light destroys the filter.
Get the eclipse start alert for your city
The Pulsar app notifies you at first contact, at maximum and at the end of the eclipse, with exact times computed for your location and live cloud cover.