Total solar eclipse: What can I see in the UK? Timings and locations of what will be visible for Britons
A total solar eclipse will dazzle people today in what’s been described as “our planet’s greatest spectacle”.
The perfect alignment of Earth, the sun and the moon will be seen later – meaning people in North America will experience a total solar eclipse, which will plunge much of the continent into darkness.
But people in parts of the UK will be able to see a partial eclipse too.
So where can you see it, why is this one so special and is there anything you need to be aware of? Here’s everything to know.
In the UK
Although North America will enjoy the full spectacle of a total eclipse, people in parts of the UK will get to see a partial eclipse.
Dr Edward Bloomer, senior astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said the UK is only going to get “a small grazing” of the eclipse in the West and North of the country.
A map showing parts of the UK that will be able to see a partial eclipse
The start of the partial eclipse will be at 7.52pm (BST) and it will end by 8.51pm.
Here’s where you might see it – weather permitting:
In Glasgow, about 12% of the sun will be obscured at around 8pm (BST).
Edinburgh could see a 6% obscuration.
Liverpool will only see a maximum of 3.1% coverage at 7.57pm when the sun is right on the horizon – the window is very small as the start and end times are 7.55pm and 8pm.
Belfast will be treated to more of an eclipse with a maximum of 28.1% coverage at 8.10pm – the full window in which people might see it here is 7.55pm until 8.14pm.
Stornoway in Scotland will see 33.7% maximum coverage at 8.13pm. Here it will start at 7.53pm and end at 8.23pm.
Anything in London?
Sadly, no.
Dr Bloomer said: “I’m afraid the South and the East are out of luck this time around.
“We won’t ourselves get to see anything from the observatory, which we’re a bit sad about.”
However, you can watch our live coverage of the total eclipse on the Sky News channel, the Sky News app or on our YouTube channel.
NASA will also be providing a live stream of the celestial event, providing telescope views from several sites along the eclipse path.
You’ll be able to watch that on NASA’s official YouTube channel or on its site here.
In Ireland
As well as Belfast and Derry in Northern Ireland, people in the Republic of Ireland will have a chance to see the partial eclipse.
The best opportunities will be in the West. The town of Belmullet, in County Mayo on Ireland’s west coast, could be treated to an eclipse which covers 44% of the sun, according to UK Weather Updates on X.
The account also says Galway will be a good spot to catch the partial eclipse, where it’s estimated more than 35% of the sun will be covered.
It will also be possible to watch in Ireland’s capital, Dublin. But here it’s thought only around 15% of the sun will be covered.
In the US, Mexico and Canada
The US, Mexico and Canada will be in the totality path of the eclipse, meaning more than 31 million people across 15 states will be treated to the mesmerising sight of the sun being obscured by the moon.
A map showing how long the total eclipse will last in each area on the path of totality. Pic: AP
The time it will last in each area varies from just under four-and-a-half minutes in Zaragoza in Mexico to around a minute in Montreal, Canada.
According to NASA, the first location in North America where people will be able to view the eclipse in totality will be Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11.07am PDT.
A map of the path of the eclipse across the United States
The eclipse’s path will then enter the United States in Texas and travel through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total eclipse, before the path moves on to Canada in Southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breto. Its last sighting will be in Newfoundland.
What exactly do people see during a full solar eclipse?
The event will see the sky fall dark as if it were dawn or dusk, and a halo form around the sun as its light is blocked out by the moon.
If there is clear weather, people along the eclipse’s path will see the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, which is usually obscured by the bright face of the sun, according to NASA.
NASA urges viewers to wear specialised eye protection during the eclipse, as it’s not safe to look at the sun apart from at the very brief moment when it’s completely blocked by the moon.
An American man stares at the sun during the 2017 eclipse. Pic: AP
“A total solar eclipse is one of the grandest sights in nature – and may be very rare anywhere in the galaxy,” Chris Lintott, professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford, told Sky News.
“I get a shiver down my spine every time,” he added.
Partial solar eclipses are known to make the sun appear to have had a bite taken out of it, because the moon only covers part of the sun rather than the entire thing.
A partial solar eclipse seen from Argentina in December 2020. Pic: AP
Why is this one so special?
This one’s a bit of an anomaly because total solar eclipses are only meant to happen once every 375 years in any one place in the world – yet people in the US state of Illinois will see it for the second time in seven years.
The 21,000-strong city of Carbondale in Illinois saw a total solar eclipse in August 2017 and the fact people there will now see one again so soon afterwards is incredibly rare.
Spectators watch the 2017 eclipse in Illinois. Pic: AP
It’s earned the state a new nickname – the ‘eclipse crossroads of America’.
“Southern Illinois is considered the eclipse crossroads of America because it was in the centreline for the path of totality in 2017 and will be again in 2024,” the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Why scientists are excited too
Both professional and amateur scientists plan to carry out experiments and observations as Earth falls dark.
NASA’s deputy chief Pam Melroy says it will give an “entirely different” opportunity to study the interaction between the Earth, moon and sun.
The US space agency and others will focus much of their work on observing the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere, which can’t normally be seen because the sun is too bright.
Pic: Reuters
During an eclipse, though, the corona’s white halo can be seen bursting out from behind the shadow. It’s hundreds of times hotter than the sun’s surface and it’s the source of solar wind.
It’s also a complete enigma. Scientists still don’t know how the corona is heated to such extreme temperatures.
NASA’s scientists will be hoping to get more data on it, as well as answers to other questions when they send research planes as high as 50,000ft (9.5 miles) to conduct a series of experiments on 8 April.
Some of the things they’re hoping to observe include:
- How fast particles are moving when they are flung out into space
- Photographing in both infrared and visible light to try to identify new details in the middle and lower corona
- Using a spectrometer to study light from the corona, hopefully learning more about the temperature and chemical composition of the corona and the particles it emits
- Studying a dust ring around the sun. Dust is the leftover remnants from when the solar system was forming
- Searching for asteroids orbiting nearby.
Hundreds of citizen scientists are also expected to get involved in Monday’s eclipse, looking at things like the quietening of birds and other wildlife, the dip in temperature as the sun is blocked, and what effect there is on communications.
US university students will be releasing hundreds of weather balloons to monitor atmospheric changes.
Are there any health warnings?
Yes. You could permanently damage your eyes if you try to watch the eclipse with normal sunglasses.
If you are planning on looking directly at it, you need proper eclipse glasses, which are “thousands of times darker” than sunglasses, according to NASA.
But you need to make sure they work, as bogus retailers capitalise when an eclipse is due and you may be duped into buying a counterfeit pair.
The American Astronomical Society advises these three steps to check if your glasses are safe.
1. “Put them on indoors and look around. You shouldn’t be able to see anything through them, except perhaps very bright lights, which should appear very faint through the glasses. If you can see anything else, such as household furnishings or pictures on the wall, your glasses aren’t dark enough for solar viewing.”
2. “If your glasses pass the indoor test, take them outside on a sunny day, put them on, and look around again. You still shouldn’t see anything through them, except perhaps the Sun’s reflection off a shiny surface or a puddle, which again should appear very faint.”
3. “If your glasses pass that test too, glance at the Sun through them for less than a second. You should see a sharp-edged, round disk (the Sun’s visible “face”) that’s comfortably bright. Depending on the type of filter in the glasses, the Sun may appear white, bluish-white, yellow, or orange.”
If you feel your glasses pass all these tests, they are “probably safe”, says the AAS.
When will a full solar eclipse next be seen in the UK?
A partial eclipse will be viewed across 90% of the country in 2026, but it won’t be a total one until 2081 in the Channel Islands or 2090 in the South West.
The last full solar eclipse seen in the UK came in 1999, which was spotted over Cornwall and parts of Devon. Unfortunately, clouds covered it from view in most other areas it should have been spotted over.
Total solar eclipses generally occur every 18 months or so, but whether or not you can see one depends on where you are in the world and, of course, the weather. Partial ones take place between two and five times a year – with the same caveats.
UK
Hundreds of NHS quangos to be axed – as plans unveiled for health funding to be linked to patient feedback
NHS funding could be linked to patient feedback under new plans, with poorly performing services that “don’t listen” penalised with less money.
As part of the “10 Year Health Plan” to be unveiled next week, a new scheme will be trialled that will see patients asked to rate the service they received – and if they feel it should get a funding boost or not.
It will be introduced first for services that have a track record of very poor performance and where there is evidence of patients “not being listened to”, the government said.
This will create a “powerful incentive for services to listen to feedback and improve patients’ experience”, it added.
Sky News understands that it will not mean bonuses or pay increases for the best performing staff.
NHS payment mechanisms will also be reformed to reward services that keep patients out of hospital as part of a new ‘Year of Care Payments’ initiative and the government’s wider plan for change.
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Speaking to The Times, chief executive of the NHS Confederation Matthew Taylor expressed concerns about the trial.
He told the newspaper: “Patient experience is determined by far more than their individual interaction with the clinician and so, unless this is very carefully designed and evaluated, there is a risk that providers could be penalised for more systemic issues, such as constraints around staffing or estates, that are beyond their immediate control to fix.”
He said that NHS leaders would be keen to “understand more about the proposal”, because elements were “concerning”.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “We will reward great patient care, so patient experience and clinical excellence are met with extra cash. These reforms are key to keeping people healthy and out of hospital, and to making the NHS sustainable for the long-term as part of the Plan for Change.”
In the raft of announcements in the 10 Year Health Plan, the government has said 201 bodies responsible for overseeing and running parts of the NHS in England – known as quangos – will be scrapped.
These include Healthwatch England, set up in 2012 to speak out on behalf of NHS and social care patients, the National Guardian’s Office, created in 2015 to support NHS whistleblowers, and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).
The head of the Royal College of Nursing described the move as “so unsafe for patients right now”.
Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Today, in hospitals across the NHS, we know one nurse can be left caring for 10, 15 or more patients at a time. It’s not safe. It’s not effective. And it’s not acceptable.
“For these proposed changes to be effective, government must take ownership of the real issue, the staffing crisis on our wards, and not just shuffle people into new roles. Protecting patients has to be the priority and not just a drive for efficiency.”
Elsewhere, the new head of NHS England Sir Jim Mackey said key parts of the NHS appear “built to keep the public away because it’s an inconvenience”.
“We’ve made it really hard, and we’ve probably all been on the end of it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“The ward clerk only works nine to five, or they’re busy doing other stuff; the GP practice scrambles every morning.”
A haul of cocaine worth nearly £100m has been seized at a UK port, authorities say.
The haul, weighing 2.4 tonnes, was found under containers on a ship arriving from Panama at London Gateway port in Thurrock, Essex.
It had been detected earlier this year after an intelligence-led operation but was intercepted as it arrived in the UK this week.
With the help of the port operator, 37 large containers were moved to uncover the drugs, worth an estimated £96m.
The haul is the sixth-largest cocaine seizure in UK history, according to Border Force.
Its maritime director Charlie Eastaugh said: “This seizure – one of the largest of its kind – is just one example of how dedicated Border Force maritime officers remain one step ahead of the criminal gangs who threaten our security.
“Our message to these criminals is clear – more than ever before, we are using intelligence and international law enforcement cooperation to disrupt and dismantle your operations.”
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Container ships are one of the main ways international gangs smuggle Class A drugs into the UK, Mr Eastaugh said.
Cocaine deaths in England and Wales increased by 31% between 2022 and 2023, according to the latest Home Office data.
Elsewhere this weekend, a separate haul of 170 kilos of ketamine, 4,000 MDMA pills, and 20 firearms were found on a lorry at Dover Port in Kent.
One of the 20 firearms found at Dover Port. Pic: NCA
Experts estimate the ketamine’s street value to be £4.5m, with the MDMA worth at least £40,000.
The driver of the lorry, a 34-year-old Tajikistan national, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of smuggling the items, the National Crime Agency said.
Sir Keir Starmer has said fixing the UK’s welfare system is a “moral imperative” after the government’s U-turn.
The prime minister faced a significant rebellion over plans to cut sickness and disability benefits as part of a package he said would shave £5bn off the welfare bill and get more people into work.
The government has since offered concessions ahead of a vote in the Commons on Tuesday, including exempting existing Personal Independence Payment claimants (PIP) from the stricter new criteria, while the universal credit health top-up will only be cut and frozen for new applications.
Speaking at Welsh Labour’s annual conference in Llandudno, North Wales, on Saturday, Sir Keir said: “Everyone agrees that our welfare system is broken, failing people every day.
“Fixing it is a moral imperative, but we need to do it in a Labour way, conference, and we will.”
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Starmer defends welfare U-turn
Sir Keir also warned of a “backroom stitch up” between the Conservatives, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru ahead of next year’s Senedd elections.
He said such a deal would mark a “return to the chaos and division of the last decade”.
But opposition parties have hit back at the prime minister’s “imaginary coalitions”, with Plaid Cymru accusing Labour of “scraping the barrel”.
Reform UK said the NHS “isn’t safe in Labour’s hands” and people are “left waiting in pain” while ministers “make excuses”.
Voters in Wales will head to the polls next May and recent polls suggest Labour are in third place, behind Reform and Plaid.
Labour have been the largest party at every Senedd election since devolution began in 1999.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out making deals with Plaid Cymru or Reform at the Senedd election.
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At the conference, the prime minister was joined on stage by Wales Secretary Jo Stevens, First Minister Eluned Morgan and deputy leader of Welsh Labour Carolyn Harries.
He described Baroness Morgan as a “fierce champion for Wales” and “the best person to lead Wales into the future”.
Sir Keir said the £80m transition board to support Port Talbot steelworkers after the closure of the plant’s blast furnaces was a result of “two Labour governments working together for the people of Wales”.
He described Nigel Farage as a “wolf in Wall Street clothing” who has “no idea what he’s talking about” on the issue.
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The PM said the Reform UK leader “isn’t interested in Wales” and has no viable plan for the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
“When you ask him about Clacton, he thinks he’s running in the 2.10 at Ascot,” Sir Keir joked.
“He’s a wolf in Wall Street clothing.”
Mr Farage has said his party wants to restart the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
Around 20 tractors were parked on the promenade in Llandudno ahead of the speech, as farmers gathered outside the conference to stage a protest.
It was later followed by a pro-Palestine demonstration of around 200 people, with around a dozen counter-protestors also in attendance.
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