Yes, but only inside the path of totality and only for a few minutes: in the 105 municipalities in the south of Spain that get totality, the sky darkens for anything from 10 s in Casarabonela, a village in Málaga province, to 4 min 48 s in Ceuta, in mid-morning. And it never becomes full night: the American Astronomical Society (AAS) measures about 5 lux during totality, the same as in civil twilight. Outside the path it doesn’t get dark, even if the Sun is almost completely covered: with 99% covered, the AAS measures about 1,000 lux, the light of an overcast day. Almería, at 99.9%, stays at that level.
Where it gets dark: only in the path
Totality, the time when the Moon covers the whole Sun, can only be seen from inside the umbra, the Moon’s inner shadow. In Spain that shadow crosses the south of Cádiz and Málaga provinces, the coast of Granada and Almería, and Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s two cities in North Africa. How long the night lasts depends on how close you are to the central line:
| Town | Night (totality, IGN) | Maximum (mainland Spanish time) |
|---|---|---|
| Ceuta | 4 min 48 s | 10:47:44 |
| Tarifa | 4 min 38 s | 10:47:25 |
| Melilla | 4 min 34 s | 10:50:30 |
| Barbate | 4 min 15 s | 10:47:11 |
| Marbella | 3 min 16 s | 10:48:29 |
| Cádiz | 2 min 54 s | 10:46:52 |
| Málaga | 1 min 49 s | 10:49:05 |
| Motril | 1 min 41 s | 10:50:13 |
| Roquetas de Mar | 1 min 30 s | 10:51:18 |
| Casarabonela | 10 s | 10:48:38 |
Mainland Spanish time is CEST (UTC+2), and Ceuta and Melilla use it too. All of these towns are in the list of the 105 municipalities with totality. Outside the path there is no night, however close the percentage gets: Almería reaches 99.9%, Granada 99.2%, Huelva 98.6%, Seville 98.4% and Madrid 86.1%. In the Canary Islands, between 76.2% and 81.8% of the Sun is covered.
How dark it gets
The AAS publishes light measurements from recent eclipses, in lux:
| Moment | Light (AAS) |
|---|---|
| Sunny day, before the eclipse | about 100,000 lux |
| Partial at 99%, like an overcast day | about 1,000 lux |
| Totality, like civil twilight | about 5 lux |
| Full-moon night | 0.5 lux at most |
Between 99% and totality the light is divided by two hundred, which is why the change is so abrupt. Even so, totality is about ten times brighter than a full-moon night; according to the AAS, the thing that shines like the full moon is the corona. The sky turns a silvery, slightly violet blue, and colours like those of dawn appear all around the horizon.
Not every totality gets equally dark. The AAS explains that the wider the shadow and the longer the totality, the darker it gets, because the sunlit landscape is further away, and that clouds, the Sun’s altitude, the height of the site and haze also play a part. With 4 min 48 s, Ceuta will not get the same experience as Casarabonela with 10 s, where the shadow only just grazes it.
What you’ll see in the sky
At 5 lux the brightest objects show up. According to the AAS, the bright planets, especially Venus and Jupiter, are easy to see, and stars are rarely noticeable. In Tarifa, at 10:47:25, our calculation puts Venus (magnitude −3.9) 2.9° from the Sun, just above it; Mercury (−1.5) about 10° away, and Jupiter (−1.7) about 22° below, next to Regulus. Saturn will be behind you, towards the west. Above the horizon there will be bright stars such as Sirius, Procyon, Pollux or Capella.
In mid-morning, with the Sun high
On 2 August the night comes in mid-morning: in the towns with totality the Sun will be between 37 and 41° up, towards the east, so only a building or a cloud can take it from you. That is very different from last summer’s eclipse, which came with the Sun low. What happens in those minutes, from the corona to the diamond ring, is explained in our learn section.
The safety rules are those of the IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute) and the AAS: an EN ISO 12312-2 filter in all the partial phases, and no filter only during strict totality, from the last flash to the first. In Almería, Granada or Seville there isn’t a single second without a filter. When to take your glasses off and put them back on, to the second, is in when to take off your eclipse glasses during totality, and the time for your town is in Will I see it?.
Sources: How Dark Does It Get During a Total Solar Eclipse? — American Astronomical Society (light measured in totality, at 99%, in full sun and under a full moon; colour of the sky, visible planets and what the darkness depends on); IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish: municipalities with totality, durations and safe viewing); eclipseando data (times, percentages and the Sun’s altitude from the skyfield + DE440s engine; planet positions calculated for Tarifa with the DE440s ephemeris).
If you would like something to keep from the eclipse, the shop prints T-shirts, mugs and posters with the name of your town, the time of its maximum and its seconds of totality. See the merchandise →
Remember: never look at the Sun without proper eye protection (filters made to EN ISO 12312-2). The official reference for safe viewing in Spain is the IGN (in Spanish): eclipses.ign.es.