Over the last few decades, Spain has seen a partial solar eclipse every few years. The ones we have been able to document with a source run from August 1999 to March 2025. In Madrid, the March 2015 eclipse covered 66.53% of the Sun and the March 2025 one, 20.59%; in Valencia, the 2006 eclipse reached a magnitude of 0.42. Others were tiny: the October 2022 eclipse was only visible in the north-east and the Balearic Islands, and the October 2023 one from some of the Canary Islands. The IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute) sums it up in one sentence: from the same place it is common to see a partial eclipse every several years, but not a total or an annular one.
Magnitude or percentage: two ways of measuring
The IGN and Spanish Wikipedia give the magnitude, which is the fraction of the Sun’s diameter covered by the Moon. The tables in English Wikipedia give the percentage of the surface covered, which comes out somewhat lower. The IGN itself points this out: magnitude is not the same as the fraction of the area hidden. The difference, with examples from 2027, is in eclipse magnitude and obscuration explained.
The partial eclipses, one by one
| Date | What was seen in Spain | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 11 August 1999 | Partial, as in the whole of Europe; it was total along a path whose point of greatest duration was in Romania | Wikipedia (en and es) |
| 29 March 2006 | Magnitude between 0.3 and 0.4 over most of the peninsula; over 0.4 on the Mediterranean coast and in the Balearic Islands; under 0.3 in Galicia and the western part of the Cantabrian coast; 0.42 in Valencia | Wikipedia (es) |
| 4 January 2011 | Partial at sunrise, as over most of Europe | Wikipedia (en) |
| 20 March 2015 | 66.53% of the Sun covered in Madrid | Wikipedia (en) |
| 10 June 2021 | Visible as a partial eclipse | IGN |
| 25 October 2022 | Only in the north-east of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, with a magnitude of around 0.10 or less; in Barcelona, 0.10 for 69 minutes | IGN |
| 14 October 2023 | Only from some of the Canary Islands, with magnitude 0.07 | IGN |
| 29 March 2025 | Visible throughout Spain; 20.59% of the Sun covered in Madrid | IGN and Wikipedia (en) |
The sources add a little more context. Of the 1999 eclipse, English Wikipedia says it was seen as a partial eclipse across Europe and North Africa; we have found no figure for any Spanish city. The 2006 eclipse was total along a path that began in Brazil. On the peninsula, the most was covered on the Mediterranean coast and in the Balearic Islands, which came close to seeing half the solar disc covered, and the magnitude for Valencia comes from the caption of a photo taken there.
The 2011 eclipse was seen near sunrise over most of Europe before moving on to Central Asia. Wikipedia keeps photos taken in Almería and in Elda, but gives no figures for Spain. The 2015 eclipse was total in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. The 2021 eclipse was annular over part of north-eastern Canada; Spanish Wikipedia has photos from Logroño and Torrevieja, and the IGN cites it as the last partial eclipse visible in Spain before the 2022 one. For that one, the IGN also gave the duration in Barcelona: a little over an hour. And the IGN had already announced the 2025 eclipse as visible throughout Spain.
The ones that weren’t partial: the 2005 ring and last summer’s total eclipse
Among so many partial eclipses there were two central ones. On 3 October 2005, the path of an annular eclipse crossed the peninsula; according to the IGN, it is the last annular eclipse seen in Spain. What was seen and where is in the last eclipses in Spain, 1959 and 2005. The earlier ones, from the 19th century onwards, are in the history of eclipses in Spain (in Spanish).
Last summer’s eclipse was total in the north: totality fell on 3,952 of Spain’s 8,132 municipalities, with the Sun low in the evening sky. How it compares with the 2027 eclipse is in how the 2027 eclipse differs from last summer’s.
And on 2 August 2027, a deep partial eclipse
Outside the path of totality, the 2027 eclipse will be a very deep partial one. In Madrid 86.1% of the Sun will be covered, much more than the 66.53% of 2015. Barcelona will reach 81.6%, Bilbao 74.4% and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 77.2%. The smallest figure in all of Spain will be in Cariño (A Coruña), with 72.0%. Inside the path, 105 municipalities will have totality: those in the Andalusian provinces of Cádiz, Málaga, Granada and Almería that fall within it, plus Ceuta and Melilla. You can look yours up in will I see it?.
A partial eclipse, however deep, is always watched through a filter: with 86% of the Sun covered, what is left still burns the retina, which is why you must not look at the partial phase without glasses, not even for a second (in Spanish). The same will apply to the annular eclipse of 26 January 2028, which will have no moment at all without glasses, as we explain in our learn section.
Sources: Eclipse de Sol del 25 de octubre de 2022 — IGN (in Spanish: visibility in the north-east and the Balearic Islands, the magnitude in Barcelona and its duration, the 2021 partial eclipse as the previous one visible in Spain, the 2023 eclipse only from some of the Canary Islands with magnitude 0.07, the March 2025 eclipse visible throughout Spain, magnitude versus fraction of area); Eclipses de Sol y Luna — IGN (in Spanish: a partial eclipse every several years from the same place, the 2005 annular as the last one visible in Spain); Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 — Wikipedia and Eclipse solar del 11 de agosto de 1999 — Wikipedia (in Spanish; partial across Europe, greatest duration in Romania); Eclipse solar del 29 de marzo de 2006 — Wikipedia (in Spanish: magnitudes in Spain and in Valencia); Solar eclipse of January 4, 2011 — Wikipedia (seen at sunrise in Europe, photos from Almería); Eclipse solar del 4 de enero de 2011 — Wikipedia (in Spanish: photo from Elda); Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 — Wikipedia (totality in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard, 66.53% in Madrid); Solar eclipse of June 10, 2021 — Wikipedia and Eclipse solar del 10 de junio de 2021 — Wikipedia (in Spanish; annular in north-eastern Canada, photos from Logroño and Torrevieja); Solar eclipse of March 29, 2025 — Wikipedia (20.59% in Madrid); 2027 percentages and municipalities with totality: IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish) and eclipseando data (skyfield + DE440s engine).
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.