There are five eclipses in 2027, according to NASA’s tables: two solar, the annular one on 6 February and the total one on 2 August, and three lunar, all of them penumbral, on 20 February, 18 July and 17 August. From Spain, the one that counts is 2 August: total in 105 municipalities in the south and partial across the rest of the country. Of the lunar eclipses, only February’s has Europe in its visibility zone, and it is the kind you barely notice. There is no lunar eclipse on 2 August: that day the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, at new moon.
All five in one table
| Date | Eclipse | Where it can be seen, according to NASA | From Spain? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 February | Annular solar | South America, Antarctica and western and southern Africa; the ring, in Chile, Argentina and the Atlantic | No: Europe is not on the list |
| 20 February | Penumbral lunar | the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia | Yes, at night, but it is barely noticeable |
| 18 July | Penumbral lunar | eastern Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific | No |
| 2 August | Total solar | Africa, Europe, the Middle East and western and southern Asia; totality from Morocco and Spain to Somalia | Yes: total in the south, partial elsewhere |
| 17 August | Penumbral lunar | the Pacific and the Americas | No |
February’s annular eclipse, in South America
On 6 February the Moon will pass in front of the Sun at a time when it looks smaller than the Sun, so it won’t cover it completely and a ring of Sun will be left around it. According to NASA, the Moon’s apparent diameter will then be 92.8% of the Sun’s (for annular eclipses, the magnitude is that ratio). The ring will be visible from Chile, Argentina and the Atlantic, with up to 7 min 51 s of annularity on the central line, and the partial eclipse from the rest of South America, Antarctica and western and southern Africa. Europe does not appear in the visibility zone NASA gives. How an annular eclipse differs from a total one is explained in total, annular and hybrid eclipses.
If you are looking for the August eclipse from the Americas, the answer is in will the 2027 eclipse be visible in the Americas?: it won’t be seen there, because it happens at night or in the small hours.
The total eclipse of 2 August
This is the one that crosses Spain: total in 105 municipalities in Cádiz, Málaga, Granada, Almería, Ceuta and Melilla, with up to 4 min 48 s in Ceuta, and partial everywhere else, from 72.0% in Cariño (A Coruña) to 99.9% in Almería. The longest totality on the whole route, 6 min 23 s, will be in Egypt. NASA lists totality in Morocco, Spain, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia, and our calculation adds Gibraltar, Tunisia and the Halaib Triangle: the full list is in the countries in the path of totality. What you will see from your town is in Will I see it?, and the whole path in the map.
The three lunar eclipses are penumbral
In all three, the full Moon passes through the Earth’s penumbra, the paler part of its shadow, without entering the umbra. NASA marks this with a negative umbral magnitude: −0.057 on 20 February, −1.068 on 18 July and −0.525 on 17 August.
Fred Espenak, the author of NASA’s eclipse tables, explains on his EclipseWise website that penumbral eclipses are faint and hard to see. An experienced observer needs a penumbral magnitude above 0.6 to notice a slight shading, and they are only clearly visible when they come within about 0.05 of being partial. The one on 20 February falls 0.057 short of being partial: it is right on the limit, and at most it will leave a faint gradient across the Moon’s disc. NASA includes Europe in its visibility zone, so from Spain you would need to look on the night of 20 to 21 February.
The eclipses of 18 July and 17 August can’t be seen from Spain: NASA gives eastern Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific for the first, and the Pacific and the Americas for the second.
Is there a lunar eclipse on 2 August?
No. A solar eclipse can only happen when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, which is the new-moon position, and lunar eclipses, as NASA points out, happen at full moon. That’s why the two lunar eclipses closest to 2 August fall fifteen days before and fifteen days after, on 18 July and 17 August, and neither of them can be seen from Spain.
The next eclipse to cross Spain is the annular eclipse of 26 January 2028. What it will look like, and why your 2 August glasses will also work for that one, is summarised in our learn section.
Sources: Solar Eclipses: 2021 - 2030 — NASA (the two solar eclipses of 2027, their type, magnitude, duration and visibility zone); Lunar Eclipses: 2021 - 2030 — NASA (the three lunar eclipses of 2027, their type, umbral magnitude and visibility zone); Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipses — NASA (the magnitude of an annular eclipse as a ratio of diameters); Types of Solar Eclipses — NASA Science (the Moon between the Sun and the Earth, the annular eclipse with a smaller-looking Moon, and lunar eclipses at full moon); Visual Appearance of Lunar Eclipses — EclipseWise, Fred Espenak (when a penumbral eclipse becomes noticeable); eclipseando data (municipalities with totality and durations from the IGN; percentages and countries from the 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.