What to do during the eclipse, phase by phase: from the first bite to the last

Beforehand, note the times for where you are and test your glasses. During the partial phase, look on and off and search the ground for the crescents cast by trees. In the last few minutes, notice the light, the cooler air and, looking west, the shadow approaching. In totality, and only inside the path, glasses off: in Málaga, from 10:48:08 to 10:49:51 Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2). Afterwards, glasses back on until the Moon lets go of the Sun, at 12:02:35.

Before: your times and your glasses

The eclipse lasts a little over two hours and each place has its own times. Look them up in when is it? or on your municipality’s page. This is Málaga’s schedule, in mainland Spanish time:

Outside the path the schedule is shorter: in Madrid it starts at 09:45:35, reaches 86.1% at 10:51:17 and ends at 12:02:42, and the glasses don’t come off at any point.

Check your glasses before you go out. If a filter is scratched, punctured or coming away from the frame, it’s no good; how to check them is in our glasses guide. If you still need a pair, on Order your glasses you can ask for ours: cardboard, with the EN ISO 12312-2 certificate, along with the phone filter and packs for groups. Take sun cream, a cap and water too. NASA points out that anyone who watches the whole eclipse can spend hours in direct sun. The backpack and an hour-by-hour plan for going with children are in the family plan (in Spanish).

The partial phase: on and off, and looking at the ground

The first hour is slow. Look through your glasses for a few seconds now and then to watch the bite grow; how long at a time and why, in how long can you look through eclipse glasses.

Between looks, look at the ground. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) suggests looking under any tree for a crowd of tiny crescent-shaped images of the Sun: the gaps between the leaves act as pinhole cameras. If there are no trees, a straw hat, a sheet of paper with small holes in it, a skimmer, a colander or crossed fingers will do. We explain it in homemade eclipse viewer (in Spanish). Photos of the Sun, always with the filter in front of the lens.

The last few minutes: the light, the cool and the shadow

According to the AAS, when the Moon covers more than three-quarters of the Sun, about fifteen minutes before totality, the light starts to drop noticeably and takes on a strange tone. It’s a good moment to notice the colour of the sky and the animals, which often settle down as if night were falling. It may get cooler, and the wind may change strength or direction.

With the Sun reduced to a thread, shadows become very sharp: the AAS suggests looking at your own, in which you can make out individual hairs. And a few minutes before totality, look west, the side opposite the Sun, in case you see the Moon’s shadow coming; clouds on the horizon darken as it passes over them. Just before and just after, shadow bands may appear, faint ripples of light and shadow on the ground or on a white wall. As long as a point of light remains, the glasses stay on.

Totality: no glasses, and only then

The glasses come off when the last flash goes out and go back on before the first one appears. The exact second for each municipality is in when to take off your eclipse glasses in totality.

NASA advises spending a few seconds looking around: you may see stars or bright planets, you’ll notice the temperature drop and a strange quiet, and it’s worth looking at the people around you, because many get emotional. On 2 August, Venus will be 2.9° directly above the Sun, Mercury about 10° away and Jupiter a little further, below; which ones you’ll see and where, in which planets will be visible (in Spanish). The AAS adds the horizon: outside the shadow the Sun is still shining, and all around you there is a twilight glow. And it advises anyone with a camera not to spend totality glued to the viewfinder.

Afterwards: glasses back on until the end

With the glasses on, NASA explains, the end repeats the beginning in reverse: the diamond ring, Baily’s beads and the shadow bands before the whole Sun returns. The AAS says the temperature may still drop a little after totality and starts to rise a little later, that animals go back to their routines and that people start comparing photos and ignore the Sun.

There is still more than an hour of partial eclipse to go, with its crescents on the ground. If you’re in no hurry, stay: the DGT, Spain’s traffic authority, warned last summer that the journey home, right after totality ends, is the critical moment for traffic jams.

Sources: AAS — Solar Eclipse Phenomena (crescents under the trees and how to make them without trees; the light changing about fifteen minutes before; animals, temperature and wind; sharp shadows; looking west a few minutes before in case the shadow arrives; shadow bands; planets and the glow on the horizon; not spending totality glued to the camera; what happens afterwards); NASA — What to Expect (looking around in totality: stars and planets, the temperature, the quiet, the people; the end repeats the beginning, with glasses on); NASA — Eclipse Safety (hours in direct sun: sun cream, hat and clothing); DGT — Tráfico recomienda planificar los desplazamientos y escalonar el regreso (Spain’s traffic authority, in Spanish: the journey home after totality, the critical moment for traffic jams); times for Málaga and Madrid, the window without glasses, the percentage and the positions of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter: eclipseando data (skyfield + DE440s engine), cross-checked against the IGN’s times.