Where to look during the eclipse? East and high: about 38° above the horizon around the Strait

To the east, turned just slightly to the south, and high. In the path of totality the Sun will be about 38° above the horizon at maximum, from 37.4° in Cádiz to 41.2° in Roquetas de Mar, with an azimuth of between 95.1° and 98.5°: almost due east. Across mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla it will be between 34.5° and 47.6° high, with the azimuth between 81.8° and 110.2°. With the Sun that high, there’s no need to look for a clear horizon. The only thing that can hide it is something tall close to you.

Where the Sun will be in your city

Azimuth is measured from north, clockwise: 90° is due east and 180° due south. Altitude goes from 0° on the horizon to 90° directly overhead, so 38° is a little less than halfway up.

Times are Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2) unless marked otherwise. In general, the further east you are, the later maximum comes and the higher the Sun is, and the more it has swung towards the south: in Barcelona, it is at 45.1° and 18° from due east. Your town’s time of maximum is on what time is the eclipse.

The building sum

A building hides the Sun only if, from where your eyes are, its roof looks higher than the Sun and lies in the same direction. If the building rises h metres above your eyes, it hides the Sun when you are less than h / tan 38° from its front. Since tan 38° = 0.78 and 1 / 0.78 = 1.28, the rule is 1.28 times how much taller than you it is:

• A block that is 20 m taller than you hides the Sun if you’re less than about 26 m from it (20 × 1.28 = 25.6).
• A wall 3 m taller than you, if you’re less than 4 m away (3 × 1.28 = 3.8).

With the Sun higher, the distance shrinks. In Barcelona, at 45.1°, the tangent is 1.00, so it’s enough to stand as far away as the building is tall. In A Coruña, at 35.2°, the rule is 1 / tan 35.2° = 1.42.

The shadow gives you the same answer without any sums: at that time of day, a building’s shadow is exactly that long and falls to the west, the side away from the Sun. If you’re in its shadow, you can’t see the Sun. The best test is the day before: on Sunday 1 August, at the same time as your maximum, the Sun will be less than half a degree from where it will be on the Monday. If you can see it from your spot at that time, you will on Monday too.

Mountains

A mountain works just like a building, only bigger, and with the Sun this high it rarely gets in the way. To hide a Sun at 38°, a summit 500 m above you would have to be less than about 640 m away horizontally (500 × 1.28) and right to the east. Put another way, the slope would have to climb 78 m for every 100 m you move forward, because tan 38° = 0.78. That happens at the foot of a cliff, not in an open valley or on a coast. If you’re going to a mountain village in the path, such as those in the Serranía de Ronda or the Sierra de Grazalema, and there’s a cliff to the east, do the test the day before.

In Gibraltar, the Rock lies to the east of the town, right on the Sun’s side. We explain it in the eclipse in Gibraltar.

Lower in the Canaries

In the Canary Islands maximum comes between 09:32 and 09:37, Canary Islands time, with the Sun between 24.1° and 29.2° and to the east, turned slightly north: 83° in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and in Las Palmas. The rule changes. With the Sun at 26°, 1 / tan 26° = 2.05: an obstacle hides it if you’re closer than twice how much taller than you it is. A ridge 500 m above you hides it from a little over 1 km away (500 × 2.05). On islands with steep relief, look east from your spot before the day. Everything else that changes on the islands is in the eclipse in the Canary Islands.

And in totality, look around

If you’re in the path, during those minutes look around the covered Sun as well. Venus will be 2.9° away, just above it; Mercury, about 10° away; and Jupiter, lower down, about 22° away. We explain it in which planets will be visible (in Spanish).

Last summer’s, with the Sun low

Last summer’s eclipse was seen with the Sun just a few degrees up, between 1.4° and 12.4°, to the west and late in the day. Any building or hill in that direction was enough to lose it. This one is the opposite: high and in the morning. The other differences are in how the 2027 eclipse differs from last summer’s.

Whichever way you look, the Sun during the partial phases is watched through EN ISO 12312-2 glasses, according to the IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute) and the AAS (American Astronomical Society); without a filter, only during totality. How to check yours is in our guide to certified glasses.

Sources: altitude and azimuth of the Sun at maximum, by city and in the path: eclipseando’s engine (skyfield + DE440s); position of the Sun the day before: our own calculation with NOAA’s solar position formulas for Tarifa at the time of its maximum (from 1 to 2 August, altitude and azimuth change by less than 0.3°); tangents and distances: our own calculation; planets during totality: eclipseando’s calculation (skyfield + DE440s); the Rock of Gibraltar to the east of the town: Total Solar Eclipse 2027 — Eclipsophile; altitude of the Sun during last summer’s eclipse: eclipseando’s index for that eclipse; safety standard: IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish) and AAS — How to View a Solar Eclipse Safely.