Solar eclipse in Guildford
Wednesday 12 August 2026 · Guildford, England
On 12 August 2026 the eclipse over Guildford will be partial: the Moon covers up to 91.9% of the Sun at 19:13, with the disc only 10.5° above the horizon. That places Guildford 77th of the 220 UK localities we compute. Totality is not reached anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Eclipse data for Guildford
Partial eclipse
91.9% of the Sun's area covered at maximum (magnitude 0.9288 — that is the fraction of the Sun's diameter hidden, always the larger-sounding number)
- First contact
- 18:17
- Maximum eclipse
- 19:13
- Eclipse ends
- 20:06
- Sun's altitude at maximum
- 10.5°
All times in British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1) — the clock time everywhere in the UK on 12 August 2026. The whole event lasts about 1 h 49 min.
The evening in Guildford, phase by phase
- First contact: 18:17
- Maximum eclipse: 19:13
- Eclipse ends: 20:06
What it will actually look like
At 91.9% the Moon takes an enormous bite out of the Sun, yet the light stays close to normal: the eye compensates so well that, without eclipse glasses, most people walking past would miss it entirely. Look through the filter and the crescent is unmistakable. The catch is height: at maximum the Sun is only 10.5° above the horizon, so a clear, unobstructed view to the west-north-west matters more than anything else.
The eclipse in Guildford, told straight
The eclipse starts quietly in Guildford at 18:17, when the Moon takes its first, invisible-to-the-naked-eye nick out of the western edge of the Sun. Nothing about the evening will look unusual for a good while: through certified eclipse glasses the bite grows minute by minute, but the daylight around you barely reacts for the first half hour.
By maximum, at 19:13, the Moon covers 91.9% of the Sun. That number sounds like near-darkness and it is not: the human eye adapts so smoothly that 91.9% of the Sun hidden still leaves what feels like a slightly dull evening. The honest description is that the sky looks a little wrong rather than dark. All the drama is in the eyepiece — a thin solar crescent through the filter — and in the crescent-shaped speckles that leaf shadows cast on a pale wall.
The Moon then slides off the disc and the eclipse ends at 20:06, with the Sun still up. The practical catch in Guildford is height, not timing: at maximum the Sun is only 10.5° above the horizon — roughly the width of your fist at arm's length — so a hill, a terrace of houses or a line of trees to the west-north-west can hide the whole thing. Choosing a spot with an open western skyline matters far more here than any equipment you could buy.
And the honest headline: 91.9% is not totality. Without the last sliver of photosphere going out there is no corona, no horizon-to-horizon twilight, no stars at teatime — and no moment at which it is safe to look without a filter. The nearest place that does reach 100% is Noja (Cantabria, Spain), about 890 km away in a straight line, where the Sun disappears completely for 0m 51s.
Cloud is the only variable this page cannot predict. British weather in mid-August is what it is; check the Met Office forecast in the final days, and — because the Sun is so low — have a second viewpoint in mind that faces a different stretch of horizon.
Circumstances computed for the coordinates of each locality with JPL DE440s ephemerides, the same pipeline that powers the Spanish and Icelandic pages on this site. All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
Never look at the Sun without certified filters
Because Guildford is outside the path of totality, there is no moment at all during this eclipse when it is safe to look at the Sun with unprotected eyes — not at 19:13, not at 91.9%, not through sunglasses or a phone screen. Use eclipse glasses or a handheld viewer marked EN ISO 12312-2 (also written ISO 12312-2:2015) on the frame, and check them for scratches or pinholes before the day.
Our full guidance is in the English guide to certified eclipse glasses. For an independent, non-commercial list of filters that have been tested, the American Astronomical Society keeps one at eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/viewers-filters. Binoculars, telescopes and camera lenses need a filter fitted in front of the optics — eclipse glasses held to the eyepiece are not protection.
If 91.9% leaves you wanting the real thing
It is worth knowing what Guildford is missing, because the gap is not a matter of degree. Totality is a different event: the Sun's disc goes out entirely, the corona appears, the horizon glows all the way round and — for those seconds only — you look at it with your own eyes. At 91.9% none of that happens.
From Guildford there are two realistic ways to be inside the path on the same evening, and the numbers below come from the same computation as this page:
- Northern Spain. The nearest Spanish point in the path is Noja (Cantabria), about 890 km from here, with 0m 51s of totality. Spain gets the longest stretch of this eclipse over inhabited land — though there the Sun is also low, close to setting. Every Spanish town has its own page in our English coverage of Spain.
- Iceland. The nearest Icelandic point is Mosfellsbær (Mosfellsbær), about 1,887 km away, with 0m 33s. The draw is that Reykjavík itself is inside the path — 1m 02s of totality at 17:48 local time, with the Sun 24.5° high, far clear of the horizon problem that dogs the UK and Spain. It is a flight of roughly two to three hours from most UK airports. Our Iceland section →
Distances are straight-line, computed between coordinates — not travel distances.
Share the times for Guildford
Questions about the eclipse in Guildford
What time is the solar eclipse in Guildford?
On Wednesday 12 August 2026. In Guildford the partial phase begins at 18:17, maximum comes at 19:13 and the eclipse ends at 20:06 — all times BST (UTC+1). The whole event lasts about 1 h 49 min. Computed for this locality's own coordinates with JPL DE440s ephemerides.
Will the eclipse be total in Guildford?
No. Nowhere in the United Kingdom is inside the path of totality on 12 August 2026. In Guildford the Moon covers at most 91.9% of the Sun (magnitude 0.9288, meaning 92.9% of the Sun's diameter), which ranks it 77 out of the 220 UK localities we compute. The nearest totality is Noja (Cantabria, Spain), about 890 km away, with 0m 51s of it.
How high will the Sun be from Guildford?
About 10.5° above the horizon at maximum — very low, since the eclipse happens in the evening. That is roughly a fist's width at arm's length. In practice it means you need a viewpoint with a clear view to the west-north-west; buildings, hills or trees in that direction will simply hide the eclipse.
Do I need eclipse glasses for a partial eclipse?
Yes, for every second of it. There is no safe moment to look at the Sun with the naked eye from Guildford: even with 91.9% covered, the remaining sliver is bright enough to burn the retina painlessly and permanently. Use glasses marked EN ISO 12312-2 (or ISO 12312-2:2015), and never sunglasses, exposed film, smoked glass or a phone camera.
Is it worth travelling from Guildford to see totality?
That is the honest question. A 91.9% partial eclipse and a total one are different phenomena, not different amounts of the same one. From Guildford the closest 100% is Noja (Spain), about 890 km away — for most of the UK that means a short flight to northern Spain or to Iceland, where Reykjavík itself lies inside the path.
Where can I check the forecast for Guildford?
The Met Office (metoffice.gov.uk) publishes the official UK forecast; check it in the last few days rather than weeks ahead. Because the Sun will be so low in England, cloud sitting on the western horizon matters more than cloud overhead — worth a backup viewpoint.