The solar eclipse of 2 August 2027 in Northern Ireland
Monday 2 August 2027, mid-morning. The Moon takes between 30.2% and 32% of the Sun out of the sky over Northern Ireland, with maximum between 09:56 and 09:57 BST (UTC+1) and the Sun 34.5–35.6° up. Not total — the shadow passes far to the south.
A note on what you are reading, because this site covers several countries: Northern Ireland is part of the UK section, and every figure below is computed for Northern Irish coordinates and British Summer Time. The Republic of Ireland is a separate country with a separate dataset — 30.4% to 40.8% across 54 towns — and nothing from one is ever mixed into a figure of the other. For the whole of Britain, see the UK section.
Northern Ireland in numbers
- Deepest
- 32% in Craigavon, maximum at 09:57
- Belfast
- 31.6% maximum at 09:57, Sun 35.4° high
- The whole morning
- 09:06–10:50 first bite to last, BST (UTC+1)
- Towns computed
- 7 spread of just 1.8 percentage points
All times are BST (UTC+1), the clock time in Northern Ireland that morning. No conversion needed.
Every town, minute by minute
The 7 Northern Irish localities in our UK dataset, deepest first. Each name links to its own page, with the timeline of the morning and what you will actually notice there.
| Town | Sun covered | Starts | Maximum | Ends | Sun height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craigavon | 32% | 09:06 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.2° |
| Lisburn | 31.8% | 09:06 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.4° |
| Castlereagh | 31.7% | 09:06 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.5° |
| Belfast | 31.6% | 09:06 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.4° |
| Bangor | 31.4% | 09:07 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.6° |
| Newtownabbey | 31.4% | 09:06 | 09:57 | 10:50 | 35.4° |
| Derry | 30.2% | 09:07 | 09:56 | 10:49 | 34.5° |
In all of these towns the whole event happens with the Sun high in the morning sky.
What it will actually look like
At 31.6% the Moon takes a clear bite out of the Sun, plain to see through eclipse glasses; to the naked eye, daylight does not change. At maximum the Sun is 35.4° up, high above roofs and trees.
Northern Ireland sits below the 45% line the UK pages use for «close to half the Sun gone»: a clear bite through the filter, an ordinary morning to the naked eye. What it does not get is darkness, stars or a corona: that only happens inside the path, and the path is far to the south.
The thing that decides your morning is not which town you stand in — the whole region is within 1.8 percentage points — but the cloud. With the Sun 34.5–35.6° up, a garden or a park will do. The Met Office is the place to check the cloud the day before; we will not pretend to know it now.
If you want the real thing
On 2 August 2027 the path of totality crosses southern Spain (Cádiz, Málaga, the coast of Granada and Almería, Ceuta and Melilla), northern Morocco and on across North Africa to Egypt. The honest version, measured in a straight line from Belfast:
- Ronda (Málaga, Spain) — the nearest, about 1982 km away, with 1m 18s of totality. See that town →
- Ceuta (autonomous city, Spain) — the longest in Spain, about 2080 km away, with 4m 48s. See that town →
It is a flight, not a drive. At 32% you get a bite out of the Sun; at 100% you get the one thing in nature that people cross oceans for. Our Spain guide is the front door if you are tempted.
The rest of eclipse day
Certified eclipse glasses: how to check them
The EN ISO 12312-2 marking on the frame, the CE mark and its notified body: how to check any pair in two minutes.
The UK viewing guide
Eye safety in plain English, a step-by-step of the morning, and why the weather, not the horizon, decides what you see.
All 220 UK towns, ranked
Where Northern Ireland sits against England, Wales and Scotland: 30.2–32% here against 23.6–47.8% across the whole country.
Across the border: the Republic
A separate country, a separate dataset and a slightly different eclipse: 30.4% to 40.8% across 54 towns and cities.
Questions people actually ask
Is the solar eclipse of 2 August 2027 total in Northern Ireland?
No. Nowhere in Northern Ireland is inside the path of totality, and no honest page will tell you otherwise: the Moon's shadow passes far to the south, across southern Spain (Cádiz, Málaga, the coast of Granada and Almería, Ceuta and Melilla), northern Morocco and on across North Africa to Egypt. What Northern Ireland gets is a partial eclipse — 30.2% to 32% of the Sun covered, in the middle of the morning — but the sky does not go dark and there is no corona.
What time is the solar eclipse in Belfast?
In Belfast the partial phase begins at 09:06, maximum is at 09:57 with 31.6% of the Sun covered, and it ends at 10:50 — all times BST (UTC+1). At maximum the Sun is 35.4° above the horizon, high enough that roofs and trees will not get in the way: a garden or a park will do.
Where in Northern Ireland will the eclipse be deepest?
Craigavon, at 32%, with maximum at 09:57. The spread across the whole of Northern Ireland is 1.8 percentage points, so it is not worth driving anywhere for the difference. A clear sky is worth far more than a few tenths of a per cent.
Do I need eclipse glasses for a partial eclipse?
Yes, for every second of it. A partial eclipse is more dangerous than an ordinary sunny day precisely because it invites you to stare: the retina has no pain receptors, so damage happens without warning. Only filters that meet EN ISO 12312-2:2015 are safe to look through — sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed film and camera filters are not, no matter how dark they look.
Where is the nearest place that gets totality?
In Spain, Ronda (Málaga) — about 1982 km from Belfast in a straight line, with 1m 18s of totality. The path crosses southern Spain (Cádiz, Málaga, the coast of Granada and Almería, Ceuta and Melilla), northern Morocco and on across North Africa to Egypt. It is a flight, not a drive.
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).