At first, no one on the beach knows why the light looks wrong all of a sudden. The sun is still high in the sky, but the colours fade and the shadows lose their edges. A group of kids stops making a sandcastle and looks out at the horizon. Someone turns down the music without even knowing it.
After that, the temperature drops. The birds stop singing. A dog starts to whine and pulls on its owner’s legs.
“It’s starting!” shouts a voice, and a dozen pairs of eclipse glasses snap up at the same time. The day will turn into a strange twilight that lasts longer than most radio songs in less than a minute.
In the 21st century, somewhere on Earth, the sky is about to go dark for almost six full minutes. No one really feels ready for that.
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The eclipse of the century: what makes this one special
There aren’t many total solar eclipses. One that makes a strip of the Earth go dark for about six minutes is on a whole other level. These very long events are part of a small group of cosmic elites, and they are on the same level as the famous 7-minute, 31-second eclipse in 1973.
Astronomers have already called the next one “the eclipse of the century” because it will last so long and millions of people will be able to see it directly. The Moon, the Sun, and the Earth line up in such a perfect way that it seems like they were made to do so.
The light doesn’t just go out. It falls apart.
The total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026, is what has experts so excited. There will be another one on August 2, 2027, that will come close to six minutes of darkness in some places.
The path of totality in 2026 will go across the North Atlantic and touch Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain. Cities like Bilbao and Zaragoza will be great places to see it. The 2027 one will go through North Africa and the Middle East. In some parts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it will be almost six minutes long, with some parts just missing that magical mark.
It’s not just a dark afternoon. It’s a moving spotlight of night that moves across oceans and continents at speeds of thousands of kilometres per hour.
Why is it taking so long this time? It all comes down to the shape of the orbit. The Moon’s path around Earth is a little bit like an ellipse, which means that it gets closer and farther away at different times. It looks a little bigger in the sky when it’s closer. The distance between the Earth and the Sun changes throughout the year, which makes the Sun look a little bit smaller.
During these “eclipse of the century” times, everything fits together perfectly. The Moon is close enough to completely block the Sun, and the Earth is at a point in its orbit where the Sun looks small enough. The shadow also crosses near the equator, where the Earth’s rotation makes totality last longer. *For six minutes, geometry is nothing but emotion.*
When and where to watch: your guide to six minutes of darkness
If you want to stand in the longest possible darkness, you need to think like a traveller, not a tourist. Circle the dates 12 August 2026 and 2 August 2027 to begin. These are the windows that will only happen once in your life.
In 2026, the best place to see the eclipse for both accessibility and length is in northern Spain, especially along the Atlantic coast and the inland plateau. Totality will last almost two minutes in cities like León, Burgos, and Pamplona. The rugged landscapes of Spain will make for dramatic backgrounds in photos. Further north, Iceland has about two minutes of creepy midday night over lunar-like terrain and hot geothermal pools.
The real “six-minute” magic will happen in 2027. This century, some of the longest totality durations on Earth will happen along the coast of Egypt, near Luxor and the Red Sea. For those who are exactly on the central line, the totality will last almost six minutes.
We’ve all been there: finding out about an event too late and then scrolling through other people’s photos with anger. That risk is very high with long eclipses. In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or along the Spanish path of totality, places to stay along the central line can sell out months or even years ahead of time.
Take Luxor in 2027. Imagine thousands of people gathering near ancient temples to watch the sun set over columns that have been around for 3,000 years. People in the area renting rooftops to watch. Boats on the Nile turned into temporary eclipse cruises. Travel agencies are quietly testing “eclipse package” prices to see how low they can go.
The truth is that the best spots will go to those who plan ahead, and those who don’t will be stuck in the partial shadow on the sidelines.
The science is clear: we can predict long eclipses decades in advance. NASA, national observatories, and amateur groups all put out detailed path maps that show not only where the shadow goes but also how long totality lasts to the second.
After you choose your country and region, your real plan begins. You want to be on or near the line of maximum totality, have as much historical sunshine in August as possible, and have good infrastructure in case you need to move at the last minute.
