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Millions of people will look to the sky Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse briefly turns day into night across parts of Europe.
Cyprus, unfortunately, will not have a seat for this particular celestial show. The eclipse will not be visible from the island, although local skywatchers have the Perseid meteor shower to look forward to tonight.
The eclipse will begin over a remote part of northern Russia at around 8 p.m. Cyprus time before travelling across Greenland and the Atlantic. It will pass over part of Iceland and then cross northern Spain, following a narrow path from Oviedo through Burgos and on to Palma de Mallorca.
People directly inside that path will see the Sun completely disappear behind the Moon. Those outside it may see only a partial eclipse, depending on their location.
In Burgos, one of the best viewing points, the sun will be completely covered for precisely 1 minute and 48 seconds. The entire event, including the partial stages before and after totality, will last close to two hours.
During those few moments of total darkness, daylight will fade, temperatures may dip, and the sun’s normally hidden outer atmosphere, known as the corona, will become visible.
Why is it so rare?
Solar eclipses occur once or twice a year somewhere in the world, but the area experiencing total darkness is usually only a few hundred kilometers wide.
That means any single location may wait about 400 years to experience another total eclipse.
Europe has not witnessed one since 2006, making Wednesday’s event particularly significant. Spain, however, has won something of an astronomical lottery: other eclipses will be visible from parts of the country in August 2027 and January 2028.
Ordinary sunglasses are not enough
Anyone in an area where the eclipse is visible should not look directly at the sun without proper protection, not even for a few seconds.
Normal sunglasses, phone cameras, and homemade filters are not safe. Viewers should use certified eclipse glasses carrying the ISO 12312-2:2015 standard.
Looking at the sun without protection can permanently damage the retina. The frightening part is that the injury may not hurt when it happens because the retina has no pain receptors. Problems with vision may only appear later.
Cypriots will not need eclipse glasses today. But after dark, a blanket, a quiet spot away from city lights, and a little patience may provide the island’s own spectacle, as the Perseids send streaks of light across the night sky.
*With information from AFP, Reuters and APE-MPA
