Somehow it feels like social media spread ever more FOMO for this year's eclipse, there were long queues for eclipse glasses at local opticians, although where I lived we only had 90% totality (people think each person needs a pair, not aware that you're not going to stare at the thing the whole time, and sharing is possible).
And since the 2026 one is fresh, the 2027 one has a lot of hype and more FOMO for those who MO'ed.
I don’t see the hype as inherently related to social media. There was a lot of hype for the 1999 eclipse that passed through Europe. Everyone was talking about it and where they would go. That’s what it felt like.
It’s a rare and impressive occasion. It’s ok for people to be excited about it.
The BBC news site has a particular boner for slightly unusual moon appearances. If you search the site for moon, there's abundant stories on topics like "blood moon", "buck moon", "super new moon", "strawberry moon", "blue moon", "orange moon", "worm moon", "snow moon", "wolf moon", "harvest moon", the moon being quite near in the sky to Venus, "beaver supermoon", "hunter's moon", "pink moon", and whenever anything even approximating an eclipse happens they write multiple articles about it. So I am given the impression that eclipses happen every other week.
> The BBC news site has a particular boner for slightly unusual moon appearances.
Humans have, and have had for a very long time. And eclipses do happen a lot more often than we realize, as the world is a big place, and not everything visible to us on one side is even talked about on the other side of this sphere, so international sites like BBC make it seem like a lot more stuff is happening, compared to less "this is about the entire planet" news.
> people think each person needs a pair, not aware that you're not going to stare at the thing the whole time, and sharing is possible
We had like 60 seconds of totality, sharing the glasses with my wife would mean we get 30 seconds each. Of course both of us want double the viewing time and the glasses are a couple of euros.
The period of totality is the only phase when you do not need to use protective eyewear. You would be able to safely look directly at the eclipsed Sun, as long as your timing is precise.
I planned for this year's eclipse two years in advance, and it was a bit disappointing: the eclipse, just before sunset, disappeared behind some wisps of clouds just before the totality.
Now I'm wondering if this is as good as it's likely to get, or if I should book again for next year. Honestly, the idea of combining Tatooine with an eclipse sounds awesome, but that particular trip is already sold out.
I didn't need to plan because we live right in the totality path of this year's eclipse. But our experience was similar... it was a great day, forecasts were good, but half an hour before totality black clouds began to form right in front of the sun. It was too late to try to go elsewhere, because traffic in the city was cut due to the eclipse. Result, we didn't see anything (even though people in places just a few kilometers away saw it just fine). It sucked, although it must have been even worse for those of you who needed to plan and travel.
I got mad and that same night, ragebooked a flight and hotel in the south of Spain for next year's one, at that point I still managed to find something that was only somewhat overpriced but not outrageously so. If next year's plan also fails somehow, it will be a signal that I need to go to Beijing in 2035.
Totality is unbeliveable. You have the urge to start a religion. For some reason the images you see on videos are by far not as impacting as the real thing. That said, a single tiny cloud can ruin everything, but in my case it was espectacular what I saw when the sun, the noon, the earth and me were aligned.
>Totality is unbeliveable. You have the urge to start a religion.
Meh! This is what I'd heard and what I was hoping for (though certainly not counting on). In the end it was little more than a beautiful sight. A genuinely stunning sight, no arguments about that. But there was no "eerie wind". The birds and insects did not "go crazy" (they continued chirping as if nothing was up). The experience did not move me metaphysically. But again: a very beautiful sight indeed.
> I planned for this year's eclipse two years in advance, and it was a bit disappointing: the eclipse, just before sunset, disappeared behind some wisps of clouds just before the totality.
On the other hand, we didn't plan at all, threw some plans together the same day, ended up on the top of a parking lot from Mercadona outside of Tarragona somewhere, and it was magical, about 60 seconds of clear totality and no clouds as far as the eye could see :)
Do it, worst case scenario you've seen more places in the world!
>Do it, worst case scenario you've seen more places in the world!
There is a cost to be paid - somewhere, by someone - of mindless travel. I know this is not a popular position but it's true.
I would correct your advice to: "Do it if you are not too far away". Otherwise enjoy the photos. The real thing is not so very different. I speak from experience too.
If you zoom in, you realize that every little pinhole between the leaves of the trees, works as a pinhole camera, drawing a little sun circle- and that during a eclipse, the whole shadow is made of thousands of little eclipsed suns.
Hotels in the path of the eclipse were already expensive on those dates in Gibraltar and Spain. Now with the press coverage they'll be unattainable.
Somehow it feels like social media spread ever more FOMO for this year's eclipse, there were long queues for eclipse glasses at local opticians, although where I lived we only had 90% totality (people think each person needs a pair, not aware that you're not going to stare at the thing the whole time, and sharing is possible).
And since the 2026 one is fresh, the 2027 one has a lot of hype and more FOMO for those who MO'ed.
I don’t see the hype as inherently related to social media. There was a lot of hype for the 1999 eclipse that passed through Europe. Everyone was talking about it and where they would go. That’s what it felt like.
It’s a rare and impressive occasion. It’s ok for people to be excited about it.
Buy your glasses in advance.
The BBC news site has a particular boner for slightly unusual moon appearances. If you search the site for moon, there's abundant stories on topics like "blood moon", "buck moon", "super new moon", "strawberry moon", "blue moon", "orange moon", "worm moon", "snow moon", "wolf moon", "harvest moon", the moon being quite near in the sky to Venus, "beaver supermoon", "hunter's moon", "pink moon", and whenever anything even approximating an eclipse happens they write multiple articles about it. So I am given the impression that eclipses happen every other week.
Not exactly every other week, but they do happen at least 2 and up to 5 times a year.
> The BBC news site has a particular boner for slightly unusual moon appearances.
Humans have, and have had for a very long time. And eclipses do happen a lot more often than we realize, as the world is a big place, and not everything visible to us on one side is even talked about on the other side of this sphere, so international sites like BBC make it seem like a lot more stuff is happening, compared to less "this is about the entire planet" news.
The BBC - well sun never sets on British Empire.
You mangled your joke. Here it is: "The sun never sets on the Bri... BBC"
> people think each person needs a pair, not aware that you're not going to stare at the thing the whole time, and sharing is possible
We had like 60 seconds of totality, sharing the glasses with my wife would mean we get 30 seconds each. Of course both of us want double the viewing time and the glasses are a couple of euros.
The period of totality is the only phase when you do not need to use protective eyewear. You would be able to safely look directly at the eclipsed Sun, as long as your timing is precise.
https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety
It's during the partial/annular/penumbral phases when you use the protective eyewear, and those are lasting a couple of hours on each side.
But even protected viewing should be curtailed to a couple of minutes at a time.
In Berlin for example all shops ran out of eclipse viewing glasses, people were selling them on eBay & co. at 15 -35 euros a pair…
In Barcelona, they costed a bit less that 2 euros a pair at a pharmacy the day before the eclipse.
The trick will be to go to Tangier, on the other side of the strait. It's a 40-minute ferry ride, I did it a few months ago.
I planned for this year's eclipse two years in advance, and it was a bit disappointing: the eclipse, just before sunset, disappeared behind some wisps of clouds just before the totality.
Now I'm wondering if this is as good as it's likely to get, or if I should book again for next year. Honestly, the idea of combining Tatooine with an eclipse sounds awesome, but that particular trip is already sold out.
I didn't need to plan because we live right in the totality path of this year's eclipse. But our experience was similar... it was a great day, forecasts were good, but half an hour before totality black clouds began to form right in front of the sun. It was too late to try to go elsewhere, because traffic in the city was cut due to the eclipse. Result, we didn't see anything (even though people in places just a few kilometers away saw it just fine). It sucked, although it must have been even worse for those of you who needed to plan and travel.
I got mad and that same night, ragebooked a flight and hotel in the south of Spain for next year's one, at that point I still managed to find something that was only somewhat overpriced but not outrageously so. If next year's plan also fails somehow, it will be a signal that I need to go to Beijing in 2035.
Totality is unbeliveable. You have the urge to start a religion. For some reason the images you see on videos are by far not as impacting as the real thing. That said, a single tiny cloud can ruin everything, but in my case it was espectacular what I saw when the sun, the noon, the earth and me were aligned.
>Totality is unbeliveable. You have the urge to start a religion.
Meh! This is what I'd heard and what I was hoping for (though certainly not counting on). In the end it was little more than a beautiful sight. A genuinely stunning sight, no arguments about that. But there was no "eerie wind". The birds and insects did not "go crazy" (they continued chirping as if nothing was up). The experience did not move me metaphysically. But again: a very beautiful sight indeed.
> I planned for this year's eclipse two years in advance, and it was a bit disappointing: the eclipse, just before sunset, disappeared behind some wisps of clouds just before the totality.
On the other hand, we didn't plan at all, threw some plans together the same day, ended up on the top of a parking lot from Mercadona outside of Tarragona somewhere, and it was magical, about 60 seconds of clear totality and no clouds as far as the eye could see :)
Do it, worst case scenario you've seen more places in the world!
>Do it, worst case scenario you've seen more places in the world!
There is a cost to be paid - somewhere, by someone - of mindless travel. I know this is not a popular position but it's true.
I would correct your advice to: "Do it if you are not too far away". Otherwise enjoy the photos. The real thing is not so very different. I speak from experience too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/travel/solar-eclipse-2027...
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2027-august-2
https://archive.is/LuIpj
For us banned by archive.is: https://unwall.app/www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/travel/solar-e...
fancy ad placement
don't miss that can't-miss appeal!
I got a really cool picture out of this years eclipse:
https://i.imgur.com/mrcV1V9.jpeg
If you zoom in, you realize that every little pinhole between the leaves of the trees, works as a pinhole camera, drawing a little sun circle- and that during a eclipse, the whole shadow is made of thousands of little eclipsed suns.
That’s an amazing shot. Thanks for sharing!
Is this about the non-existent EU foreign policy?