If you were hoping for a cryptic mystery about where to stand to watch the moon cover the sun on Wednesday, August 12, the answer is the west coast of Scotland, Devon, Cornwall, and western Pembrokeshire. The Met Office reports those areas will experience the UK’s deepest solar coverage since 1999, with up to 96% of the sun obscured between 6.17pm and 8.06pm.
Naturally, there is a catch. While the Western Isles and Scotland’s west coast get an impressive 92% to 94% coverage, forecast clouds may completely block the view, making the clearer skies on the east coast the ironically superior option.
Regional Breakdown
For those who enjoy hyper-specific percentage points, here is how the coverage shakes out across the UK:
- Devon, Cornwall, and Pembrokeshire: 94% to 96% solar coverage, with Plymouth peaking at 94.66% at 7.16pm.
- Western Isles and West Coast of Scotland: 92% to 94% coverage (with high cloud risk).
- Inverness: 90.74% coverage at 7.03pm.
- Edinburgh: 90.71% coverage at 7.06pm.
- Aberdeenshire, Orkney, and Shetland: 88% to 90% coverage.
Safety and Rarity
The Royal Greenwich Observatory has offered its routine warning that regular sunglasses are entirely useless for direct eclipse viewing and will not prevent eye damage.
If cloud cover ruins the spectacle, the next time the moon obscures this much of the sun over the UK will be in 2081, while the next total solar eclipse will not occur until 2090.
We did the clicking so you didn’t have to. Original source: Read the full article.
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