By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER and CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC
Published: 08:23 BST, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 12:29 BST, 12 August 2026
Britons across the country are queuing up by the hundreds in a last-minute bid to get their hands on eclipse glasses ahead of the best solar eclipse in a generation.
Tonight, from about 6.15pm, the moon will gradually slide across the face of the sun until it covers up to 96 per cent.
The precise moment this begins, and how complete the darkness will be, depends on where you are (see below), but everywhere can expect at least a 90 per cent blackout.
This coincides with the peak of the annual Perseids meteor shower, when thousands of space rocks burn up in Earth's atmosphere as our planet passes through a belt of debris from comets.
To make this all the more spectacular, clear skies are expected across most of the country.
Even in cities, there ought to be comparatively little light pollution in early evening, though inevitably many street lights will come on automatically. Out in the countryside, the skies will be magnificently dark.
Scotland will see the effect soonest, with the eclipse reaching its maximum at 7.05pm in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
In Cornwall, at Truro, that moment will come 11 minutes later. But it doesn't last long, with the darkness beginning to lift just two minutes after it reaches its most intense.
Britons across the country are queuing up by the hundreds in a last-minute bid to get their hands on eclipse glasses. Pictured: Queues outside the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, one of the few places still stocking eclipse glasses
It is not safe to watch the eclipse without specialised glasses, but supplies of these protective lenses are running extremely low. Pictured: People queue around the corner from 06:00 to buy eclipse glasses in Weymouth
First contact – the moment the moon's shadow will first appear on the sun – will kick off at 18:06 in Glasgow and Edinburgh, 18:13 in Manchester and Liverpool, 18:15 in Birmingham, 18:17 in London, Bristol and Cardiff, and finally at 18:18 in Cornwall.
Viewers, taking the appropriate safety precautions, will see a small 'bite' disappear from the sun's right–hand corner before slowly spreading to cover most of the disc.
At the point of greatest coverage, observers will see only a tiny inverted crescent of fire hanging in the sky.
