Don’t Do It Like Donald Trump: This Is How You See Tuesday’s Eclipse

Weather permitting, we may observe a solar eclipse in Switzerland around noon on Tuesday, October 25. While it’s only a partial eclipse, it might still be worth looking at the sky: We won’t be able to marvel at Switzerland’s next true (total) eclipse until 2081. But: this decade also has a number of sunglasses in store.

The last solar eclipse that could be observed in Switzerland was not so long ago: in June 2021, the moon cast a visible shadow on the sun. The spectacle in Switzerland was not half as wild, however, as up to seven percent of the sun was covered.

That will be slightly more during Tuesday’s – also partial – solar eclipse: a minimum of 16 percent (in Zermatt), a maximum of almost 18 percent (in northern Switzerland). At least as far as Switzerland is concerned. The maximum coverage is about 80 percent over Western Siberia. The eclipse will also be visible in Europe, South/West Asia and parts of North/East Africa.

The moon makes its first “contact” with the sun at 11:14 a.m. Tuesday. The climax is expected at 12:11 p.m. and shortly after 1 p.m. the partial eclipse is already over. Since the coverage is not more than 18 percent, there will be no obfuscation for us. So you have to look straight into the sun to see how the moon covers the sun. But beware: never look at the sun without glasses!

In any case, for now, the signs of good visibility are pretty bad: Tuesday should be changeable and rain is not out of the question.

For a solar eclipse to occur, the moon must be on — more or less — the same axis between the sun and Earth. A distinction is made between a total and a partial eclipse.

During the partial eclipse, Earth is only hit by the moon’s penumbra. This means that the moon only partially crosses the axis between the earth and the sun, but not in its entirety. Of course, this also applies to a total solar eclipse: only the part of the Earth that is in the full shadow of the moon is in the so-called totality zone – the rest then only have a partial eclipse.

Depending on the distances between the moon and Earth and the moon and the sun, the moon does not completely cover the sun during a total eclipse: there is still a bright ring around the moon. This type of total eclipse is called an annular eclipse.

On a long-term average, there are about 230 solar eclipses somewhere on Earth every century, including partial ones. This means that the phenomenon can be observed at least twice, but at most five times a year. However, the eclipses cannot be seen from all over the world. The last total solar eclipse Experience Switzerland 22 years ago: At that time, in August 1999, there was one over southern Germany.

Total eclipses are much less common than partial eclipses for a particular location in the world. In the 21st century, only one total solar eclipse can be seen in Switzerland: on September 3, 2081.

Still, it won’t be long before we can witness another great spectacle: on August 12, 2026 there will be a partial solar eclipse, with the sun over Switzerland for more than 90 percent obscured by the moon. And if you spend your summer vacation in Spain, you may even experience a total solar eclipse.

But a year later, on August 2, 2027, things get even more spectacular. Then there is also total darkness, again over Spain. Its maximum is six minutes and 23 seconds, making it the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century.

(lacquer)