This Saturday, people living in Belgium will be able to see a partial solar eclipse. The last solar eclipse visible in the country was in October 2022. Next year, people will be able to catch an almost complete eclipse.
If the weather cooperates, people in Belgium will be able to see a partial solar eclipse on Saturday 29 March. The moon will pass in front of the sun as seen from Earth. At 11:14 Belgian time, the first small bite will be taken out of the sun's surface, at the top.
"In Belgium, we will have to make do with a lesser eclipse: from just under 38% [of the diameter] in the far west of our country to 31% in the southeast," public observatory MIRA said. The spectacle will last one hour 48 minutes, ending at 13:04.
The Flemish Public Observatory Urania described the spectacle as a "giant Pac-Man in the sky".
No full eclipse
The moon is not exactly in line with the sun. This means that the solar eclipse will not be total anywhere in the world. Around a quarter of the surface will be covered.
"When a partial solar eclipse occurs somewhere in the world, it is often seen as a total solar eclipse somewhere else. Last year, on 8 April, a very beautiful total solar eclipse could be seen over large parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada. In many places, it lasted just four minutes," said Berend van Straaten, Meteorologist at Meteovista.
The timeline of the eclipse. Credit: Urania
This will not be the case on Saturday. However, in areas to the northwest of Belgium, the sun will be more obscured. "But not many people will experience this. The areas where the sun will be more than 50% obscured are hardly inhabited."
This includes Greenland, where the moon will cover approximately 80% of the sun's surface. For some people viewing in the province of Quebec in Canada, 93% of the sun's surface will be covered by the moon.
How to watch the eclipse
Even during the eclipse, people should never look directly at the sun without protection, as this can cause permanent eye damage.
However, there are plenty of ways to safely watch the spectacle. The best and most common way is to wear eclipse glasses, which block the most harmful UV and infrared radiation.
Don't have a pair lying around? Then project the sunlight onto a flat surface. Use a colander or punch several holes in a sheet of A4 paper and let the sunlight shine through the holes. In the projection on the surface, viewers will see a bite has been taken out of the sun. However, to see the eclipse, the weather on Saturday must be clear and cloudless.
"This partial solar eclipse is nothing compared to the eclipse planned for 12 August 2026," said van Straaten. On this occasion, the sun will be up to 90% covered in Belgium. In parts of northern Spain and Iceland, the sun will even be completely eclipsed for a short time.
