Partial solar eclipse visible in Belgium on 29 March

Three partial solar eclipses in a row – in 2025, 2026 and 2027 - will all be visible in Belgian skies, Brussels’ astronomy research institute, the MIRA Public Observatory, has announced.

The first of these celestial phenomena will take place on Saturday 29 March at about midday.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon slips between the sun and the earth, casting a shadow on the earth.

The phenomenon last occurred in Belgium in October 2022. This was also a partial solar eclipse, described by Nasa as happening when "the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth but the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up. Only a part of the Sun will appear to be covered, giving it a crescent shape."

MIRA’s educational adviser Philippe Mollet told RTBF: “It’s very unusual for there to be a solar eclipse in Belgium three years in a row.”

This year’s partial solar eclipse will begin at 11.14 on Saturday and reach its peak at 12.07. Some 38% of the surface of the solar disc will be covered in the west of the country, but only 31% in the south-east.

The eclipse will end at 13.01, and as only a small part of the sun will be covered, it will not get any darker during this time.

This year, no one will be able to see a total eclipse. The maximum coverage, about 94%, will be witnessed in northern Canada.

The following partial eclipse will take place on 12 August 2026, when 90% of the sun will disappear behind the moon in the evening. The third partial eclipse will be seen in Belgium on 2 August 2027, when the sun will be almost half covered in the morning.

In 2026 and 2027, there will be total solar eclipses elsewhere in the world, Mollet added, first in the north of Spain and for 2027 the phenomenon will mainly be visible in northern Africa. In Belgium however, you will have to wait until 2090 to see a total solar eclipse visible.