Moroccans watched a deep partial solar eclipse Wednesday evening, Aug. 12, as the Moon covered most of the Sun across the kingdom, less than a year before a total eclipse is due to cross northern Morocco.
In Rabat, dozens of Moroccans and foreign visitors gathered near the Mohammed V Mausoleum to watch the eclipse, sharing protective glasses as the Sun gradually narrowed into a crescent.
Hespress observed intermittent cloud cover that at times obscured the phenomenon.
The eclipse began in Rabat at about 6:47 p.m. and reached its astronomical maximum at around 7:43 p.m., according to eclipse calculations. Casablanca followed a similar timetable, with maximum coverage also shortly before sunset.
Visibility varied across the country, with northern Morocco experiencing the deepest eclipse. The phenomenon remained partial throughout Morocco because the kingdom lay outside the Moon’s central shadow, or umbra, where the Sun is completely obscured.
Totality instead crossed Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Spain and a small part of Portugal, while much of Europe and northwestern Africa saw a partial eclipse.
Wednesday’s event also served as a preview of a considerably rarer spectacle due on Aug. 2, 2027.
NASA lists Morocco among the countries lying in the path of totality for that eclipse, alongside Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
Parts of northern Morocco, including Tangier, will then experience a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun for observers inside the narrow path of its central shadow.
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