What you should verify yourself
This site takes accuracy seriously and still cannot be the last word on anything that could hurt you or cost you money. Eye safety, travel decisions and the weather on the day are yours to check.
The eclipse calculations
Every time, duration, obscuration, magnitude and Sun altitude here is our own calculation with the JPL DE440 ephemeris, by the method described on the sources and methodology page. The results are believed to be accurate: the same code reproduces NASA’s published durations for the 2017 and 2024 eclipses to within 0.3 seconds, and for 2027 it agrees with Xavier Jubier’s calculator to about half a second.
Believed to be accurate is, however, not a guarantee: software has bugs, coordinates get transcribed wrongly, and a place name can be attached to the wrong point on the map. If a number here matters to you (because you are timing an experiment, positioning yourself near the edge of the path, or booking travel around it), verify it against an independent source such as NASA’s own eclipse pages before you rely on it. If your check disagrees with this site, please tell us: corrections are welcome and get fixed.
Two known limits, stated plainly on the about page and repeated here: the Moon is modelled as a smooth sphere, so real contact times can differ by a second or two through the effect of lunar mountains and valleys, which matters most within a kilometre or so of the path limits; and each town’s figures are computed for one set of coordinates and one elevation, so they shift as you move.
Eye safety is your responsibility
Looking at the partially eclipsed Sun without a proper filter can cause permanent retinal damage, painlessly and within seconds. Use only filters and viewers certified to ISO 12312-2, from a supplier you trust, and inspect them for scratches and holes before use. Never look through binoculars, a camera viewfinder or a telescope without a filter designed and fitted for the front of that instrument; eclipse glasses held to your eyes behind an optic will not save you. Supervise children directly. The only safe time to look with the naked eye is during totality itself, and only if you are certainly inside the path. Read the eye safety guide in full, then take advice from the equipment’s own manufacturer. This site cannot inspect your filters and accepts no responsibility for injury.
Travel decisions are yours
The travel material here (distances, drive times, which town gets how many seconds, how the transport network is shaped) is written to help you think, not to make the decision for you. Roads close, flights are cancelled, permits change, and a route that was four hours in 2026 may not be in 2027. Confirm everything time-critical with the carrier, operator or authority itself before you commit money to it. This site is not responsible for missed connections, cancelled bookings, wasted expense, a journey that did not work out, or an eclipse watched from under a cloud.
Visas, security, health and the law
Nothing on this site is travel, visa, security, medical, legal or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for official sources. Entry requirements, permits for desert and border areas, security conditions, health precautions and local law all change, and only the responsible authorities are current:
- Your own government’s foreign-ministry travel advice for Egypt.
- The Egyptian government’s official visa and immigration channels, and the Egyptian embassy or consulate for your country.
- Your national travel-health service and your own doctor, particularly on heat, which is a genuine hazard at midday in Upper Egypt in August.
- The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for access, ticketing and permits at archaeological sites and protected areas.
Get travel insurance that actually covers what you intend to do, and read what it excludes.
Weather here is climatology, not forecast
The weather pages describe what early August has typically done over many years: long-run averages for cloud, temperature, humidity and dust. That is the right basis for choosing where to go a year ahead, and it says nothing whatsoever about the sky on 2 August 2027; even excellent climatological odds lose in some years. A real forecast will exist only in the last few days before the eclipse, from a national meteorological service; use that for the decisions you make on the day.
Links to other sites
Where this site links out, it is because the destination is likely to be useful. Links are not endorsements, and no responsibility is taken for other people’s content, accuracy, products, prices or privacy practices. Unless a link is marked as an affiliate link (see below), there is no commercial relationship behind it. Judge them on their own merits.
Affiliate disclosure
Today this site carries no affiliate links. The hotel searches on our itinerary pages are plain links with the eclipse dates filled in, and we earn nothing from them.
We may add affiliate links in future, for example to hotels, tours, or eclipse glasses and camera filters on Amazon. If you book or buy through such a link, we may earn a small commission. You pay the same price. When we add them:
- each affiliate link will carry the attribute
rel="sponsored"and will be identified as an affiliate link on the page; - this section will name every programme we take part in, including the Amazon Associates statement if we join that programme;
- no commission will change an eclipse time, a duration, a cloud figure or a recommendation. Those come from the calculations and sources described on the methodology page;
- any eye-safety product we link to will be certified to ISO 12312-2.
In short
This site is an independent informational project, provided as it is, without warranty of any kind. Use it as a well-researched starting point, check anything that is safety-critical or money-critical against a primary source, and enjoy the six minutes.