The total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027, from Sfax, Tunisia

Sfax, Tunisia: nearly six minutes, with the easiest access of any long-duration site.

Planning to stand here? Your Eclipse Day computes this morning to the second for your exact coordinates, as a printable plan, a pocket field card and a calendar file with alarms.

Local contact times

All times are for Sfax on Monday, 2 August 2027, in local clock time, computed for latitude 34.741, longitude 10.760 at sea level. A few hundred metres of elevation moves these by well under a second.

Sun altitude at maximum

56 degrees (high in the sky)

Most of the Sun covered

100 percent

Duration of totality

5 min 43 sec

Whole eclipse lasts

2 hr 35 min

Time zone

Africa/Tunis

Coordinates used

34.741, 10.760

Which way the shadow moves

The Moon's shadow reaches Sfax from the west and leaves toward the east, crossing at about 3,100 km/h. In the final minute before totality the darkening builds in the west sky, sweeps over, and races off toward the east. CycleCalcs computes this from the local timing gradient around the town.

How much room is there

Sfax sits about 107 km from the nearest edge of the path, measured along its own meridian (the perpendicular distance is less), which is comfortable margin.

It is close enough to the center line that a short drive gains little.

Distances are measured due south along this town's meridian. The path runs east here, so the true shortest hop is a little less than these figures: treat them as an upper bound. And on eclipse morning every road toward the center line carries everyone else's identical plan, so be in position early.

What 5 min 43 sec of totality actually is

For 5 min 43 sec the Moon covers the whole of the Sun's disc. Daylight collapses into a deep, strange twilight, the temperature dips, and the corona, the Sun's outer atmosphere, invisible from the ground at any other time, stands out around a black disc. Because the shadow is only a few hundred kilometres wide, the horizon glows with sunset colors in every direction at once. The brighter stars can come out; among the planets, Jupiter stands about twenty degrees from the eclipsed Sun, while Venus, the showpiece of most total eclipses, sits within three degrees of it that morning and stays lost in the glare. Nothing at 99 percent resembles this: a deep partial is a dimmed day, not a revealed corona, which is why the margin section above matters.

What to expect here

Sfax is the compromise many people will end up making: it gives up about 40 seconds against Luxor and gains a straightforward flight, a coastal climate and an ordinary tourist infrastructure. The Sun is around 56 degrees up, high enough that buildings and low hills are not a concern.

The Tunisian coast in early August is reliably clear by climatology; the likelier nuisance is heat haze, which softens the horizon without troubling a Sun this high.

Frequently asked questions

What time is totality in Sfax?

Totality in Sfax begins at 10:08:38 GMT+1 and ends at 10:14:21 GMT+1 local time, lasting 5 min 43 sec. In UTC, that is 09:08:38 to 09:14:21. CycleCalcs computes these times for latitude 34.741, longitude 10.760.

Is Sfax in the path of totality on August 2, 2027?

Yes. Sfax is inside the path: the Sun is completely covered for 5 min 43 sec, with maximum eclipse at 10:11:29 GMT+1 local time.

Which direction does the eclipse shadow come from in Sfax?

The shadow reaches Sfax from the west and leaves toward the east, crossing at about 3,100 km/h. In the final minute before totality the darkening builds in the west sky.

Can I see the eclipse from my location?

These times hold for Sfax and a few kilometres around it. Totality exists only inside a narrow path, though a partial eclipse covers a far wider region. For any other spot, the CycleCalcs Eclipse Explorer computes local contact times and coverage for coordinates you give it.

Is the eclipse safe for children to watch?

Yes, with the same rules as adults: certified eclipse glasses meeting ISO 12312-2 for every partial phase, and bare eyes only during the 5 min 43 sec of totality. The moments that need an adult's attention are around 10:08:38 GMT+1, when filters come off, and 10:14:21 GMT+1, when they must go straight back on; the table above has both instants to the second.

Checking another location

This page is computed for one set of coordinates. For anywhere else, including a specific hotel, a viewpoint or a spot out on the path, the Eclipse Explorer computes local contact times and how much of the Sun is covered for any location you give it, and the main page for this eclipse carries the global circumstances, the Saros series and the shape of the path.

These are mean-limb times. The Moon's edge is mountainous, so the exact instants totality begins and ends shift by a second or two depending on which lunar valley the last sliver of Sun drains through. That correction is smaller than the difference a short drive makes, and smaller than the error in standing somewhere other than these exact coordinates. Every figure here is a computed fact you may reuse freely; see how these were computed.

The same eclipse from other towns

Every town below is computed the same way, so the durations are directly comparable.