The Supermassive Podcast - Top Tips To See The Eclipse

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

There's an eclipse on Wednesday 12th August 2026. So where can you see it? And how do you do that safely? Izzie Clarke, Dr Becky Smethurst and Dr Robert Massey from have it covered. Plus, The Supermassive Book Club makes a return for your summer reading. We're (finally) on Youtube, watch us here. For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying member helps to keep the show running, so thank you!Send us your eclipse photos, questions (and nonsense!) to [e-mail], on Instagram at @supermassivepod or post in The Supermassive Club.The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production for the Royal Astronomical Society. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hayley Wilson is the video editor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of the Supermassive podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society. With me, science journalist Izzy Clark, astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smethurst and the Society's deputy director, Dr. Robert Massey. We thought we'd mix it up this bonus episode. Since we did a Q&A episode for last weeks, last two weeks' main episode, we figured let's take a break from all of the questions. Instead, this is an eclipse special and a book club. Woohoo. Yeah, I mean, it's summer holidays. Yeah, don't sound too enthusiastic. I mean, I'm just like...

We need it like to put in like canned cheering there, don't we? Like, woo. Just set off like confetti cannons. Yeah. Because I thought people are going to be going on their summer holidays or we're slightly late and maybe they're already there. Or you can get to the airport and quickly nab one. So I thought we could inspire some people's holiday reading. Yeah, because I don't know about anybody else, but like when I'm at work, like a normal life, I read.

so much fantasy is just like this needs to be different from normal life. But then when I go on holiday, I'm like, now I have the brain space to read a nonfiction. Absolutely. Exactly. When at the end of the day, I need to be like, how do I shut my brain off? Yeah, exactly. So what are you reading, Becky? What have you got on your bookshelf? I got sent, I have it here.

I got sent the edge of space time by Chandar Prescott Weinstein, which is part science book, part poetry almost, right? It is very lyrical. It puts the science into, like, the human perspective of people who actually do the science and all of the human politics that come with it. It's a really fascinating read. And I loved getting, like, Chandler's perspective on sort of, like, the field that I'm in as well. Like, it was really, really fascinating read.

I also finished, and I mentioned I was reading How to Design a Universe by Catherine Hamans. Yes. I finished that too. It's definitely my kind of book that one. It blends, like, pop culture and, personal anecdotes into like the complex science in that sort of like Trojan horse that we were talking about last week of science content right where it's like disguised as science but you're actually learning like it it tricks me into thinking I'm not learning but I am yes and I absolutely

love it so if that's your kind of book too you will definitely love that but both of those have been really great reads amazing how about you Robert yeah well I got sent a book I'd completely forgotten I'd contributed to actually astronomy and property of culture there you go Brian jonesson and Katrina Rainer. And it just arrived. I love that color. The green of the aurora is gorgeous. And anyway, this just turned up and I thought, oh, that's nice. And then opened up and I thought, oh, yeah, I wrote a chapter on clocks in that book.

Anyway, so there's a bit of self-promotion in this, but most of it's written by other people. There's lots of really good material on things like astronomy and films, science fiction, music, a bit on outreach and how culture changed with the space age, for example, and other things as well. And as each chapter is so separate, you know, it's nice to dip into. So I was just thinking if you're taking it on a train journey or a flight for those going off to see the eclipse in Iceland or Spain, for example, this would be really good reading. Nothing about eclipses, but it's nice and light and easy to dip into. And I think, and I really love the topics as well. I just looked and I thought this is just, you know, everything from, you know, noting that we have a retail store called Comet to descriptions of Mars and the Plansary Society. Oh, I thought you meant like description of a Mars bar like.

Yeah, well, that would be another perfect example. Yeah, exactly. Comparing the interior structure of the Martian planet and Martian chocolate. Somebody's going to do a paper on that, aren't they? But you say that one of my closest mates is a geography teacher, and she genuinely uses different types of chocolate bars to talk about different rock structures. And I'm just like, I would like to sit in that lesson purely just to eat all of the examples. Thank you.

And mouthfeel is surely another test as well. Although probably not with rocks, not so good. No, probably not. What you read in is? My recommendation is Invisible Rainbows by Dr. Alfredo Carpenetti. So it's all... He's great. So if you're not familiar with his work, he's a science journalist for IFL science, also an astrophysicist.

So the way that he writes is just so fun. So this is all about how we look at the universe, like kind of beyond the visible light spectrum, looking at like the power of gamma rays, kind of how the universe is filled with invisible rainbows. There's a moment where he absolutely kind of tears the standard model apart, which is quite fun. He does it in quite a fun way. So I think it's just like a really nice read.

So yeah, and he's also the chair and founder of Pride in STEM. So it also showcases a lot of, scientists in the LGBTQIA community. So yeah, it was just like a really nice read and it's very fun. So that's what I've been reading. I feel like my list is quite short though. I don't know what to read next.

Well, maybe we should ask people to send in their recommendations to have written good books lately. Yes. They can be nonfiction. They can be sci-fi. We're welcome to all. I'll just go back to Project Hail Mary every single time. Yeah.

It's always the default, isn't it? Yeah. But I also want to shout out Mike in Oregon from the Supermassive Club because I think his reading lists put us all to shame. He posts some brilliant book reviews in the forum. And he's recently recommended The Science of Interstellar by Kipthorn. Oh, by Kipthorn. Yes.

Yes. I've been meaning to read that for ages, although it will probably tell me stuff about black holes. Oh, sorry, that's Pitt using my rug as a scratching post. Okay. Thank you for your contribution, Pip. Yeah. I wanted to read it for ages, but then also I don't like the film Interstellar.

And I probably know the stuff about Black Girls already. Oh, Inseller's great. We've got to argue about this. I know. We could argue all day about it. I was going to wonder, I wondered what you would think about this. But this is Mike's review. Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah, sure. Mike, tell me if I should read it. If you were intrigued by the visuals and concepts that were presented in the 2014 movie Interstellar and ask questions like, is that real or could that really happen, then this book will be a treat. The Science of Interstellar written by one of the preeminent gravitational physicist of our day and Nobel laureate. And an advisor on the film for Interstellar as well. Yeah, exactly.

Digs into what is true and accurate, what are true and accurate representations of real physics, what's an educated guest based on our best understanding of physics, and what is pushing the boundaries with speculation about what might be possible. Kip Thorne was the producer's executive producer and resident physicist, and the book is a mind-bending deep dive into how real general relativity became Hollywood visual effects. His verdict, five out of five stars, it's a masterclass in treating the audience's intelligence with reverence. It proves that nature's actual laws are far more spectacular than anything that a human could just make up. And if you're like me, you'll have to go and watch the movie again to better appreciate the full experience.

I would say what was very fun about interstellar, because everyone was like, how can you, hey, install there as a black hole person. I absolutely loved the visuals. Like, yes, honestly, they're amazing. Because they took, like, a real simulation of, like, with general relative historic magneto hydrodynamics around a black hole and then went, yeah, but what would actually that look like in terms of the light? And then they processed that.

And that was the BFX side of things. And that was like way more computing power, I think, than even the simulations take, just to be like, why don't we do this anyway? And Mike was, Mike was saying that that actually. then there were two peer-reviewed astrophysics papers that came off the back of that because it was just... Yeah, we actually learned something from it because, you know, actually like propagating, like, what would happen to the light helped us to work out stuff about how light propagates around black holes, essentially, which the simulations aren't really simulating for. They're simulating for what is the matter doing around a black hole. Yeah.

And obviously the matter is glowing, so then that's where the light comes into it and that's where the VFX come in as well. So it is, I understand why people are absolutely a love interstellar. But as an astrophysicist, it's just, I can't. That's where your brain does not switch off. I know, it really doesn't. And I've promised so many people, so many times that I will make an astrophysicist breaks down into stellar and why I don't like it video. But every time I try and even think about doing it, I'm just like, it's just too much.

I can't even. The rage. That's too triggering. I didn't know. It's painful. What you have to do is, we'll watch along, pause it and then just speak at a camera and then carry on. No, because that would just be a rant, is he?

and that's not helpful to anybody. I actually need to break it down in a concise manner. Physicist loses mind over in December. Also, thank you to Mike for sending in such a brilliant review. Like, yeah, so good. So shall we get onto some eclipse discussion? I think that's what a lot of people are probably here to hear about. So start with the basics, Robert.

When is it? Yeah, so the big day is the 12th of August. I should say this is a total solar eclipse, right? So this is when the moon is precisely between the Earth and the Sun. It doesn't happen every month because the moon's orbit, it's tilted. And also that the lunar shadow is touching the ground. Now, as the Moon moves and the Earth turns, that shadow tracks across the world. But it's only ever quite narrow, you know, maybe a few tens, most a few hundred kilometers across.

So a given place on Earth typically sees a total eclipse every 400 years on average. And that's why we get excited about them. Now, they do happen somewhere in the world about every. 18 months or so. And we get excited because during a total eclipse, in the total phase, the outer atmosphere that the sun, this corona, the hot outer atmosphere, becomes visible. It just is far too faint to be visible normally because the light of the sun. And it's completely utterly beautiful. It's like this flower unfolding in a night in a darker sky. So 12th of August, and for us in the UK, it will be visible as a partial eclipse before sunset, and about 95% the sun will be blocked.

if you head to Cornwall, the South West is about the best place from that perspective. And if you're in South West Ireland, it's 97%. Now that's the deepest partial eclipse in the UK and I think in Ireland until 2081. So it's well worth watching, even if you're not making it to Spain or somewhere else. I mean, that's pretty good going, isn't it, for a partial, like 95% to 97%. But it's like the difference is, honestly, if I could, and I can't, but if I could get on a plane and fly 200, kilometers into totality. It's like the difference between night and day. It's completely extraordinary to see a total eclipse. This will be really spectacular. I mean, I should say there are all

these things like you'll see a real change in the quality of the light. You'll see shadows that have got these weird horns on them because the sun will be a crescent sun. So lots of things to see, but it's not a total eclipse. And everybody in Spain and Iceland and Greenland, if they get to see it. I hope they do. They're going to have an amazing view, Balearic Islands, exactly as well. Yeah, it's going to be so good. I think it's going to be pretty spectacular. I'm going to try and get up high with like with a Western horizon view from up high kind of thing if I can because I think it is going to be an experience even just to see a partial. Because I also can't get on a plane annoyingly around them. Might get some people casually looking at the sun for a sunset and going, wait, what?

And you know, they might not have known an eclipse was going on kind of thing and maybe freaking out. But this is what I'm thinking about because how many people are just going to be going on holiday Spain in that time and then just suddenly be like, who happened to be a Monorca and be like, what's it? It's going to say, surely, there'll be something about the hotel prices, aren't there? Shall I say where people could see it in the world? Yeah, where is the best place to see it? So the track runs from Siberia.

It goes across the Arctic Ocean, really near the North Pole. It goes over Greenland and Iceland, and there are actually cruise ships going into a Greenlandic fjord. I mean, that would be an amazing place to see it across the Atlantic to Spain and a tiny bit of Portugal, and then it ends, but it's, you know, Portugal at the start of that, and it crosses Spain, ends up in the Balearic Islands, so Mioka, Minooka and so on. And the best place really, I think, depends on your priorities. It's at its longest in Iceland in the peninsula of Lothra Piarc.

I think that's right, where it lasts over two minutes, and that's maximum eclipse. Iceland, though, is often cloudy, so people are going to want to go to places like central and eastern Spain instead, because the weather's better there, even if the sun is much lower in the sky. Now, in the UK, I don't think it matters too much where you are because, you know, it'll be like a variation between, particularly in the southern half of the country, anyway, between 90, 95%, even in Northern Scotland, I think it's still 80% or so. So it's not bad, but it is nowhere near as good as totality. And that's why there are going to be people getting on planes to go to Spain and all these other places.

Yeah, because they're close by. I mean, like next year, there's also one that goes over like Gibraltar and, like, Egypt that's like a six-minute style totality that I think is going to perhaps maybe get me on. get on to that in a moment. Exactly. Yes. Thank you. Sorry. I'm going to jump again.

Yeah, I think I still haven't seen totality. And that's my trouble is that I need to get on a plane at some point. I can't do this year as annoyingly. But maybe next year. But I still enjoy a partial eclipse, though. I think partial eclipse is so cool. And I think it's just like you make what you, you know, you do what you can. Yeah, because not all of us can afford to jump on a plane and all that kind of stuff as well.

Partial eclipse is still really cool. And you can watch them obviously like eclipse glasses are some of the best ways. Yeah. But again, that's a cost to buy those. Although I would like to shout out that Bjork is doing a DJ set in Iceland over the eclipse. Because she did one for solstice. And now she's doing another one in Iceland. And I'm like, now that does look really great.

Yeah, it would be up for that. So let's talk about what's the best way to see it, even if it's partially. What are some of those tips that we can share with everyone? All right. So the crucial point is that it's only really safe to look at an eclipse during totality, and that's if you're somewhere lifespan. You're going to know if you're in the path of the total eclipse. It's why you're there, right, certainly totality.

But in all the partial phases, even looking at a crescent sun can really badly damage your eyes and sky retina, part of the reason is that the sun looks much more innocuous, so your pupil opens up, and then, you know, whereas if you try and look at the sun during the day, normally you can't, it's too painful. And then you can get scarring. And I did meet a journalist some years ago who had the eye damaged in the 99 eclipse in the UK, so it does happen. And you know, it had a permanent sort of dark mark on it.

So please don't do that. And obviously, please don't make sure any children don't do it as well. You can watch it safely in a number of ways. You can use eclipse glasses. You can check they're not damaged. You get them from a proper supplier. They're very easy to use. you can put a solar filter, a full aperture solar filter on a telescope of monoculars, again, get one from a reputable supplier, or you can project an image using a pinhole.

And we, in the RAS, we've been working, my colleagues have been working on a website to include all these things. So if you go to UKeclips.com, you should find this stuff out. It's also, I don't like doing commercial promo, it's slightly careful, but first light optics, one of the companies, one of the companies supplying the eclipse glasses and that, you know, they are bolt buying them. I think they're very, very affordable as well. So do look at that too. Yeah. And just to remind you that if you do, like, I always find eclips glasses like buried in a drawer from like the last time there was a partial eclipse.

And I'm like, oh, yeah, these will be fine despite of them being in the junk drawer and had two tons of stuff thrown on top of them for the past like three or four years or whatever. Just if that's also you, just make sure you check those glasses. So a really good way is to like hold them up to like a, you know, the big light in your house when it's on and see if there's any light that makes it through. and if there is, do not use them to look at the sun because they're scratched and they're damaged. My favorite way to view a partial eclipse.

I know what's coming. Come on. Which is free, a colander. That's pretty good to you, isn't it? It's just so bizarre and there's just something so joyful about standing, you know, like in a park or in your back garden holding a colander over your shoulder and looking down and go, look at all the crescent suns.

Like, it's so, so fun. And you get that effect with leaves and it's summer. Yeah. So people will see that. There are going to be the trees are in leaf. I think they'll see that as well. And they look at all the little suns projected on the ground. Any basically anything with a hole in it,

whether that's naturally made by leaves on trees, like in the, sort of that, you know, like, if you've got a tree that you're like, oh, there's a really nice dappled light. That dappled light is going to be absolute peak place to be during the partial eclipse because you'll get dappled crescent light.

And with a pinhole, don't look through, do not look through the pinhole. You know, it's the other piece of advice. Because sometimes people think, pinhole, no, no, you use that and you put a, put a card behind it and there are, this website. This is the whole point of projecting the light through these little holes. You are not looking at the holes. You are looking at the light that is being projected onto anywhere else.

There was a wonderful photo from the 99 eclipse when I was working in Greenwich at the time. I wasn't there. I was out in Iran watching it there. And they had a picture of everybody in Greenwich part with their backs to the sun all holding these pinhole cameras at two bits of card. And so hundreds of people just sitting. there with the crescent sun projected onto card. That's really fun.

It's going to be last minute, but I'm like, right, what am my plans? What am I doing? Where am I going? So, you talked about this a little bit, but when's the next solar eclipse? Because next year's a biggie. It is yet 2nd of August next year, 2027. So this time it runs another total solar eclipse. And that's a complete coincidence that it happened to also be in August.

It's not like a thing that August is a big year for solar eclipse. So Europe hasn't had a solar eclipse a total. total solar eclipse since 99. And then it gets two in a row. And this time the track goes across. I know. Exactly. Exactly. Southern Spain, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. So there's a lot of interest in this one because it'll be more than six minutes long at the peak, close to the maximum possible. And it runs over the site of Luxor and Egypt. So it's already a tourist hotspot. And it's got all these amazing ancient signs and they will be under a solar eclipse. So I am fairly sure all the accommodations already been booked and probably was a year ago as well. And certainly by all these

tour operators. Now, in the UK next year it will be less good. 40 to 50% of the Cern will be covered. Still worth a go, still not a bad eclipse. I can't travel this time because there's surgery I've got a habit that's coming up, but I'm really hoping that I make it somewhere good next year. Probably won't be Luxor, but maybe Southern Spain, I'll see. Yeah, I know so many colleagues that are already like, oh, I've got my hotel and looks at a book. I'm like, well, I haven't figured that out yet, but I don't think of it. I quite like the idea of seeing it from Gibraltar. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And just being in a rock. in the middle of two continents and the sea

just being like I mean I've never been to Egypt it would be a nice little trip oh Pips now using my sofa as a A pipp is on an absolutely mad one today I don't know if you can hear that she's just so excited for the eclipse is the thing yeah that's clearly it

well there's eclipse chat she's just like yeah but yeah I need to get something soar for that because I think that's going to be good And then the one that I'm also very excited about if you're thinking, well, I'm nowhere near Europe. Well, in 2028, also in July, August, not until I sure which, there's an eclipse that goes over Australia and goes right over Sydney Harbour, which I think would be amazing. But then I remembered it's winter in Australia in like July or August, so it might be also cloudy. So it's one of those things where you probably end up in the outback, but how cool would it be to be like on Sydney Bridge or in Sydney Harbour like near the Opera House and then the eclipse happening? that would just be incredible.

And that's it, isn't it? It's just like the excitement, just like a moment like that can spark. It's just like, yeah. Oh, it's so good. I either feel like you need to be like with a load of people so you get that, ah, with everybody, or you need to be like completely alone somewhere in nature.

So you hear the reaction of nature. Like there's no in between. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can't be posturing around doing stuff. Be like, oh, yeah, okay, fine. No.

And can I just ask, like, when there is an eclipse, what science is happening during that? Like, are people actively studying now or do people just enjoy looking at it? Like, what's the balance there? And what you can do when you get a total solar eclipse, so there's an instrument called a coronagraph that allows you to block out the sunlight

and you can see some of the corona from a telescope on the ground. But if you get a total solar eclipse, then you have this natural coincidence that the moon is almost exactly the same size is the sun in the sky. And when it covers the sun, that means you see the inner corona really well. So you can do that with space probes and all of those things, but it does allow you to do that from the ground. And that's why there's, there are people who certainly take telescopes to eclipse tracks

to this day, even if it's only to test out instruments and so on, because you get to see that inner most bit of the corona. I mean, that's what's so utterly beautiful as well. You see prominences. It looks, it looks totally extraordinary. Yeah, there's a lot of solar physics that goes on. And then, of course, historically, it was all about proving general activity as well, because you could see the positions of stars behind the sun during the eclipse, and you could see the fact that their positions changed because their light, as it travelled around, the sun got bent by the curvature of space, which proved Einstein's theory of general activity.

And that was something the RAS co-funded, and I really like the fact that that work ultimately led to things like sat-nav in cars. So, you know, your sat-nav and your car works because my organisation, 107 years ago paid for two expeditions to go and watch us under it. Yeah, it's really, really cool. And I also just picking up on something you said where it was like, oh yeah, just coincidentally, the moon is the same size as the sun. You know, it's 400 times smaller, but 400 times closer. My sister in the gardener the day when we were talking about the eclipse just turned to me. And my sister is nearly 30. And she was like, I just realized that that's not the same on other planets, that we just have this because it is a coincidence. And I was like, yeah, yeah. So it's a nice reminder that like, you know, we are in a very good privileged position on Earth with the moon's distance. because also the moon's drifting away from us all the time. So in the past, we didn't get total solar eclipses. So we're just in the right place at the right time.

We are. I mean, it's giving big main character energy. Lovely. Not that humans need their egos inflating anymore. Exactly. Oh, lovely. Well, I'm really excited for it. Again, if anyone is watching it, let us know what your plans are.

Send us your photos. We'd love to see them. It's not just the photos. the eclipse like send us photos of you watching the eclipse and you enjoying the eclipse that's what you want to see yes um and stay safe please it's like how you know when people are like when you go to a gig i don't want to see like your grainy picture you got of this tiny person on a stage somewhere that i can't really see from a great distance i just want to see a picture of you enjoying the gig yeah yeah the same thing for the eclipse it is um and i also just want to end on this really nice DM that we got

from listener Natasha Evans, who has said, this podcast has really helped me rediscover my love of space. I'm a lifelong enthusiast who chose a career in engineering to get involved with spaceflight, but ended up working on planes instead because space science doesn't get the love and funding that it deserves. Boo. Not to mention, post-grad school burnout made me reluctant to try learning anything new on my own. But Supermassive has made learning exciting for me again, and I'm finally getting more of that sweet, mind-boggling space knowledge that makes me ponder our place in the universe.

Thank you for sparking my curiosity. So thank you and Natasha. Thank you. I'm so glad that we could do that for you. Yeah. So, yes. So enjoy the eclipse, everyone. And that is it for this episode.

Do keep sending us your messages, your photos, your questions. We do love receiving them. So you can email podcast at rass.ac. dot UK find us on Instagram at supermassive pod you can find us on YouTube keep forgetting about that one at the supermassive podcast no that's wrong YouTube at the supermassive pod or members can post on the forum on the supermassive club yeah the supermassive club it's fun as well I feel like that's where a lot of the pictures come in I love to see it yeah we'll be back in a few weeks time with an episode about antimatter which I'm so excited for because I love antimatter it's just one of those

things that's just like, how is this a thing? How do we know that this exists and this is a thing? Get ready for more confusion from me like, oh, goodness. Yeah, that's an episode. You should watch on YouTube to see Easy's confused face. Until next time, everybody though, happy stopgazing.