Solar Eclipse and Perseids Wales Pictures: The Best Night Skies
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Welsh skies put on a double show on 12 August 2026. A deep partial solar eclipse turned the evening Sun into a crescent, while the Perseids were active after dark. Photographers also captured the Milky Way at Caswell Bay and stargazing near Yr Wyddfa.
Wales did not see totality: roughly 92% to 94% of the Sun was covered at maximum shortly after 19:10 BST.
Solar eclipse and Perseids Wales pictures: what this gallery shows
These photographs capture both the crescent Sun and the crowds who gathered to watch it. Wales remained outside the path of totality, so a bright curve of sunlight stayed visible at maximum.
Aberystwyth made it a shared evening
The opening photograph shows the busy Aberystwyth promenade at 19:11 BST, near maximum eclipse. Similar crowds gathered across Wales, including Cardiff, Porthcawl, Swansea and Rhossili.
At Clearwell Farm in Michaelston-y-Fedw, adults and children watched together using a mixture of eclipse glasses and handheld viewers. The photograph gives the human scene behind the astronomical percentages: groups making an evening of a rare event.
Why the light, cloud and colour look different
Eclipse photographs vary because filters, cloud, exposure and lens choice change their colour, scale and detail. Composite images combine several stages, showing the crescent moving across the sky.
Five more eclipse photographs shared from Wales
Here are five more photographs shared on Facebook, showing the eclipse from locations across Wales and a view looking towards Wales.
Perseids over Ynys Llanddwyn
The Perseids were not part of the eclipse. They are an annual meteor shower produced when Earth passes through debris left by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The International Meteor Organization listed the 2026 shower as active from 17 July to 24 August, with the expected maximum during the night of 12 to 13 August.
This timelapse was captured over several hours at Newborough Forest and Llanddwyn Beach during the Perseids.
The Milky Way reflected at Caswell Bay
At Caswell Bay, Dan Santillo photographed stars and the Milky Way reflected in the water, with a faint green airglow in the sky.
A stargazing view from Yr Wyddfa
This final Welsh night-sky photograph shows a stargazer with a camera near the summit of Yr Wyddfa. The Snowdon Mountain Railway post is broader stargazing context rather than proof of either the eclipse or a Perseid meteor, but it captures the same impulse that filled Welsh viewpoints that August: finding a dark, open sky and looking up.
A Chinook crosses the eclipsed Sun
An official Royal Air Force post adds a striking UK comparison: a Chinook photographed against the partially eclipsed Sun. The post credits RAF Odiham and RAF Benson but does not identify where each frame was made, so it is not presented as a Wales location.
Why the 2026 eclipse felt so unusual in Wales
The 2026 eclipse brought the greatest solar coverage visible from the UK and Ireland since 1999. Wales stayed outside totality, leaving a bright crescent low in the evening sky.
A safety note for the next solar eclipse
Cloud is not a solar filter. Use proper eclipse viewers, and fit specialist filters over the front of cameras, binoculars and telescopes. Eclipse glasses alone do not make unfiltered optics safe.
The strongest memory in these photographs is not only the shape of the Sun. It is the sight of a familiar promenade becoming a temporary observatory, with hundreds of people stopping together for an event taking place far beyond Wales.
And finally: a total eclipse of the Jaffa Cake
There was only one way to finish a Welsh eclipse gallery. In 2023, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler joined McVitie's Jaffa Cakes for a playful lesson about lunar eclipses, reviving the familiar "Full Moon, Half Moon, Total Eclipse" routine and linking it to Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Sources, further reading and image credits
- Time and Date: 12 August 2026 partial solar eclipse in Wales - local type, times and obscuration figures.
- Royal Observatory Greenwich: 12 August 2026 partial solar eclipse - UK context, coverage and viewing explanation.
- NASA Science: total solar eclipse on 12 August 2026 - global path and the distinction between total and partial visibility.
- NASA Science: eclipse viewing safety - eye protection and optical equipment guidance.
- NASA Science: Perseid meteor shower - the shower's annual timing and connection to comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
- International Meteor Organization: 2026 meteor-shower calendar - the Perseids' 2026 activity dates and expected maximum.
- WalesOnline: 14 eclipse photographs from around Wales - contemporary gallery and reporting on gathering places. The three photographs reproduced in this article are used with permission and credited individually below.
- Taylor Herring: Bonnie Tyler and McVitie's Jaffa Cakes eclipse campaign - background and campaign photographs.
- Feature image: Stefanik, eclipse watchers on Aberystwyth promenade, CC0 1.0.
- Inline image: SoterraOtono, partial eclipse from Roundhill Park, Bath, CC0 1.0.
- Inline image: 12121343A, partial eclipse from Essex, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Inline image: people watching outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. Photo: Rob Browne/WalesOnline, used with permission.
- Inline image: families and friends watching at Clearwell Farm in Michaelston-y-Fedw. Photo: John Myers via WalesOnline, used with permission.
- Inline image: a spectator using a decorated welding mask. Photo: John Myers via WalesOnline, used with permission.
- Facebook embeds: original public posts by Michael Meighan, Chloe photography, Dan Santillo Photography at Rhossili, Damon Vincent, Dan Sands, AC Photography & Video, Dan Santillo Photography at Caswell Bay, Snowdon Mountain Railway / Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa and the Royal Air Force. Displayed through Facebook's official public-post player; none of these images is downloaded or rehosted by Welsh Words.
- Community reel: Aberavon Beach Community enjoying the eclipse build-up to Bonnie Tyler. Facebook blocks third-party embedding for this music-backed reel, so Welsh Words links to the original public post instead of presenting a broken player.
- Bonnie Tyler collage: three photographs from McVitie's Jaffa Cakes' 2023 eclipse campaign. Campaign by Taylor Herring for McVitie's Jaffa Cakes; original content produced by St Marks Studios. Supplied by the Welsh Words owner from the original campaign page. Used with permission.
