From London this evening the Moon covers 91.3% of the Sun, with the partial phase running 18:17 to 20:06 and maximum at 19:13 BST. That sounds like most of an eclipse. It isn't. The last sliver of photosphere keeps the sky blue and the shadows sharp, and without a forecast telling you to look, you might miss it entirely. Cardiff and Belfast reach 93%, Dublin 94%, and not one of them sees the corona.

Madrid and Barcelona make the point harder. Both fall a fraction outside the path and settle for 99%, and the corona stays inside the path. Totality lands on Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, plus a corner of Portugal, and the longest anyone gets is 2 minutes 18 seconds, 45 km off the Icelandic coast. Spain gets it low and gold just before sunset, which is either the best version of the thing or a good way to let one hill ruin your evening.

Fifteen million people will stand inside the path; another 283 million get 90% or better. The second group isn't having a smaller version of the first group's evening, which is the whole reason anyone books a flight to Bilbao for two minutes of dark. Europe's last mainland totality was 1999, and Britain's next is 2090.

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