The Lange Wapper statue in near darkness, legs planted wide and hands on his hips, standing against the eclipsed sun
12 August 2026

Where to see the partial solar eclipse in Antwerp

First contact
19:18
Altitude 15.9°
Bearing 274°
Maximum
20:13
89% coverage
Altitude 7.7°
Bearing 284°
Last contact
21:05
Altitude 0.3°
Bearing 294°
Antwerp’s western skyline in silhouette, with the eclipsed sun on its track down to the waterline.
01 Will the eclipse be visible from the right bank of the Scheldt?

At maximum eclipse, the sun sits just 7.7 degrees above the horizon. I wanted to know if trees and buildings would block the view.

Antwerp-side bank of the Scheldt with five viewpoints, each with a 273–294° sightline wedge the sun crosses
02 Yes, the eclipse will be visible from all of the spots I tested.

I checked the sightlines at five possible viewing spots. Any of these locations is suitable for viewing the eclipse. But are some spots better than others?

Site TESTED Clear viewing time Max eclipse visible
MAS panoramic platformROOFTOP · 60 M HIGH107 min✓
Scheldekaaien ZuidBANK · CENTRAL105 min✓
Nieuw ZuidBANK · SOUTH103 min✓
DroogdokkenparkBANK · NORTH103 min✓
Wandelterras, Het SteenRAISED TERRACE · 5 M HIGH93 min✓
03 Obstructions at each viewing spot

I compared the sun's path against reconstructed skylines at each spot. Even from the worst viewing spot I tested, near Het Steen, the exciting part of the eclipse will still be visible.

Measured horizon at all five viewpoints, drawn against the descending track of the eclipsed sun; the sun stays above every skyline until the closing minutes
04 How this was measured
01
Tracked the Sun

I calculated where the Sun would appear every minute during the eclipse and checked the results against NREL’s Solar Position Algorithm.

02
Constructed the skyline

I used one-metre public lidar data to create a detailed picture of the ground, trees and structures visible from each viewing spot. New development not captured by the lidar scan was supplemented using OpenStreetMap data and ground-truth imagery.

03
Identified the obstacles

I used building footprints and land-cover data to distinguish buildings and vegetation from water and open ground.

04
Tested each sightline

From each viewing spot, I traced 210 sightlines across the western horizon, reaching up to 10 kilometres. Each line records the highest obstruction, allowing for the Earth’s curvature and the slight bending of light through the atmosphere.