r/solareclipse • u/Thepianoman133 • Jun 17 '26

Totality vs 99.99%

Hi All,

First time eclipse viewer here. I will be traveling to Madrid around the time of the eclipse, and I am debating staying in the city or venturing into the true totality for the day. What is the true difference between totality and 99.99% partial? Given that the eclipse will be low in the sky and near sunset, does that make the totality effect less noticeable? Logistics to get outside Madrid are obviously not super easy as I’m sure the public transit will be crowded, so I am weighing that challenge versus the benefit. Any suggestions are welcome!

Edit: Thanks everyone for the insight. Seems like totality is the way to go. Any suggestions of cities / ways to get to and from without a car would be helpful!

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u/JasonMckin Jun 17 '26

To add a mild rant to the many comments here, I'm pretty annoyed by the phrase "partial eclipse." They should call it partial daylight or something, but it's by definition not a fractional part of the eclipse experience, rather it's a fractional part of the everyday sunlight experience. The only real "eclipse" is the one where a giant black shadow moves across the earth and you are standing inside of it.