The Qatari royal family’s enormous superyacht Katara found itself at the center of an unexpected eclipse drama in Menorca after its sheer size left some spectators worried that it could get in the way of one of the rarest celestial events the island had seen in centuries. At 410 feet (124.4 meters), the Lürssen-built yacht is large enough to resemble a small cruise ship from the shore, and on August 12, its timing and position made it impossible for eclipse watchers to ignore.
Katara anchored between Cala Blanca and Santandria on the southern coast of Ciutadella, just hours before the solar eclipse, according to local daily Menorca.info. Cala Blanca was one of Menorca’s designated observation areas because of its west-facing position across the Mediterranean, making the arrival of such a gigantic vessel particularly unfortunate for people who had spent months preparing to watch totality from the coastline.
A giant yacht meets an exceptionally low eclipse
The problem was not simply that Katara was big. The Sun was exceptionally low during the eclipse, sitting at only around 1.4 degrees above the horizon in Ciutadella. Totality began at approximately 8:30 PM and lasted for only about 72 seconds, leaving spectators with almost no room for an obstruction to ruin their view.
Menorca had waited roughly 487 years for a total solar eclipse, making the occasion especially significant. The often-mentioned 1905 eclipse was only around 99% partial from the island, meaning that a tiny portion of the Sun remained visible and continued to flood the landscape with daylight. This time, residents were finally expecting genuine totality.
The geography of the eclipse made the horizon unusually important. The solar corona can extend to roughly three degrees in diameter, while the Sun itself appears only about half a degree wide. With the Sun sitting around two degrees above the horizon in parts of Menorca, the lower portion of the corona would effectively disappear below the sea horizon. That meant ships, buildings, trees and even low clouds could suddenly become significant.
Katara’s dimensions made the concern understandable. At one nautical mile, a yacht measuring about 410 feet from bow to stern would span roughly 3.8 degrees across the observer’s field of view, more than seven times the apparent width of the Sun. Even from two nautical miles, its apparent length would still approach two degrees. Of course, the yacht could not have blocked the eclipse for everyone along the coast. Its actual effect depended on its distance, orientation, height, and the exact position of each spectator. But for someone standing in precisely the wrong spot, it could have been a very real problem.
One Reddit user summed up the frustration with an almost perfect cinema analogy, comparing the experience to buying a reserved seat for a movie only to have a two-meter-tall man sit down directly in front of you. The shadow of the Moon reached Menorca first before moving across Mallorca, where totality lasted around 90 seconds, the longest duration in Spain, and then toward Ibiza and Formentera, where it lasted less than 30 seconds. That made every second in Ciutadella particularly precious.
Katara, the royal superyacht behind the eclipse spectacle
Katara is one of the world’s most recognizable large private yachts, with an estimated value of $400 million. Built by German shipyard Lürssen and delivered in 2010, she measures 124.4 meters and has a gross tonnage of 7,922 GT. Her exterior was designed by Espen Øino, while the late Alberto Pinto was responsible for her interiors. Lürssen itself describes the yacht as offering extraordinary volume and notes that she was among the world’s largest yachts when launched.
The six-deck superyacht has long been associated with Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family and was previously reported to be owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The former emir, who ruled Qatar for nearly two decades before handing the throne to his son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in 2013, passed away on July 12, 2026, a month before the eclipse, and the yacht remains closely associated with the Qatari royal family.
The timing was made even more intriguing by the arrival of the royal family’s VVIP Boeing 747 in Mallorca a few days earlier. Yet despite the family’s other spectacular superyacht, the $500 million Al Lusail belonging to current Emir Sheikh Tamim, it was Katara that appeared off Ciutadella ahead of the eclipse.
For a few anxious moments, the Qatari megayacht was therefore not merely another luxury vessel on the Mediterranean. It was potentially the world’s most extravagant version of a man sitting in the wrong cinema seat, directly in front of a once-in-nearly-five-centuries spectacle.
