A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, with a magnitude of 1.0386. Totality occurred in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2.3 days after perigee (on 10 August 2026, at 11:18 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

The total eclipse passed over northernmost Siberia, the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, northern Spain, a small part of northeastern Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Balearic Islands. The points of greatest duration and greatest eclipse were just off the western coast of Iceland around 65°30' N and 25°25' W, where the totality lasted 2 minutes and 18.2 seconds. The first part of the total eclipse path unusually passed from east to west from Russia to Greenland, passing about 100 km south of the North Pole. A partial eclipse covered more than 90% of the Sun in Ireland, Great Britain, and northern Italy, and to a lesser extent across much of the rest of Europe, North Africa, and northern North America. The total eclipse passed over northern Spain from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast, as well as the Balearic Islands. The total eclipse was visible from the cities of A Coruña, Valencia, Zaragoza, Palma, and Bilbao, but both Madrid and Barcelona were just outside the path of totality.

This was the first total eclipse to be visible in Europe since 20 March 2015, and the first one to cross over Mainland Europe since 11 August 1999. It was the first total solar eclipse visible in Iceland since 30 June 1954, also solar saros series 126 (descending node), and the only one to occur in the 21st century; the next one visible over Iceland will be in 2196. It was also the first total solar eclipse visible from the territory of present-day Spain since 2 October 1959 in the Canary Islands, and the first from the Spanish mainland since 30 August 1905. The next total eclipse visible in Spain will happen less than a year later on 2 August 2027.

Observations

The eclipse path proceeded from North Siberia throughout the Arctic Region, Iceland, the eastern Atlantic to Spain, and the Mediterranean.

Solar eclipse below the horizon The considerable eclipse gamma (more than 0.8) gave observers—where the totally eclipsed Sun was just below the horizon—an opportunity to observe the lunar shadow in the high atmosphere as well as shortened civil twilight and extended nautical twilight. The darkening of the twilight sky improved the chances of observing the inner zodiacal light.

Bright planets and stars visible during totality Far northern Russia was treated to a dawn eclipse. In the east of the Taymyr Peninsula (north-east of Krasnoyarsk Krai) the maximum of total phase occurred on 13 August at 00:00 local time during the midnight sun.

In Iceland, the eclipse was a mid-afternoon event occurring about 4 hours before sunset; it started in Reykjavík at around 16:47, with totality being reached at 17:48.

In Spain, the eclipse occurred about 1 hour before sunset. Mercury and Jupiter, west of the eclipsed Sun, were therefore very low below it. Venus was brilliant well up in the southwest, with Spica to its east. Arcturus was high in the south, and the Summer Triangle was well up in the east. Lower in the south, Antares was minutes away from transit.https://skyandtelescope.org/interactive-sky-chart/ Sky & Telescope Interactive Sky Chart

Gallery

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Views outside Europe

Composites

News and tourism

The longest the eclipse lasted on land was in Látrabjarg, in the remote Westfjords of Iceland. Plans were made to ensure safety in the area, but many of the roads to Látrabjarg are very narrow and dangerous. There was talk of closing the area to car traffic and ferrying people by bus. Work had started on repairing parts of the road to Látrabjarg, partly as routine maintenance but also because of the eclipse.

All locations where the eclipse was likely to be better seen experienced a surge in hotel room prices.

Roscosmos and Yandex Weather organized a live broadcast of the partial eclipse (up to 79% obscuration) in Saint Petersburg from the top of Lakhta Center, the tallest building in Russia and Europe. Astronaut Pyotr Dubrov also captured the eclipse from the ISS, at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers.

In Spain and Portugal, there was a surge of eclipse tourists moving towards locations that social media and news reports identified as the best spots to see the eclipse. In Spain, 660 official viewing sites were selected by regional governments to handle the expected influx of more than 440,000 people. Authorities estimated between 1.5 million and 6 million people could be on the road during the day to head to viewing sites, which prompted the deployment of 24,000 police officers around the area of the eclipse. In Portugal, news outlets outlined the use of eclipse glasses, pointed out a Perseid meteor shower would happen after the eclipse, and explored the history of the last time a total solar eclipse was seen in the country (17 April 1912) and the fact that the next one will only be seen in 118 years.

Euronews reported on the hat-trick of solar eclipses that Spain will experience in the next three consecutive years.

On 13 August, the BBC published an article about how to check for eye damage caused by the Sun during an eclipse, citing that 70 people were left with permanent damaged sight after the 1999 eclipse.

Research

NASA flew one of its WB-57s to chase the eclipse's shadow over the North Atlantic Ocean near Iceland, allowing more time to conduct coronal research. The aircraft flew at an altitude of to avoid cloud cover and reduce atmospheric effects, and its planned speed of aimed to extend its view of totality from 2 minutes and 18 seconds to nearly 3 minutes. On board the aircraft were four cameras to capture the corona in various wavelengths of visible and infrared light. Data captured aims to help researchers better understand the corona's temperature and the causes of solar wind.

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing total eclipse + Solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 (local times) Country or territory City or place Start of partial eclipse Start of total eclipse Maximum eclipse End of total eclipse End of partial eclipse Totality (minutes) Eclipse (hours) Maximum magnitude Station Nord 16:19:51 17:18:08 17:18:16 17:18:24 18:15:53 0:16 1:56 1.0005 Ísafjörður 16:43:17 17:44:08 17:44:53 17:45:39 18:43:59 1:31 2:01 1.0052 Látrabjarg 16:43:3917:44:2817:45:3417:46:4118:44:55 2:13 2:01 1.014 Borgarnes 16:46:28 17:47:41 17:48:00 17:48:21 18:46:53 0:40 2:00 1.0012 Reykjavík 16:47:11 17:48:16 17:48:47 17:49:17 18:47:40 1:01 2:00 1.0024 Keflavík 16:47:11 17:48:05 17:48:54 17:49:44 18:47:54 1:39 2:01 1.0064 Guadramil / Rio de Onor 18:33:49 19:30:20 19:30:29 19:30:37 20:23:31 (sunset) 0:17 1:49 1.0006 Santander 19:31:22 20:26:57 20:27:29 20:28:01 21:20:09 1:04 1:52 1.0036 Bilbao 19:31:47 20:27:23 20:27:38 20:27:54 21:19:07 (sunset) 0:31 1:47 1.0011 Gijón 19:31:02 20:26:48 20:27:40 20:28:33 21:20:46 1:45 1:50 1.0127 Oviedo 19:31:19 20:27:05 20:28:00 20:28:54 21:21:06 1:49 1:50 1.0155 Vitoria-Gasteiz 19:32:31 20:27:43 20:28:15 20:28:47 21:17:12 (sunset) 1:04 1:45 1.0038 A Coruña 19:30:56 20:27:40 20:28:19 20:28:57 21:22:01 1:17 1:51 1.005 Lugo 19:31:43 20:28:07 20:28:50 20:29:31 21:22:16 1:24 1:51 1.0063 Logroño 19:33:13 20:28:09 20:28:50 20:29:31 21:15:33 (sunset) 1:22 1:42 1.0067 Burgos 19:33:21 20:28:24 20:29:17 20:30:08 21:20:12 (sunset) 1:44 1:47 1.0139 Ponferrada 19:32:42 20:28:44 20:29:28 20:30:11 21:22:36 1:27 1:50 1.0069 Zaragoza 19:34:40 20:29:02 20:29:44 20:30:27 21:07:33 (sunset) 1:25 1:33 1.0074 Palencia 19:33:53 20:29:08 20:29:59 20:30:51 21:22:35 1:43 1:49 1.0123 Salou 19:35:38 20:29:31 20:30:05 20:30:39 20:58:21 (sunset) 1:08 1:23 1.0046 Valladolid 19:34:30 20:29:53 20:30:37 20:31:20 21:22:54 (sunset) 1:27 1:48 1.0076 Mahón 19:37:22 20:30:16 20:30:51 20:31:26 20:43:31 (sunset) 1:10 1:06 1.0055 Port de Pollença 19:37:27 20:30:30 20:31:14 20:31:58 20:48:16 (sunset) 1:28 1:11 1.0097 Alcúdia 19:37:33 20:30:34 20:31:19 20:32:03 20:48:01 (sunset) 1:29 1:10 1.0102 Segovia 19:35:47 20:31:09 20:31:37 20:32:06 21:19:04 (sunset) 0:57 1:43 1.003 Teruel 19:36:55 20:31:04 20:31:51 20:32:38 21:05:52 1:34 1:29 1.0105 Palma 19:38:03 20:31:05 20:31:53 20:32:41 20:49:22 (sunset) 1:36 1:11 1.0152 Guadalajara 19:36:23 20:31:21 20:31:55 20:32:28 21:14:38 (sunset) 1:07 1:38 1.0042 Cuenca 19:37:23 20:32:06 20:32:33 20:32:59 21:09:27 (sunset) 0:53 1:32 1.0027 Valencia 19:38:24 20:32:30 20:33:00 20:33:30 21:01:16 (sunset) 1:00 1:23 1.0036 Sant Antoni de Portmany 19:39:08 20:32:40 20:33:13 20:33:46 20:53:39 (sunset) 1:06 1:15 1.0047 Ibiza 19:39:15 20:32:45 20:33:18 20:33:49 20:53:00 (sunset) 1:04 1:14 1.0043

Places experiencing partial eclipse

+ Solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 (local times) Country or territory City or place Start ofpartialeclipse Maximumeclipse End ofpartialeclipse Duration ofeclipse(hours &minutes) Maximumcoverage Alert 12:09:49 13:09:31 14:08:56 1:59 93.42% Longyearbyen 18:28:51 19:24:53 20:19:53 1:51 90.74% Danmarkshavn 16:26:59 17:26:23 18:24:29 1:58 99.12% Ittoqqortoormiit 15:36:14 16:37:02 17:35:50 2:00 99.67% Vestmannaeyjar 16:49:11 17:50:30 18:49:02 2:00 99.63% Tórshavn 17:56:29 18:54:51 19:50:34 1:54 91.22% Stockholm 19:03:17 19:56:12 20:46:01 (sunset) 1:43 81.02% Oslo 19:02:40 19:57:03 20:49:13 1:47 83.07% Warsaw 19:14:37 20:02:54 20:06:41 (sunset) 0:52 81.72% Copenhagen 19:10:08 20:03:37 20:52:19 (sunset) 1:42 83.54% Berlin 19:15:28 20:08:25 20:38:04 (sunset) 1:23 84.89% Douglas 18:11:47 19:09:10 20:03:29 1:52 92.39% Vienna 19:22:03 20:10:14 20:13:39 (sunset) 0:52 84.89% Dublin 18:12:54 19:10:42 20:05:19 1:52 94.02% Amsterdam 19:16:05 20:10:56 21:03:03 1:47 88.26% Rome 19:32:47 20:11:38 20:14:38 (sunset) 0:42 69.17% Prague 19:19:22 20:11:48 20:26:34 (sunset) 1:07 86.29% Ljubljana 19:25:51 20:12:28 20:15:44 (sunset) 0:50 84.25% London 18:17:19 19:13:19 20:06:21 1:49 91.42% Brussels 19:18:46 20:13:35 21:05:36 1:50 89.55% Luxembourg 19:20:56 20:15:11 20:58:21 (sunset) 1:37 89.68% Paris 19:22:13 20:17:19 21:09:28 1:49 92.12% Zurich 19:24:36 20:18:01 20:42:48 (sunset) 1:18 90.66% Monaco 19:30:44 20:23:58 20:38:45 (sunset) 1:08 95.01% Andorra la Vella 19:33:12 20:27:45 20:59:43 (sunset) 1:27 99.03% Madrid 19:36:45 20:32:23 21:16:22 (sunset) 1:40 99.98% Algiers 18:42:36 19:33:45 19:42:40 (sunset) 1:00 96.09% Lisbon 18:39:17 19:36:07 20:29:08 1:50 94.52% Gibraltar 19:44:09 20:39:27 21:15:11 (sunset) 1:31 93.03% Casablanca 18:48:35 19:43:52 20:20:01 (sunset) 1:31 86.97%

Eclipse parameters The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attained the specific parameter, and the second table gives various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse. +Solar eclipse times Event Terrestrial Time (TD) First penumbral external contact 15:35:23.9 TD First umbral external contact 16:59:18.1 TD First central line 17:01:16.5 TD First umbral internal contact 17:03:19.0 TD Equatorial conjunction 17:05:01.6 TD Ecliptic conjunction 17:37:53.9 TD Greatest duration 17:45:53.9 TD Greatest eclipse 17:47:05.8 TD Last umbral internal contact 18:31:21.6 TD Last central line 18:33:21.7 TD Last umbral external contact 18:35:17.7 TD Last penumbral external contact 19:59:09.2 TD+Solar eclipse parameters Parameter Value Eclipse magnitude 1.03863 Eclipse obscuration 1.07876 Gamma 0.89774 Sun right ascension 09h 29m 47.3s Sun declination +14 °48' 04.5" Sun semi-diameter 15' 47.0" Sun equatorial horizontal parallax 08.7" Moon right ascension 09h 31m 17.3s Moon declination +15° 36' 58.5" Moon semi-diameter 16'16.9" Moon equatorial horizontal parallax 0°59'45.1" ΔT 72.4 s

Eclipse season