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Path of totality crosses Greenland's east coast, then Iceland (Reykjavík near the central line), then northern Spain — A Coruña, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca all on or adjacent to the central line. First total solar eclipse over mainland Europe since 1999.
First total solar eclipse over mainland Europe since August 1999 (the famous Cornwall/France eclipse). Reykjavík and northern Spain are the principal viewing destinations.
Time to greatest eclipse
Peak in your local time: 2026-08-12T17:47:06Z
Peak UTC
17:47:06
2026-08-12
Magnitude
1.039
Sun diameter
Max duration
2m 18s
central line
Obscuration
100.0%
Sun area covered
Saros
#126
48 of 72
Gamma
0.898
Shadow axis (Earth-radii)
Cities from the WorldClockTools clock catalog that fall in the central path or partial-eclipse band. Each link goes to the local clock page for that city.
Path of totality
Every phase of a solar eclipse outside of totality requires ISO 12312-2 certified solar viewing glasses or an equivalent solar filter on every optical instrument (telescope, binoculars, camera lens). The same standard applies to total solar eclipses. Glasses can come off only during the brief totality window on the central path; they must go back on the instant Baily's beads reappear at third contact.
Central-line duration is 2m 18s. A typical imaging plan brackets exposures from ~1/1000s for the chromosphere and Baily's beads down to ~2s for the outer corona, fired in a programmable sequence so the observer can watch with the naked eye for at least the middle third of totality.
Local sun altitude, the path crossing time of day, and recent weather climatology drive site selection. NASA's interactive eclipse map (linked below) gives the exact altitude and time for any coordinates on the path.
Editorial dossier
Historical significance
The August 12 2026 total solar eclipse is the first total solar eclipse to cross continental Europe since August 11, 1999. The 1999 path swept Cornwall, northern France, southern Germany and Romania; the 2026 path, by contrast, takes Greenland and Iceland in the high north, then descends across the Bay of Biscay to land on Spain's northern coast and sweep across the Iberian peninsula at sunset.
Comparison to other eclipses
This is also the first of three total solar eclipses to cross Spain in just over a year — the August 2026 event is followed by the August 2 2027 totality over Cadiz and southern Spain, and the August 2 2027 path crosses very close to the Mediterranean coast. Spain is therefore the only country in the world hosting two total solar eclipses within 12 months in the decade.
Astrophotography context
Greatest eclipse occurs at 17:47 UTC, putting totality over Iceland and Spain in late afternoon — sun altitude is moderate (~25-35 degrees over Reykjavík, ~20-30 over northern Spain), giving photographers strong corona contrast against a darkening late-summer sky. The short totality (~2 minutes 18 seconds) means a tight imaging plan: bracket exposures from 1/1000s for prominences down to 2s for outer corona.
Top viewing destinations
Sources
Eclipse data depth
Reference fields include Total Solar Eclipse 2026-08-12: Saros context, magnitude / obscuration, path geometry, visibility countries, and city cross-references.
Data source: NASA / JPL
Eclipse data from NASA/JPL — Fred Espenak & Jean Meeus, Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses and Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses (NASA Technical Publications NASA/TP–2006-214141 and NASA/TP–2009-214172). Public domain; re-published here with attribution.
NASA page for this eclipse (path map & circumstances)eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
Greatest eclipse: August 12, 2026 at 17:47 UTC
