A total solar eclipse will sweep across parts of Europe today, Wednesday, 12 August 2026, with maximum totality occurring off Iceland's west coast before the spectacle reaches a small patch of Portugal and then Spain. The moon will pass between the sun and the Earth, casting its shadow across a narrow swathe of the planet.
Many parts of Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain will experience totality, while millions of Europeans across western Europe will see a partial eclipse. The umbra, or moon's sun-blocking shadow, will take 1.5 hours to race along the 8,260-kilometre course, most of it over the Atlantic. Totality is expected to last up to 2 minutes and 18 seconds starting near the North Pole around Siberia in Russia before tracking south.
A Golden Hour Event
Daytime darkness will descend across the Iberian Peninsula, plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland. In the UK, more than 90% of the sun will be covered by the moon for most parts. Jake Foster, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "From here in the UK, we're going to actually be very fortunate. We are seeing a partial eclipse, but it is a very strong partial, between 90 and 95%, depending on where you are in the UK."
He added: "It's going to be happening around sunset. It is the golden hour eclipse, so it's going to be low on the western horizon. If you want to see the full eclipse, you need to get into the path of totality. And to get into the path totality, you're going to need to go to places like Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain. Those are the places where the moon's shadow will be at its darkest, and you'll get that absolute 100% coverage of the moon in front of the sun."
Foster also noted the rarity of the event: "Well, in order to see a total solar eclipse from the very same location more than once, you could be waiting over 200 years for that to happen. Partial eclipses can be slightly more common. But again, if we're talking about just from one particular country or one particular region of a country, you might get lucky; you might have a few partial eclipses in a decade. However, they can be very rare depending on where you are."
Spain's last full solar eclipse, not counting the Canary Islands, occurred 114 years ago in 1912.
Safety First
Foster said the safest way to view the eclipse directly is with solar eclipse glasses that have special lenses blocking out 99.9999% of the sun's light and are ISO certified. Without them, staring directly at the sun, even if just a slither of light remains, could damage eyesight.
Across Europe, astronomy shops are seeing a last-minute rush for certified viewing equipment. At one specialist store in Paris, customers queued for more than two hours to get eclipse glasses and binoculars. One customer, 27-year-old Simon Noé, who works in video game research, said: "Two hours! Two hours for a pair of sunglasses." He added: "But for me, the eclipse is kind of a big deal. I remember when I was a child, I thought, What, there won't be another eclipse before 2026? 2026 seemed so far away. So this is a bit about making my inner child happy."
Watching the Sky
In London, the historic Royal Observatory Greenwich will host a watch party from its terraces and live stream the event, weather permitting, as the sun is obscured over the city's skyline. Two of ESA's space telescopes will observe the eclipsed sun and its corona, or outer atmosphere. Proba-3, the space agency's artificial eclipse-making satellite duo, will be positioned poorly but will try to sneak in some before-and-after shots.
Why This Matters:
This rare celestial event offers Europeans a shared moment of wonder that transcends national boundaries — a reminder that some experiences unite the continent without requiring Brussels coordination. The spontaneous public enthusiasm, from Parisian queues to London watch parties, demonstrates how citizens organise themselves when motivated by genuine interest rather than regulatory mandate. For businesses selling viewing equipment, it's a windfall driven by market demand, not subsidy. And for national observatories like Greenwich, it's a chance to showcase scientific heritage rooted in individual member states' contributions to astronomy. The eclipse reminds us that Europe's strength lies in its diversity of locations and perspectives, not in centralised management of natural phenomena.",
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