A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 12 August 2026,^[1] with a magnitude of 1.0386. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and totally or partly obscures the view of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Because the eclipse occurred about 2.3 days after perigee (on 10 August 2026, at 11:18 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was visually extra-large.^[2]

The total eclipse passed over northernmost Siberia, the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, northern Spain and the extreme northeastern part of Portugal.^[3] The points of greatest duration and greatest eclipse were just 45 km (28 mi) off the western coast of Iceland by around 65°30' N and 25°25' W, where the totality lasted 2 minutes and 18.2 seconds.^[4] The first part of the total eclipse path, unusually, passed from east to west from Russia to Greenland, just avoiding the North Pole. A partial eclipse covered more than 90% of the Sun in Ireland, Great Britain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans and North Africa and to a lesser extent in most of Europe, West 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.^[5]

The last total eclipse in continental Europe occurred on 29 March 2006^[6] and in the continental part of European Union it occurred on 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. The last total solar eclipse visible from the territory of present-day Spain before 2026 occurred on 2 October 1959, with totality within present-day Spanish territory visible only from the Canary Islands.^[7] The next total eclipse visible in Spain will happen less than a year later on 2 August 2027.^[8]

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

• 
  Chronophotography of partial from France
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  Partial at 17:47 UTC from Gela, Italy
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  Partial at 17:55:01 UTC from Sayada, Tunisia
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  Partial at 17:59 UTC from Brastad, Sweden
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  Partial at 18:00 UTC from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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  Partial at 18:06 UTC in Upper Austria
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  Projections of partial at 18:04:10 UTC from Saint-Omer, France
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  Partial at 18:03:40 UTC from Berlin-Wedding in Germany with greenish and reddish edges due to atmospheric refraction
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  Projections of partial at 18:10 UTC from Paris.
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  GeoColor satellite imagery at 18:10 UTC with Tropical Storm Cristobal in the bottom left.
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  Partial at 18:10:17 UTC from Drypool, Kingston upon Hull, England
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  Partial at 18:11 UTC from Passau, Germany
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  People watching the partial at 18:12 UTC from Cardiff, Wales
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  Partial at 18:15:10 UTC from Ealing, London, England
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  Partial at 18:16:41 UTC from behind the St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czechia
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  Total at 18:26:22 UTC from aboard a cruise ship, north of Ibiza
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  Total at 18:52:17 UTC from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain
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  Total from behind the Basílica del Pilar, Zaragoza, Spain
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  Total from Miranda de Ebro, Spain
• 
  Time-lapse sequence from Logroño, Spain

The longest the eclipse lasted on land was in Látrabjarg in Iceland. It was forecasted that many people would make their way there that day. 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.^[13] Work has started on repairing parts of the road to Látrabjarg, partly as routine maintenance but also because of the eclipse.^[14]

All locations where the eclipse is better seen experienced a surge in hotel room prices.^[15]

In Spain and Portugal, there has been a surge of "eclipse tourists" moving towards locations that social media and news reports have identified as the best spots to see the eclipse. In Spain, a total of 660 official viewing sites have been selected by regional governments to handle the expected influx of more than 440,000 people. Authorities estimate between 1.5 million and 6 million people could be on the road during the day to head to viewing sites which prompted the deployement of 24,000 police officers around the area of the eclipse.^[16][17] In Portugal, news outlets have been outlining the use of eclipse glasses, pointed out a Perseid meteor shower that will happen after the eclipse, 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.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Euronews has reported on the hat-trick of solar eclipses that Spain will experience in the next three consecutive years.^[22]

On 13 August, the BBC published an article about how to check for eye damage cause by the sun during an eclipse, citing that 70 people were left with permanent damaged sight after the 1999 eclipse.^[23]

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 50,000 feet to avoid cloud cover and reduce atmospheric effects, and its planned speed of 460 miles per hour (400 kn) 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.^[24][25][26]

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attained the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[27]

This eclipse was part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.^[28]

Eclipse season of August 2026

12 August Descending node (new moon)	28 August Ascending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 126	Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 138

• Eclipse 2026 – Portuguese event website (Archive 2026-08-12), website organized by Portugal Space/ESA and other partners.
• "Trio de Eclipses" – Spanish government/Instituto Geográfico Nacional event website (Archive 2026-08-12)
• "Path of Total Solar Eclipse of 2026 Aug 12 – NASA Eclipse Data". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
• "Total Solar Eclipse August 12, 2026". starwalk.space. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
• "Total Solar Eclipse of 2026 Aug 12". Archived from the original on 17 September 2008.
• "Total Solar Eclipse on August 12, 2026". www.timeanddate.com. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
• "2026 Total Solar Eclipse Maps for Iceland and Spain". nationaleclipse.com. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
• Jay Anderson (1 February 2023). "Total Solar Eclipse: 2026 August 12". Eclipsophile. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
• "Total Solar Eclipse August 12, 2026 – Iceland". eclipse2026.is. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
• "Partial Solar Eclipse August 12, 2026 – UK". ukeclipse.com. Retrieved 8 June 2026.