Overview
- The eclipse is set for August 12, 2026, and the path of totality runs across East Greenland, West Iceland, northern Spain (from Galicia toward the Balearics) and a small part of Portugal.
- In many Spanish locations totality will occur around 20:20–20:35 local time and typically last about one to two minutes, with the event happening very close to local sunset.
- Observers in Germany will not see totality but a deep partial eclipse that will cover roughly 84–90 percent of the Sun depending on region, about 85 percent in Berlin.
- Officials and travel services report a surge in demand for hotels and viewing sites in Spain, with early bookings and rising prices as astronomy enthusiasts secure unobstructed western horizons.
- The phenomenon depends on a near-exact apparent size match of Sun and Moon; scientists note the Moon is receding about 3.8 cm per year and predict total eclipses will become rarer over hundreds of millions of years and may disappear on billion-year timescales.