Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026

A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, two days past perigee, in parts of North America and almost all of Europe. The total eclipse will pass over the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, Atlantic Ocean and northern Spain. The points of greatest duration and greatest eclipse will be just 45 km (28 mi) off the western coast of Iceland by 65°10.3' N and 25°12.3' W, where the totality will last 2m 18.21s. It will be the first total solar eclipse visible in Iceland since June 30, 1954, also Solar Saros series 126 (descending node), and the only one to occur in the 21st century as the next one visible over Iceland will be in 2196. As lunar perigee will occur on August 10, 2026, two days before the total solar eclipse, the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.

Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.8977
Magnitude	1.0386
Maximum eclipse
Duration	138 s (2 min 18 s)
Coordinates	65.2°N 25.2°W / 65.2; -25.2
Max. width of band	294 km (183 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	17:47:06
References
Saros	126 (48 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9566

The total eclipse will pass over northern Spain from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast as well as the Balearic Islands. The total eclipse will be visible from the cities of A Coruña, Valencia, Zaragoza, Palma and Bilbao, but both Madrid and Barcelona will be just outside the path of totality.

The last total eclipse in continental Europe occurred on August 11, 1999.

The last total solar eclipse in Spain happened on August 30, 1905 and followed a similar path across the country. The next total eclipse visible in Spain will happen less than a year later on 2 August 2027. A partial eclipse will cover 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, North Africa and North America.

Circumstances

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

Solar eclipse and the aurora borealis

In the North Russia area where totality will begin at sunrise, the aurora borealis could also be visible up to the beginning of the nautical twilight, depending on the intensity of the auroral activity at that date. If an extremely high intensity geomagnetic storm takes place simultaneously, there might be chances of seeing the aurora simultaneously with the eclipsed Sun. In the east of Taymyr Peninsula the total phase will start at August 13 at 0:00 local time during midnight sun.

Solar eclipse below the horizon

Due to the considerable eclipse gamma (more than 0.8), observers where the totally eclipsed Sun is just below the horizon will have the chance 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 could improve the chances of observing the inner Zodiacal light.

Images

Animated path

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2026

• An annular solar eclipse on February 17.
• A total lunar eclipse on March 3.
• A total solar eclipse on August 12.
• A partial lunar eclipse on August 28.

Solar eclipses 2026–2029

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

Solar eclipse series sets from 2026 to 2029

Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
121	2026 February 17 Annular	−0.97427		126	2026 August 12 Total	0.89774
131	2027 February 6 Annular	−0.29515		136	2027 August 2 Total	0.14209
141	2028 January 26 Annular	0.39014		146	2028 July 22 Total	−0.60557
151	2029 January 14 Partial	1.05532		156	2029 July 11 Partial	−1.41908

Partial solar eclipses on June 12, 2029, and December 5, 2029, occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 126

It is a part of Saros cycle 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810, hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864 and total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. The longest duration of central eclipse (annular or total) was 6 minutes, 30 seconds of annularity on June 26, 1359. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.

Series members 42–52 occur between 1901 and 2100
42	43	44
June 8, 1918	June 19, 1936	June 30, 1954
45	46	47
July 10, 1972	July 22, 1990	August 1, 2008
48	49	50
August 12, 2026	August 23, 2044	September 3, 2062
51	52
September 13, 2080	September 25, 2098

Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.

21 eclipse events between June 1, 2011 and June 1, 2087
May 31 – June 1	March 19–20	January 5–6	October 24–25	August 12–13
118	120	122	124	126
June 1, 2011	March 20, 2015	January 6, 2019	October 25, 2022	August 12, 2026
128	130	132	134	136
June 1, 2030	March 20, 2034	January 5, 2038	October 25, 2041	August 12, 2045
138	140	142	144	146
May 31, 2049	March 20, 2053	January 5, 2057	October 24, 2060	August 12, 2064
148	150	152	154	156
May 31, 2068	March 19, 2072	January 6, 2076	October 24, 2079	August 13, 2083
158	160	162	164	166
June 1, 2087			October 24, 2098

External links

• http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2026Aug12T.GIF
• https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpath/SEpath2001/SE2026Aug12Tpath.html