For a few brief minutes, daylight will give way to darkness as the Moon traces a narrow shadow across the northern Atlantic and Iberia.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, residents and travelers in certain areas of Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and northeastern Portugal will be able to witness a total solar eclipse. Only within the narrow path of totality will the Moon completely cover the Sun, briefly plunging daylight into darkness.<\/p>\n
The total phase will follow a route approximately 8,300 kilometers long, from the Arctic coast to the Balearic Islands region. The duration of the eclipse and its exact start time will vary depending on the observation location.<\/p>\n
In Reykjav\u00edk, the total phase is expected at approximately 5:48 p.m. local time and will last about one minute.
\nIn Le\u00f3n, Spain, the eclipse will begin at around 8:28 p.m. local time, with totality lasting approximately two minutes.<\/p>\n
Outside the path of totality, a partial solar eclipse will be visible. In these areas, the Moon will cover only part of the Sun\u2019s disk. The phenomenon will be observable in parts of Europe, Africa, and North America.<\/p>\n
Why a total eclipse is not visible everywhere<\/p>\n
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow on the planet\u2019s surface. The darkest part of this shadow is called the umbra. It is only a few hundred kilometers wide, so totality can be seen only by those located directly within its path.<\/p>\n
Even a small distance from the eclipse\u2019s central line matters. Outside the umbra, observers will see only a partial covering of the Sun rather than the complete disappearance of its disk.<\/p>\n
How solar eclipse path maps are created<\/p>\n
Eclipse cartographer and founder of EclipseAtlas.com Michael Zeiler creates maps that help identify the areas where totality will be visible. These maps are based on astronomical observations, mathematical models, and precise data on the movements of Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.<\/p>\n
My personal mission is to combine scientific accuracy with cartographic beauty. In my view, for an eclipse map to truly work, its first requirement is correctness and precision, but it must also communicate important information effectively.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Michael Zeiler<\/p>\n
Modern maps can determine the boundaries of the path of totality with an accuracy of approximately one to one and a half kilometers. However, near the edges of this band, even small changes in data on the Moon\u2019s position or the Sun\u2019s radius can affect the projected eclipse line.<\/p>\n
The Saros cycle and the accuracy of astronomical forecasts<\/p>\n
Total solar eclipses do not repeat over the exact same location, but the relative positions of Earth, the Moon, and the Sun return to a similar configuration roughly every 18 years. This period is known as the Saros cycle. Its patterns were recorded as far back as the Babylonians.<\/p>\n
To predict eclipses, astronomers take into account far more than the Saros cycle. Important factors include the distance between Earth and the Moon, Earth\u2019s movement around the Sun, the planet\u2019s rotational speed, and the Delta T correction, which indicates the difference between the calculated and actual rate of Earth\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n
These data make it possible to forecast eclipses thousands of years in advance, although the accuracy of such calculations gradually declines over longer time spans. The next total solar eclipse after the event of August 12, 2026, will occur on August 2, 2027. Its total phase will be visible in North Africa and the Middle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a few brief minutes, daylight will give way to darkness as the Moon traces a narrow shadow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[68521,68520,68522,68523,68524,57,38,44297],"class_list":["post-143255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-greenland","tag-2026-solar-eclipse","tag-2026-solar-eclipse-total-solar-eclipse-august-12-eclipse-eclipse-path-eclipse-in-europe","tag-august-12-eclipse","tag-eclipse-in-europe","tag-eclipse-path","tag-greenland","tag-news","tag-total-solar-eclipse"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117072196075278542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}