\u201cIt\u2019s the first time and it\u2019s the last time, the only time I\u2019m going to see an eclipse,\u201d Yenny Guevera, a 50-year-old Peruvian living in France, told AFP excitedly in Burgos, northwest Spain.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cI like painting and I really like light,\u201d said Mercedes Bua, a 51-year-old engineer awaiting the eclipse\u2019s passage in a park in Colmenar Viejo, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Madrid. \u201cSo I find it interesting to see how it\u2019s going to look.\u201d<\/p>\n Supplies of special viewing glasses were in high demand as a partial eclipse was visible for millions more in most of Europe, Canada, the northern United States and northwest Africa.<\/p>\n \u2018A moving experience\u2019<\/p>\n Throughout human history, eclipses have stirred amazement, fear and reverence, as they appear to momentarily halt the normal course of nature.<\/p>\n The shadow or \u201cumbra\u201d cast by the alignment of Sun and Moon creates a strange twilight during which temperatures drop, shadows appear at strange angles and some animals go to sleep.<\/p>\n \t But the phenomenon is fleeting, lasting just minutes.<\/p>\n The partial eclipse \u2014 which occurs as the Moon starts and finishes crossing the Sun\u2019s path, dimming its light \u2014 lasted around one hour and 45 minutes, while totality \u2014 when the moon completely covered the sun\u2019s light \u2014 lasted around two and a half minutes.<\/p>\n Lucie Green, a British solar physicist who has travelled the world to witness eclipses, called it \u201ca moving experience.\u201d She watched from a boat off the island of Mallorca.<\/p>\n The event, livestreamed by both NASA and the European Space Agency, presented scientists with a rare opportunity to study the Sun\u2019s atmosphere and its outermost layer, as they seek to uncover secrets about solar winds and our star\u2019s magnetic field.<\/p>\n \t Eclipse fever gripped Spain, with government predictions that nearly 450,000 extra tourists could bring a 347-million-euro ($400-million) boost to the economy.<\/p>\n Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said nearly 25,000 police officers had been mobilized to ensure the event goes off without a hitch, and the ministry said 350 official viewing sites had been set up across the sparsely populated interior, often referred to as \u201cEmpty Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n Authorities limited or restricted access to another 123 sites because of environmental conditions or obstacles that could hinder an evacuation in the event of a wildfire.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh temperatures, the accumulated dryness of vegetation, and the intense pressure on natural areas due to projected travel necessitate extreme preventive measures,\u201d Grande-Marlaska said.<\/p>\n Another total eclipse will cross southern Spain and northern Africa in August 2027, while an annular eclipse \u2014 when the Moon is not big enough to completely blot out the Sun, creating a so-called \u201cring of fire\u201d \u2014 is due to visit the Iberian Peninsula in 2028.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPeople gather in El Cerro del Tio Pio park in Madrid to observe the total solar eclipse, on August 12, 2026. (Pierre-Philippe Marcou\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26224671030861-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPeople use solar eclipse glasses to look up at the sun during a solar eclipse in Berlin, Germany, August 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26224563588927-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPeople use solar eclipse glasses to look up at the sun ahead of a solar eclipse in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco di Marco)<\/p>\n
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