A spectacular solar eclipse wowed those lucky enough to be on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean in October 2024, but now a different part of the world is preparing to witness the astronomical phenomenon.
This Wednesday (12 August 2026), the moon will pass perfectly between the sun and the Earth, casting its shadow across a narrow swathe of the planet with many parts of Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain, experiencing the total eclipse while millions of Europeans across western Europe will witness a visible partial eclipse.
It will take 1.5 hours for the umbra, or moon’s sun-blocking shadow, to race along the 8,260-kilometre course, most of it over an empty Atlantic.
But starting near the North Pole around Siberia in Russia, before tracking south, totality is expected to last up to 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Daytime darkness will descend across the Iberian Peninsula, plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland.
This rare sight is expected to attract crowds who want to experience darkness during the day, the sudden drop in temperature that comes with an eclipse, and animals and birds going quiet as they confuse the moment with nighttime.
