August's "almost Blood Moon" partial lunar eclipse has come and gone, delighting stargazers with a gorgeous natural light show as light filtered by our planet's atmosphere turned it a deep crimson around the point of maximum eclipse.

But when is the next lunar eclipse?

Earth won't darken the moon again until Feb. 20, 2027, when a penumbral eclipse will cast our planet's soft outer shadow across February's full "Snow Moon", so named for the freezing weather that occurs around the time it rises.

The darkening will be incredibly subtle compared to that of a partial lunar eclipse, where the moon passes into Earth's intense inner shadow — the umbra — revealing our planet's curved silhouette on the lunar surface.

Our planet's deeper umbral shadow will miss the moon entirely on Feb. 20, 2027, setting the stage for an understated show of orbital mechanics, as the moon's silver lustre is almost imperceptibly dimmed by Earth's penumbra.

The soft penumbral shadow will be most apparent at 6:12 p.m. EST (2312 GMT) on Feb. 20, as the moon passes closer to our planet's umbra, according to Time and Date. The shadow will be deepest around the moon's north polar region, but even then the effect will be very subtle.

A good photography exercise would be to capture an image of the Snow Moon at the point of maximum eclipse, to compare with a photo of a regular full moon. Be sure to read our guide to photographing the moon and our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography if you're looking to upgrade your gear.

Read more: What is a blood moon, and when can you see the next one?

The next lunar eclipse to rival August's won't occur until New Year's Eve in December 2028, when a magnificent total lunar eclipse will transform Earth's satellite into a magnificent "Blood Moon" in the skies over Asia, Australia and the Pacific.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

A gorgeous partial lunar eclipse delighted stargazers overnight on Aug. 27-28, as Earth's shadow darkened the full "Sturgeon Moon" in an impressive display of orbital mechanics, and we've got the photos to prove it!

The lunar eclipse occurred as Earth passed between the sun and the moon, granting viewers a spectacular view of our planet's deep umbral shadow as it advanced to cover 96% of the lunar disk, leaving a tiny crescent exposed to direct sunlight.

Photographers were ready and waiting to capture the moon as it turned blood red around the point of maximum eclipse on Aug. 28, as light filtered through Earth's atmosphere via Rayleigh Scattering saturated its shadowed surface. Read on to see our favorite photos of the Aug. 27-28 partial lunar eclipse.

Partial lunar eclipse August 2026: Best photos from around the world

We kick off with a gorgeous photo of the full moon was captured from the Hungarian village of Zsujta by Robert Nemeti just as Earth's shadow took its first "bite" out of the lunar disk, shortly after the partial phase of the eclipse began at 10:33 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0233 GMT on Aug. 28).

Tycho Crater is visible in the lower region of the lunar disk close to the shadow, while bright ejecta rays of reflective material brighten the darker lunar seas, where lava solidified to form basaltic plains billions of years ago.

The eclipsed moon shared the stage with the Parthenon in Athens in this tranquil wide-angle photo from Costas Baltas. Earth's curved silhouette can be seen clearly on the lunar disk, serving as proof of our planet's spherical shape, just as it did for the ancient Greek philosophers who helped pioneer the idea over 2,000 years ago.

Giuseppe Pappa created a stunning composite image of the eclipse depicting Earth's shadow as it rolled across the lunar surface during the partial phase from Pedara, Sicily.

Pappa snapped the images using a Canon 760D with a 300 mm lens to capture the lunar seas standing out on the remaining sunlit portion of the lunar surface.

This atmospheric view of the partially eclipsed moon shining over the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkiye, was taken by Isa Terli.

Kevin McCarthy captured a spectacular view as the eclipsed moon shone blood red in the skies over North Carolina, after a brief weather scare!

"With thunderstorms in the area throughout the night, I was worried I may miss the chance to capture this event," McCarthy told Space.com. "But, at the last minute, as the maximum shadow coverage approached, the clouds parted long enough for me to get the shot."

Photographer Josh Dury snapped his own incredible view of that same eclipsed lunar disk as glowed in the predawn sky over the United Kingdom

"The fantastic moment when the moon turned red," Dury said to Space.com. "Nearly didn't get this image due to unexpected fog at my first location. My gut said - 'move'. Approaching the peak of the eclipse this was the image I was able to capture."

The almost blood moon's crimson coloring was also on full display in this shot from Mauro Pimentel, taken as a thin crescent of the lunar disk was left exposed to direct sunlight in the skies over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Another stunning composite view of last night's lunar shenanigans was taken by Kohinoor Kar, who documented the transformation of the lunar disk from full Sturgeon Moon to an eclipsed near-blood moon from Phoenix, Arizona.

Photographer Lorenzo Di Cola lined up a stunning shot of the full moon as it glowed close to the Rocca Calascio fortress in Calascio, Italy, on Aug. 28, as Earth's shadow retreated from the lunar disk following the point of maximum eclipse.

Finally, Angel Martinez captured this gorgeous shot of the eclipsed Sturgeon Moon setting behind a cluster of skyscrapers in Madrid, Spain, as atmospheric effects distorted the true color and outline of the lunar disk.

The next great lunar eclipse won't occur until New Year's Eve in December 2028, when a blood moon eclipse will transform Earth's satellite for 5.3 billion people across Asia, Australia and the Pacific, along with parts of Europe, Africa and the U.S.

Thankfully, we'll only have to wait until Feb. 6, 2027, for the next annular solar eclipse, when the moon will pass in front of the sun to create a magnificent 'ring of fire' along a narrow path crossing South America and West Africa.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

August's 96% partial lunar eclipse has been and gone, putting on a mesmerizing show for stargazers across the night side of Earth as out planet's shadow slipped silently across the face of the moon, forcing it to adopt a striking crimson hue at the point of maximum eclipse.

Check out our partial lunar eclipse photo roundup for striking views of the event captured from around the world.

Tonight (Aug. 27-28), the full Sturgeon Moon will slip into Earth's shadow, creating a stunning "almost blood moon" as up to 96.2% of the lunar surface disappears into the darkest part of our planet's shadow, the umbra.

At maximum eclipse, much of the moon may take on an eerie reddish hue as sunlight filtered through Earth's atmosphere is refracted into the shadow and onto the lunar surface. Only a thin sliver of moon will escape Earth's umbra, appearing as a bright arc against an otherwise dim, rusty-red lunar disk.

Lunar eclipses are entirely safe to watch with the naked eye. Unlike a solar eclipse, you don't need filters or certified glasses. Just find the moon at the right time, then simply sit back, relax and enjoy the show. If you can't watch the eclipse in person, you can watch all the action unfold here on Space.com with these free livestreams, weather permitting. You can also follow along with the latest updates with our lunar eclipse live blog.

Who can see it?

The partial lunar eclipse favors observers across North and South America. About 12% of the world's population — 987 million people — will be able to see all phases of the eclipse, according to Time and Date, weather permitting.

Skywatchers across parts of Europe and Africa will also see the lunar eclipse. However, for many observers, including those in the UK, the moon will set shortly after maximum eclipse, cutting off the later stages of the partial phase.

When to look

The eclipse reaches its maximum at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Aug. 28, when 96.2% of the lunar surface will be covered by Earth's dark umbral shadow.

But if you have the time, it's worth settling in to watch as much of the eclipse as possible, particularly from the start of the partial phase at around 10:33 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0233 GMT on Aug. 28).

The penumbral phase begins earlier, at 9:23 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0123 GMT on Aug. 28), but the initial dimming will be extremely subtle because Earth's outer penumbral shadow is so faint.

I'd recommend starting your observations when the partial phase starts. From then on, you'll see Earth's shadow take progressively larger "bites" out of the moon. It can almost feel like watching the moon's monthly phases sped up into just a few hours as its appearance changes before your eyes.

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of the August lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

I had never seen a total solar eclipse. That's a strange thing to admit for the skywatching writer at Space.com, but the truth is that the opportunity had simply never come up.

When it comes to eclipses, I've always been beguiled by their beauty from afar. I've always hoped to see that strange moment when a black sun manifests to extend a glowing atmosphere into the fleeting twilight of totality. But after 37 years I hadn't once found myself in the path of the moon's inner shadow, and it was starting to feel like something that simply happened to other people.

That all changed when I joined Space.com and my life became anchored in the movements of the planets, moon and stars. I was offered the chance to report on the 2026 total solar eclipse from Spain, while our skywatching editor, Daisy Dobrijevic, witnessed totality from an HX Expedition's cruise aboard MS Spitsbergen in East Greenland. In the end, my first eclipse experience would be everything I had hoped for and more. A perfect blend of science, awe, culture and faith, that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

I covered the Aug. 12 eclipse from the small village — or pueblo — of Valoria la Buena in central Spain. There, I joined a team of citizen scientists from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative, a voluntary initiative guided by professional astronomers from Southern Illinois University and, where possible, part funded by grants from the NASA Science Mission Directorate and the National Science Foundation. For this eclipse, the DEB was tasked with capturing data on the sun's corona while transmitting a live feed to a NASA webcast from within the path of totality.

Months of preparation, writing and trading emails with the DEB team lead Charles Greenwald came and went. Before I knew it my bags were packed, my passport was in hand and I was standing in a taxi rank outside the Madrid-Barajas Airport in the heart of Spain.

Hours of mild embarrassment ensued as I used broken Spanish and hand gestures to negotiate my way across the city to the Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station. Then onto a high-speed train heading north to Valladolid — a beautiful city whose pronunciation I butchered for the entirety of my stay.

Into the path of totality

Upon arrival I was met by Charles' brother in law Santiago and nephew Andreas, who had travelled from Guadalajara, Mexico to witness the eclipse. Andreas led us on a short detour to hunt down some quality coffee beans — he's something of an aficionado. Then on to Valoria la Buena, by means of a final 30-minute car ride that would take us deep into the path of totality.

I had embraced Charles' idea of joining the DEB group not only for the citizen science, but also because of the unique opportunity to observe the eclipse with a multinational group hailing from Mexico, the U.S. and, more locally, members from Madrid and Valladolid.

Half of the group spoke fluent English while the other spoke none at all — a mix that set the stage for an intoxicating blend of meaningful conversation and rapt observation, as the group talked passionately in Spanish over magnificent home-cooked food prepared chiefly by Santiago, his wife Gaby and Andreas.

Once at the house in Valoria la Buena I finally got the chance to connect face to face with Charles, after months of sporadic video calls. In the months leading up to the eclipse Charles had dedicated precious down time to prepare his team and test new software for the solar telescopes.

As an undergraduate, Charles had studied optics and physics before ultimately pursuing a career in aviation, which nowadays sees him fly around the world for the global shipping and logistics giant FedEx. Over dinner that first night I discovered that he was also a retired colonel in the United States Air Force, and had flown some 35 different aircraft ranging from an F15 fighter to a C-17 globemaster over the course of his military career.

He had first discovered the DEB in an article from Sky & Telescope during a brief FedEx stopoff in Sydney, Australia. After heeding the call for volunteers and spent the next year assembling a team of family and students to capture the Great American Eclipse of 2024.

Several members of the group, including Santiago, Andreas and Arath — a student at the Universidad de Guadalajara — are veterans of that first campaign. For others, like myself, it would be an incredible first. But Charles' passion is what brought it all together.

1 day to totality

In the blink of an eye it was Aug. 11 — and we had just one day to go.

With prep time running short, I packed my camera gear and headed out to our eclipse site, where the DEB team was busy practicing with their solar scope.

My goal was to observe and get the lay of the land. I also needed a little time to practice with my own humble setup — a Fujifilm X-T5 camera with a XF 70-300 mm lens, plus a Manfrotto tripod and a handy solar filter courtesy of Celestron, which worked magic with the aid of a little Blu Tack.

The team had managed to convince a kindly resident to let us set up outside their villa, and to use their internet to ensure connectivity for the NASA stream.

It was a perfect spot with a near-pristine view to the west — an important feature considering that the sun would be less than 10 degrees above the horizon at totality — less than the width of a clenched fist held at arm's length.

There had been a little commotion earlier that day. Upon hearing that his parents had agreed to let perfect strangers access their internet, the son had, understandably, cautioned against letting Charles use the Wi-Fi, fearing that his story was a little too fanciful, and that he was some kind of scam! Thankfully it all got straightened out with a quick Google search, and we didn't have the ethernet plug pulled on the operation.

Charles and Arath were already getting the telescope to track the sun by the time I arrived. They'd also tested their uplink with NASA and the connection to the main DEB team 91 miles (147 kilometers) to the northwest in the city of Leon, which was looking stable.

I took the opportunity to catch up with Arath, who dreamed of pursuing a masters degree in mathematics at Cambridge University upon completing his studies at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico. Nearby, Aimar and Aaron — a pair of passionate high schoolers from Spain — had their heads down as they worked on their own mathematical equations in the patch of shade cast by a solitary umbrella. They had reached out to join the group after hearing about the DEB on a university noticeboard, and later that day quizzed me on the best places to find the latest scientific studies. I'm 80% sure that they're already smarter than me.

All the while I was getting to grips with solar photography. I had — with a little help — managed to centre the sun in my frame and after 15 minutes of toying with settings had snapped my first crisp shot of the solar disk.

Everything was looking great. The weather, our greatest potential adversary, was playing nicely. As I noted earlier, the sun would be low in the sky around the time of totality, putting a lot of atmosphere between us and the eclipse for potential clouds to coalesce in.

But Charles had been tracking the forecasts closely, and everything he'd seen indicated that the western sky would be clear as the eclipse darkened the sky on the 12th. Only one unlikely threat to totality remained.

The summer had seen Europe endure an oppressively dry, hot summer, which had seen wildfires spring up across the continent. Having spent a week just north of the Spanish border in Carcassonne, France in July, I could testify to the colossal smoke clouds that billow up from such a fire, which could easily obscure the sun as firefighters worked to bring it under control on the ground below. Thankfully, no such threat materialized.

I sought a little solitude on that final night before the eclipse. The terrace was unoccupied, so I laid back on the astroturf, traced out the constellations above and allowed my anticipation to build. As I watched, a single Perseid raced through the stars of the Summer Triangle — a stunning opening act for the solar spectacle to come.

Eclipse day in Valoria la Buena

The day of the total solar eclipse had finally arrived — and with it a strange nervous energy that made me feel as if I was vibrating on a cellular level. I was hours from seeing something that had terrified and awed my ancestors, drawn adventurers half way across the globe and allowed scientists to understand the true nature of our parent star.

Charles, on the other hand, confessed to being rested and ready, despite working through a last minute technical glitch that had reared its head in the past few days.

The fan on the computer responsible for sending commands to the telescope and uplinking to NASA had simply given out. At the height of Spanish summer. In the middle of an oppressive heatwave. Ordinarily that would probably have been game over. But this is a team including physics heads, an engineer and all round brilliant people, so they came up with a plan. They built a DIY heatsink.

The gameplan went as follows: Andreas put a bunch of wet towels in the freezer overnight. Said towels were then transported in a cooler and placed at the bottom of a nice, shaded cardboard box at the observation site, with foil between the towel and the computer.

Add to that a hand fan and cooler blocks from the freezer and Viola, you've got yourself a homemade heatsink. Human ingenuity versus technology and a Spanish heatwave. We would know the victor soon enough.

In the meantime I had another first to experience. Andreas had arranged for a local Catholic priest to hold a special Mass at the local church to mark the day of the eclipse. And I'd been invited to join them.

I am not a Catholic myself, but have always been taken with the beauty of European churches and cathedrals, and was keen to experience Mass. After quizzing Andreas on theology and triple checking it wasn't an imposition, I gratefully accepted.

The church bells had been a constant companion during my stay in Valoria la Buena, chiming every hour on the hour since my arrival. They emanated from a stunning 250-year-old church located at the heart of the pueblo, which had been constructed over three distinct phases.

During Mass, the priest remarked in Spanish on the incredible nature of the upcoming eclipse as the group listened attentively while wearing specially made eclipse t-shirts. A poignant moment of religion and science in absolute harmony.

A unique eclipse

After, I disappeared to prepare while Charles and the DEB team ferried the scope and equipment to our observing site. There was time for one final communication test with NASA.

Then it was time. And it wasn't just us.

Half the town must have turned out to experience the eclipse. Citizen scientists and family mingled with friends and locals as an impromptu block party got underway in Valoria la Buena.

I set up my camera close to Charles and the DEB scope, as the DIY heatsink worked to cool the fanless laptop in defiance of the Spanish heatwave.

Aaron, Aimar, Rosa and Siempre watched on as I double-checked the solar filter and settings on my camera, while glancing paranoid at the eclipse timings on my laptop. We were quickly joined by a semi-circle of enthusiastic locals curious about everything from the eclipse and the DEB to science journalism and Space.com.

As a result I was lost in conversation as the moment of first contact arrived and the moon took its first tentative bite out of the sun. Someone shouted and I snapped to. I immediately forgot how to use a camera. Remembered. And snapped my first photograph of the eclipsed sun.

My first instinct was that something was ineffably wrong. The sight had activated an ancient and superstitious circuit in my brain that insisted the sun simply shouldn't look this way. That I should be doing something to make it whole again.

Nervous excitement waxed in time with the waning of the solar crescent, which grew thinner with each minute as the moon's silhouette sank ever deeper into the sun. It was spectacular, but in hindsight little more than a prelude to the wonder of totality.

As the last of the solar disk threatened to slip behind the moon I panicked. Alternating between eclipse glasses and my hastily retrieved solar binoculars, unsure which would provide the best experience.

The binoculars.

Shouts of awe echoed behind as the final shred of the solar disk created a magnificent Diamond ring flare effect on the trailing edge of the lunar disk. I ripped the solar filter away from my camera and lowered the binoculars from my eyes.

The moment I had envisioned for years in my mind's eye years had finally arrived, more spectacular than I could have hoped.

With my own eyes I saw the sun's atmosphere reach out from behind the moon's silhouette. A black star shining in a false twilight.

As before, the sight stroked a primal part of my psyche that told me it was all wrong. Like watching a leviathan pass just beneath the surface in a fathomless ocean. To my senses, the eclipsed sun seemed to fill the sky. Venus was visible gleaming star-like and brilliant above, but the impossible sun was our only focus.

I grabbed my unfiltered binoculars for a closer look - something that can only be done when the sun's photosphere is completely masked by the moon during totality. A bright prominence glowed to the left of the lunar disk, outshining the corona that surrounded the natural satellite.

It was our eclipse. 1 minute and 37 seconds of totality. Another will follow in 2027, but it wouldn't be the same. It'll be a different corona, at a different altitude, enjoyed with different people. Utterly unique.

I triggered my camera shutter a dozen times. I'd knocked it out of focus upon removing the solar filter. It didn't seem to matter.

As the sun emerged from behind the moon I turned my eyes back to my camera, which had decided to stop talking to my phone at some point during totality. Ten minutes of berating the inanimate object later the connection was back, and my (out of focus) views of totality were on their way to our solar eclipse live blog.

Charles and the team had been diligently capturing data on the sun's atmosphere throughout totality, while streaming live views to NASA as they held their eclipse show in Leon.

It was, to me, a shining example of citizen science, which had brought family, friends, locals and students together as one to enjoy one of the most spectacular sights that our solar system has to offer.

The partially eclipsed sun set over the western horizon as Charles accepted the cheers of the DEB group. Our last night in Valoria la Buena was spent among newfound friends, discussing the Strokes, love and coffee, all while enjoying a little rum.

My return journey was a malaise of delayed trains, a cancelled flight and a sea of unfamiliar faces. But none of that mattered. I was dwelling on that magnificent black sun at the moment of totality, of the unnatural twilight and of the people I met along the way.

August's 96% partial lunar eclipse has been and gone, putting on a mesmerizing show for stargazers across the night side of Earth as out planet's shadow slipped silently across the face of the moon, forcing it to adopt a striking crimson hue at the point of maximum eclipse.

Check out our partial lunar eclipse photo roundup for striking views of the event captured from around the world.

A spectacular partial lunar eclipse will darken 96% of the full "Sturgeon Moon" tonight (Aug. 27-28). Here's how you can watch the "almost blood moon eclipse" live online from the comfort of your home.

Each phase of the partial lunar eclipse will occur simultaneously for everyone on the night side of Earth. But if clouds ruin your view — or the moon is below the horizon at the time of the eclipse — there's no need to fret!

Read on to discover a selection of YouTube live streams that'll let you watch each phase of the August partial lunar eclipse online for free. You can also follow along with all the action with our lunar eclipse live blog.

Time and Date

Time and Date will host a livestream of the eclipse on its YouTube channel starting at 10 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0200 GMT on Aug. 28). The stream will feature real-time views of the Sturgeon Moon as Earth's shadow darkens its surface in the skies above Portugal and Spain, weather permitting.

Experienced hosts astrophysicist Graham Jones and Journalist Anne Buckle will provide expert commentary and scientific insights on the nature of the eclipse throughout the event.

The Griffith Observatory

Los Angeles' famous Griffith Observatory will also host a livestream, which will begin at 10:25 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0225 GMT on Aug. 28), providing live views — and public onsite viewing — as the moon turns a deep crimson at the peak of the lunar eclipse.

The Virtual Telescope Project

The Virtual Telescope Project YouTube stream of the lunar eclipse starts at 9:30 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (1:30 GMT on Aug. 28), featuring live views of the Sturgeon Moon captured by telescopes in Manciano, Italy and Chile. The stream will be accompanied by commentary and insights from astrophysicist and astronomer Gianluca Masi.

Be sure to read our live blog for all the latest eclipse news, along with our articles discussing what to expect from each stage, what time they will occur and where the almost Blood Moon will be visible from.

You can also read up on how to capture the moon using our lunar eclipse photography guide and peruse our picks of the best cameras and lenses available for astrophotography in 2026.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

August's 96% partial lunar eclipse has been and gone, putting on a mesmerizing show for stargazers across the night side of Earth as out planet's shadow slipped silently across the face of the moon, forcing it to adopt a striking crimson hue at the point of maximum eclipse.

Check out our partial lunar eclipse photo roundup for striking views of the event captured from around the world.

A dramatic partial lunar eclipse will occur tonight (Aug. 27-28), with almost the entire moon slipping into Earth's shadow.

At its peak, at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Aug. 28, 96.2% of the lunar surface will be covered by Earth's dark umbral shadow, leaving only a slender portion of the moon directly illuminated by the sun. The rest of the lunar surface may take on an eerie reddish-orange hue, creating an impressive 'almost blood moon'. The eclipse will be visible from North and South America, Europe and Africa, though exactly how much you'll see will depend on your location (and clouds!).

You can follow along with all the action with our lunar eclipse live blog, and watch the eclipse online with these lunar eclipse livestreams.

Lunar eclipse timings

1. The eclipse begins when the moon enters Earth's faint outer shadow at 9:23 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0123 GMT on Aug. 28).
2. Things get much more interesting at 10:33 p.m. EDT (0233 GMT), when the partial eclipse begins and Earth's dark umbral shadow starts to creep across the lunar surface.
3. Maximum eclipse occurs at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Aug. 28, when 96.2% of the moon will be immersed in Earth's umbra.
4. The partial phase ends at 1:51 a.m. EDT (0551 GMT), with the penumbral eclipse concluding at 3:01 a.m. EDT (0701 GMT).

North and South America are particularly well-placed for the entire eclipse.

For European skywatchers, the eclipse takes place during the early morning of Aug. 28, with the moon setting while the partial eclipse is still underway. From London, maximum eclipse occurs at 5:12 a.m. BST, just over an hour before moonset.

How to view the lunar eclipse

Unlike a solar eclipse, you don't need any special equipment to view a lunar eclipse. Simply head outside and look up. If you own binoculars or a telescope, take a look through them for an even better view of Earth's shadow sweeping across the lunar surface.

If you're interested in trying to capture an impressive photograph of the lunar eclipse, check out our expert's guide on how to photograph a lunar eclipse, along with a roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of the August lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Here's what to expect during each stage of the Aug. 27-28 partial lunar eclipse, as our planet's colossal shadow swallows 96% of the moon's surface for billions on the night side of Earth.

August's lunar eclipse is the closing act of a dramatic two-part show, the opening act of which began on Aug. 12 as the moon covered the face of the sun to trigger a spectacular total solar eclipse over parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain.

You can follow along with all the action with our lunar eclipse live blog, and watch the eclipse online with these lunar eclipse livestreams.

Eclipses always come in pairs, but the stages to be expe

cted during a lunar eclipse are staggeringly different from its solar equivalent. One major bonus of a lunar eclipse is that each stage unfolds simultaneously for everyone on the night side of Earth, where the lunar disk is above the horizon. However, the local time for each stage will differ based on your location.

Lunar eclipses are also completely safe to view with the naked eye, or even through a pair of binoculars of a telescope, which will offer a magnified view of the moon as Earth's shadow sweeps across its cratered landscape.

Earth's shadow is divided into two concentric cones that are only visible during the brief window of a lunar eclipse. The outer penumbral cone casts a soft, wide shadow, while the inner umbra reveals the distinct curve of Earth's silhouette.

The 5 stages of the partial lunar eclipse August 2026

Stage 1: Earth's penumbral shadow sweeps across the moon

The eclipse officially begins at 9:23 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0123GMT on Aug. 28), as Earth's outer penumbral shadow begins to cover the moon's surface, according to TimeandDate.com.

Darkening of the lunar disk during this stage is incredibly subtle, becoming most apparent in the moments before Earth's inner shadow appears to transform August's "Sturgeon Moon", which is named for the time of year when the large fish were easily caught in North America.

Stage 2: Partial lunar eclipse begins

Earth's inner umbral shadow will take its first "bite" out of the moon at 10:33 EDT on Aug. 27 (0233 GMT on Aug. 28), announcing the start of the partial phase of today's deep lunar eclipse.

The umbral shadow will first appear as a small semicircle of shadow close to the dark expanses of Oceanus Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms) and Mare Humorum on the moon's southwestern edge, before swiftly spreading to swallow the nearby moonscape.

This partial phase of a lunar eclipse is the only opportunity most of us will get to see the grand sweep of Earth's silhouette with our own eyes, as our planet performs like a doll in a cosmic marionette, casting its shape in shadow against the backdrop of its natural satellite.

Stage 3: Maximum eclipse

The eclipse will reach its peak at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Aug. 28, as 96% of the lunar disk is smothered in Earth's umbral shadow, leaving a dazzling crescent exposed to direct sunlight on the moon's northern limb.

Around this time, you may notice a subtle red hue infuse the moon, as sunlight filtered through Earth's atmosphere is refracted, or bent onto its surface. It may appear as if the light from every sunset and sunrise on Earth is simultaneously striking the lunar disk, revealing prominent craters and dark lunar seas in spite of the shadow covering it.

Stage 4: Earth's inner shadow slips from the moon

Earth's inner umbral shadow will steadily retreat from the moon in the hours. The crimson hue that may have been visible at the height of the eclipse will gradually fade as the crescent of the lunar disk exposed to direct sunlight grows, and normality reasserts itself over the natural satellite.

The last vestige of Earth's inner shadow will depart the lunar surface at 1:51 a.m. EDT (0551 GMT) on Aug. 28.

Stage 5: Earth's outer shadow exits the Sturgeon Moon

Our planet's outer penumbral shadow will disappear from the Sturgeon Moon shortly after at 3:01 a.m. EDT (0701 GMT), bringing the eclipse to an end. We won't see another like it until New Year's Eve 2028, when a total lunar eclipse will be visible across Asia, Australia and Europe

Eager to photograph August's partial lunar eclipse? Then be sure to read our expert's guide on how to photograph a lunar eclipse, along with a roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography. You should also check out our picks of the best binoculars and telescopes available in 2026, which will give you a closer look at the moon as Earth's shadow swallows its ancient surface.

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of the August lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Earth's shadow will swallow 96% of the lunar surface tonight (Aug. 27-28), potentially turning the moon a gorgeous shade of crimson as it bathes in light filtered and refracted by our planet's atmosphere.

The partial lunar eclipse will occur as Earth passes between the sun and the moon. Around this time, Earth's curved inner shadow will appear to creep across the lunar surface while leaving a thin crescent exposed to direct sunlight at the point of maximum eclipse. But who will actually get to see it? As usual, it's all a matter of location.

You can follow along with all the action with our lunar eclipse live blog, and watch the eclipse online with these lunar eclipse livestreams.

Where is the August 2026 partial lunar eclipse visible?

The Aug. 27-28 partial lunar eclipse will be visible to roughly 3.3 billion people spread across North America, South America and parts of Europe and Africa. Each phase will occur simultaneously for everyone watching from Earth, through the local timings for each eclipse phase will vary depending on your location.

For stargazers on the West Coast of America in cities like Los Angeles, California and Portland, Oregon, the point of maximum eclipse will arrive just a few hours after sunset. While anyone watching from East Coast cities including New York and Jacksonville will see the lunar spectacle peak around midnight local time.

For the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa, the eclipse will be an early morning affair, occurring shortly before sunrise as the moon arcs low towards the western horizon. You can check the exact timings and altitude of the moon during key phases of the Aug. 27-28 eclipse on TimeandDate.com.

The full extent of a partial lunar eclipse can be enjoyed by anyone who happens to be on the night side of Earth at the time that it occurs. You also won't need safety glasses or specialized equipment to view a lunar eclipse. It'll look magnificent to the naked eye, though binoculars, or even a telescope can heighten the experience by granting a magnified view of the moon as Earth's shadow slowly marches across its cratered surface!

Sadly, the moon will be out of sight below the horizon for anyone on the day side of Earth as the eclipse unfolds, making it impossible to view with the naked eye from a host of countries including Australia, India, China and Japan to name but a few.

But we've got you covered.

Space.com will be sharing details on how to watch the partial lunar eclipse live online closer to the time, along with all the latest news via our live blog. Why not also read up our expert tips on how to photograph the moon using a DSLR or mirrorless camera to ensure that you're ready to immortalize the deepest lunar eclipse until New Years Eve 2028-2029?

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of the partial lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

On Aug. 21, 1914, a total solar eclipse temporarily darkened skies across Europe and Asia. A young German astronomer and friend of Albert Einstein's, Erwin Finlay-Freundlich, led an expedition to the Crimean Peninsula of Russia, where he hoped to record observations that would verify Albert Einstein's general relativity theory.

This theory predicted that the light from distant stars appearing very close to the sun's edge should shift due to the curvature of space. Those stars would only be visible during a total solar eclipse, when the moon blocks out the sun's bright light. Unfortunately, the start of World War I just 20 days before the eclipse foiled the expedition. After Germany declared war on Russia, Freundlich and his colleagues were captured by the Russian army and their equipment was confiscated.

After the war, a solar eclipse on May 29, 1919 was used to confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity, so the experiment was ultimately a success.

Why it mattered

Today, Einstein's general relativity theory is a given. This theory is firmly cemented in our modern understanding of how the universe works (not counting fringe conspiracists). But looking back just over 100 years, it is interesting to see how hard scientists had to work to gather evidence to validate this theory and consider the way war and geopolitics played a part in postponing this work.

Scientists continue to validate the theory to this day through a variety of methods and observations, though a modern trek to witness a total solar eclipse would be a lot easier than it would have been in 1914.

This expedition, or rather the planned expedition, took place well over 100 years ago. Whether for the purposes of trying to validate Einstein's general theory of relativity or just for fun, people have experienced eclipses for as long as we can date back.

It's fascinating to look at the parallels between this planned expedition over 100 years ago and the treks that people around the world (including Space.com reporters) take in modern times to see a total solar eclipse. For example, during the 2026 total solar eclipse, people flocked from all over to locations like Spain and Iceland to experience the eclipse far from home.

When the 11,000-ton cruise ship Le Boréal set sail from Nice, France, on Thursday, Aug. 6, its 205 passengers and 136 crew members began a voyage whose success would depend not only on careful planning, but also on the ship's ability to outmaneuver clouds at the last critical hour.

The ship is owned and operated by the French cruise line Compagnie du Ponant. This eclipse cruise was the result of more than a year's planning by Ponant, and most of those who signed on were there specifically to witness the celestial spectacle; that shared purpose heightened the drama of the eclipse itself.

This was going to be a sunset eclipse, with the sun no more than three degrees above the horizon. To picture that height, make a fist and hold it out at arm's length. Place the bottom of your fist on the horizon; the top of your fist measures about ten degrees. During totality, the sun would appear only about one-third of a fist-width above the horizon. Even if the sky overhead was clear, clouds could still gather near the horizon, leaving open the possibility that the sun might be hidden at the critical moment.

I was on board Le Boréal as both a lecturer and the ship's onboard meteorologist. The main advantage of using a cruise ship to view an eclipse is its two-dimensional mobility, allowing it to maneuver around potential cloud cover. In practice, that meant working with Captain Mathieu Tsingrilaras to position Le Boréal on eclipse day in a location free of any clouds that might otherwise obscure the total eclipse.

Although the Iberian Peninsula and the adjacent waters of the Balearic Sea — a body of water between mainland Spain's eastern coast and the Balearic Islands — typically enjoy warm, dry, clear weather in August, the circumstances of this eclipse could still prove problematic.

Also serving as a lecturer for the cruise was Serge Brunier, a well-known French photographer, reporter, and writer who has specialized in popular depictions of astronomical subjects. He is also the co-author of the beautiful coffee-table book, Glorious Eclipses.

Serge would accommodate the French-speaking passengers onboard. Early in the cruise, as we were speaking with each other, a French passenger came up to Serge and asked, "Le temps sera-t-il dégagé pour l'éclipse?" ("Will we have clear weather for the eclipse?"). Serge nodded toward me and replied: "Il faudra demander à Joe ; c'est lui qui s'occupe de la météo." ("You will have to ask Joe; he is in charge of the weather.")

Our itinerary took us to many different places during our eight-day cruise, including two towns in Corsica (Calvi and Bonifacio), the French cities of Marseille and Port-Vendres as well as Spain where we stopped at Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. Through it all, we experienced weather that was mainly sunny, very warm and quite humid. An upper-level ridge of high pressure acted as a heat dome over much of Europe.

Weather threat on eclipse day

The first warning came on Aug. 10, when a minor disturbance rippled through the heat ridge and produced widespread clouds, showery rains and thunderstorms across eastern Spain, spilling into the eclipse zone over the adjacent Balearic Sea. Had the eclipse taken place that day, no amount of mobility would have brought us a clear view. Fortunately, the disturbance quickly moved east, allowing high pressure to build back over the region.

By eclipse day, Aug. 12, conditions appeared to have turned in our favor. The day began beautifully sunny and continued that way into the afternoon. Our ship was docked at Palma de Mallorca, then set sail at 4 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST) for our preselected viewing location, heading west-northwest along the center line of the path of totality.

Shortly after departure, images from EUMETSAT, a geostationary weather satellite looking down from 22,000 miles (35,400 km) above Europe, revealed the problem we had been trying to avoid.

A large convective cloud — formed when warm, damp air rises into colder air above — began to rapidly evolve over part of Spain's coastline just inland from the Gulf of Valencia. It soon became apparent that if we did not alter course, that cloud would almost certainly block our view of the total eclipse.

After consulting with Captain Tsingrilaras, we decided to take Le Boréal southwest. That maneuver would cause the cloud, then directly ahead of us, to shift to the right of the sun as it descended the west-northwest sky, improving our odds for viewing totality.

That course correction became the turning point of the voyage.

Totality at sea

As the eclipse began, other cruise ships apparently stayed their original courses. Le Boréal's course change, however, kept us clear of significant cloudiness, aside from a few thin clouds that occasionally crossed the sun but did little to hinder the show. At 7:37 p.m. CEST, the moon took its first bite out of the lower right limb of the sun.

At 8 p.m., Captain Tsingrilaras oriented Le Boréal, so that the back of the ship (the stern) faced directly toward the sun. Crowds gathered on the top three decks of the ship, observing the sun through special eclipse glasses that had been distributed the previous evening.

Moments before totality, when only a sliver of sun remained, I told passengers that I had been asked since the start of the day about what our chances were for seeing the total eclipse. "I think our chances of seeing it are now 100 percent!" That comment was met with a resounding cheer.

What was particularly striking was the approach of the moon's shadow; a diffuse darkening accompanied by a rapid west-to-east sweep of darkness. The onset of totality was marked by a dazzling diamond ring effect which lasted a couple of seconds, then a circular corona appeared around the darkened solar disk; it appeared somewhat yellowish in color as opposed to pearly white, likely due to a layer of haze near the horizon.

An unusually large and brilliant red prominence, readily visible even with the unaided eye, appeared at the 9 o'clock position. Because the sun was so low in the sky, the famous moon illusion caused it to appear especially large. This only added to the beauty of the spectacle.

Totality lasted 95 seconds. Even at its midpoint the overall light never became so dim that the second hand on a watch was hard to see. The only other object that was plainly visible in the sky was Venus, well off to the upper left of the eclipsed sun. The air temperature did not change much, probably due to the thermal inertia of the surrounding water.

The terminal diamond ring was perhaps even more stunning than the first. The corona could be kept in view for several seconds by blocking out the emerging crescent of sunlight with one's thumb. It seems that no shadow bands were observed either before or after totality.

As the sun gradually emerged from behind the moon, it sank lower in the sky and was still about two-thirds covered when it took on the shape of an orange-red shark fin disappearing beyond the horizon — a fitting final image for a spectacular eclipse at sea.

Nothing succeeds like success

In the end, Le Boréal's successful eclipse viewing was a reminder that even the most carefully planned astronomical event still depends on swift judgment and adaptability. By combining advance preparation with a timely course correction, the voyage transformed a looming weather threat into an unforgettable view of totality.

I would also like to thank my wife, Renate, who accompanied me on this amazing adventure and for reading so much for reading my first draft of this article and to my daughter Maria and Scott Zimmerman for assisting me with my video and image selections.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

We're just one week away from a stunning partial lunar eclipse on Aug. 27-28, when billions across North America, South America, Africa and Europe will see Earth's shadow dye the moon a subtle crimson hue, while leaving a thin crescent exposed to direct sunlight.

August's partial lunar eclipse will occur as Earth passes directly between the sun and moon during the full moon phase — an imperfect alignment that will see our planet's intense inner shadow cover 96% of the visible face of our natural satellite.

Stargazers on the night side of Earth will catch their first glimpse of our planet's umbra (the darkest, innermost part of its shadow) creeping onto the moon's surface at 10:33 p.m. EDT on Aug. 27 (0233 GMT on Aug. 28), according to TimeandDate.com. The vast shadow will continue its advance across the crater-scarred landscape in the hours that follow, until it hits the point of maximum eclipse at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Aug. 28 (0412 GMT).

Around this time, you may notice the shadowed region of the moon take on a reddish-orange color, as sunlight filtered through Earth's atmosphere is bent onto the lunar surface — a phenomenon often referred to as a "Blood Moon" during a total eclipse.

Each phase of a lunar eclipse occurs simultaneously for everyone viewing from the night side of Earth, where the lunar disk is visible. However, local timings will differ significantly depending on your location on Earth.

If you're watching from a city on the West Coast of the United States like California, then the point of maximum eclipse will occur shortly after midnight local time on the night of Aug. 27-28.

Viewers in the United Kingdom, meanwhile, won't observe the moment of maximum eclipse until shortly before sunrise on Aug. 28, as the moon lurks low on the southwestern horizon. Be sure to check out a trusted website like TimeandDate for eclipse timings specific to your location.

You won't need any special kit to protect your eyes during a lunar eclipse as you would during a solar eclipse, when there is a serious risk of vision damage from looking directly upon the sun. However, a pair of quality binoculars or a telescope will give you a stunning view of Earth's shadow as it races across the lunar disk.

Need to upgrade your equipment? Then be sure to read our roundups of the best binoculars and telescopes available in 2026. You should also check out our guide to photographing a lunar eclipse, along with our picks of the top cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of the lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

I woke up on the morning of Aug. 12 and looked out of the window to something I hadn't dared hope for: blue sky.

After days of scrutinizing weather models that seemed determined to test the nerves of everyone aboard the HX Expeditions ship MS Spitsbergen, somehow, against the odds, the clouds had cleared. Even then, I didn't trust it (especially after my 2024 eclipse experience). We had traveled thousands of miles, crossed the Greenland Sea and ventured deep into Scoresby Sund to put ourselves in the path of the moon's shadow. Now there was nothing to do but wait — and hope the sky stayed clear.

The wind howled across the deck, but nobody seemed to mind. If anything, it was helping us, keeping the clouds at bay. The atmosphere aboard felt like Christmas Eve with a ship full of overexcited children. Some guests had chased eclipses across the world; for others, this would be their first. Either way, Aug. 12 was the date we'd been waiting years for.

But by the time we reached Scoresby Sund, something had shifted.

I had traveled all this way to look up. Instead, I found myself looking around. I'd come here for 2 minutes and 14 seconds of darkness. Instead, Greenland had spent the previous days relentlessly demanding my full attention.

After a couple of days at sea during the crossing from Svalbard to East Greenland, our first sight of land appeared almost like a mirage on the horizon. Soon, icebergs were drifting past the ship and the scale of the landscape became increasingly difficult to comprehend. We could sail for hours through Northeast Greenland National Park without seeing a single sign of human civilization beyond our own ship. At times, moving through those immense geological landscapes felt less like traveling across Earth and more like exploring some distant, icy-covered moon.

Yet, the more otherworldly Greenland appeared, the more it made me appreciate our own planet.

At times it felt as though I'd stepped into a geology textbook. Processes and structures I'd previously seen reduced to diagrams were suddenly towering above me. And amongst all the enormity were the tiniest signs of life: lichens and miniature Arctic plants hugging the ground beneath vast mountains and glaciers.

The scale and contrast were overwhelming at times, and no view stayed the same for long.

An iceberg viewed from one side could morph into a completely different form as the ship sailed past it. A break in the clouds could transform a gray mountainside in seconds. In Scoresby Sund, even the ice seemed to echo the landscape around it as jagged peaks, flat-topped slabs and sculpted ridges rose from the water like miniature versions of the colossal mountains behind them.

The Greenland scenery was a gift that kept on giving, and I found myself increasingly reluctant to go inside. I began meticulously scanning for wildlife, because I'd learned how quickly something extraordinary could appear.

On an impromptu evening walk in Longyearbyen before we set sail, beluga whales had suddenly surfaced in the bay. Later, in Greenland, while I was distracted by a spectacular circumzenithal arc and sundogs overhead, one of a handful of people still standing on deck spotted two tiny white shapes in the water. I thought they were birds bobbing along.

Then I lifted my camera and zoomed in.

Polar bears.

It became something of a lesson for the expedition: stay curious, keep your eyes open and remember to look both up and down.

That curiosity seemed to unite everyone aboard. Guests had traveled from around the world for this eclipse opportunity. There were seasoned eclipse chasers looking to experience totality somewhere extraordinary, first-timers who had no idea how they would react and people drawn as much by the adventure and wildlife, as the eclipse itself.

HX Expeditions' onboard science and education programme gave that shared enthusiasm somewhere to go. Our days were filled with nature landings, lectures, citizen-science projects and conversations with experts, helping us do more than simply travel through Greenland. The programme encouraged us to pay closer attention — not merely to see the landscape, but to understand and truly experience it.

Conversations jumped from eclipses to wildlife, travel, geology and perhaps, inevitably for a ship full of skywatchers, clouds. We took part in the GLOBE Observer cloud citizen science project and found ourselves happily studying them — while collectively hoping they would be nowhere near the sun on eclipse day.

The eclipse had brought us together, but the journey had quickly become about much more.

Then, on Aug. 12, our attention returned to the sky.

When the moon took its first tiny bite from the solar disk, excitement rippled across the deck. For the next hour, it steadily consumed more of the sun.

As totality approached, the quality of the light began to change.

It became strangely yellow and dull, yet at the same time the landscape seemed almost unnaturally sharp. It was eerie — familiar enough to still resemble daylight, but wrong enough that your brain knew something extraordinary was happening.

What amazed me most was how long that daylight persisted.

Even when only the tiniest sliver of sun remained, Greenland was still illuminated. I knew scientifically how intensely bright the solar photosphere is, but knowing it and watching that minuscule fraction of sunlight continue to illuminate an entire landscape were two very different things.

Then the final fraction disappeared.

The world around me plunged into twilight.

And there it was.

Totality.

I knew exactly what I was supposed to see. I've written about eclipses for years. I understand the science. I had seen thousands of photographs of the corona, prominences, Baily's beads and diamond rings.

None of it prepared me for the feeling of actually seeing one.

The first thing that struck me was how large the eclipsed sun appeared to the naked eye. Photographs had never prepared me for that sense of scale, nor how much detail I could see with my own eyes.

The moon itself looked impossibly dark — a black void punched into the sky — surrounded by the pearly white corona. Long streamers stretched away from the sun and around the moon's edge I could see bright pink prominences.

I was so surprised to see this vivid pink color with my own eyes. For 2 minutes and 14 seconds, I saw the sun as I had never seen it before.

But even then, I couldn't just look up.

I looked around. Jupiter and Mercury shone clearly off to one side of the eclipsed sun, with Mercury far brighter and easier to spot than I had expected. Venus blazed on the other side.

Then I looked down. Below the eclipsed sun were icebergs. Beside us rose the immense walls of Scoresby Sund. Glaciers carved their path through the landscape.

Above it all hung that black disk and its enormous, delicate corona. My brain simply couldn't take it all in.

There was too much beauty. Too much scale. Too much happening at once.

People use words such as "mind-blowing" and "speechless" so often that they begin to lose their meaning.

But my mind was really blown. And I really was speechless. Perhaps the best way I can describe it is that my mind felt full, but quiet. Full because there was almost too much to comprehend, but quiet because for those fleeting moments, there was room for nothing else.

The intensity of the experience surprised guests who had originally joined the voyage for different reasons.

"My husband and I came to see the wildlife, and we were actually in awe of what we saw in relation to the solar eclipse," Kenya Haupt, from Colorado, told Space.com. "Truly an emotional experience"

The reasons for joining the expedition varied, but beneath the moon’s shadow, the experience became a collective one.

For Shubhada Maitra, from India, it was her first total solar eclipse.

"When I looked around me, I just had a feeling that we were one community, taking part in one of the most spectacular, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime celestial events," Maitra said. "Although we came from different countries, different nationalities, genders, all of that, that solar eclipse just bound us together."

"Without saying anything, we were just so connected in that experience."

Lisa Marie Morse, from Rhode Island, described the eclipse as both "joyous and melancholy."

"In that moment of darkness, I felt a powerful connection with all living things, to an infinite ancient rhythm locking us together for 134 seconds of shared awareness, then releasing us back into our daily slumber," Morse said. "It was magical."

Then, almost as quickly as totality had arrived, it was ending.

The first brilliant beads of sunlight appeared from behind the moon.

They were beautiful, but there was a sadness in seeing them too. The corona, prominences and extraordinary black void that had dominated the sky were about to disappear once more into the overwhelming glare of the sun.

Two minutes and 14 seconds had somehow felt both packed with experience and impossibly brief. I had just enough time to look with my naked eye, search for planets, check it out through binoculars and try to absorb the reactions around me.

Then it was gone.

For seasoned eclipse chaser Roy Tillcock from the Isle of Wight, the clear view had come as a genuine surprise.

"This was one of the most unexpected eclipses I've seen," he said. "I did not have high hopes of seeing it, and there it was. Brilliant."

And, as if to underline just how fortunate we had been, the clouds rolled in shortly after totality. A few minutes later, and this could have been a very different story.

Some skywatchers were emotional. Others were exhilarated. Many, like me, seemed to be struggling to find words big enough for what had happened.

Perhaps that is part of why eclipse chasing becomes so addictive. We can explain the science of totality in extraordinary detail. We can calculate the path of the moon's shadow years in advance, travel thousands of miles to stand beneath it and know exactly when and where darkness will fall.

But knowing what to expect is not the same as experiencing it.

The following morning, Greenland was still there, still demanding my undivided attention. Icebergs drifted past the ship. Mountains towered above the fjord. The sunlight shifted and the landscape transformed once again. I had traveled all this way to look up.

But somewhere along the journey, I had learned to truly look around. Here I was, standing on a planet of glaciers, oceans, wildlife and ancient rock, watching its moon pass perfectly across its star at a moment in Earth's history when their apparent size in our sky happened to match. How lucky are we to experience any of this? Luck, ultimately, is something no eclipse chaser can ignore.

We could calculate where the shadow would fall. We could sail into its path. We could scrutinize forecasts, prepare our equipment and position ourselves as carefully as possible.

But we couldn't command the clouds to cooperate.

Nature always has the final say. And on Aug. 12, 2026, in a remote fjord in East Greenland, nature said yes.

Editor's note: This trip was made possible by travel and accommodation provided by HX Expeditions.

The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse didn't only plunge millions of people across Greenland, Iceland and Spain into a false twilight — a fleet of spacecraft orbiting our planet managed to capture the magic, too.

August's total solar eclipse occurred as the moon passed directly between the sun and Earth during its monthly new moon phase. Those lucky enough to be in the path of totality watched on in awe as the moon progressively swallowed the light of the sun, ultimately revealing our star's tenuous atmosphere against a prematurely darkened evening sky.

It was a show of truly epic proportions — and maybe one whose scale can be particularly appreciated when viewed through the mechanical eyes of NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft that observe our planet and sun from afar. Read on to see some breathtaking views of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse from orbit.

The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse, seen from space

Our first view comes courtesy of NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, who captured the moon taking a bite out of the sun from the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 12.

"Given the location of the @Space_Station at the time of the total solar eclipse today, we saw only a partial eclipse, with a peak of around 18% sun coverage," Meir said in an X post accompanying the photographs.

Around the same time, photographer Joel Kowsky managed to line up a beautiful shot of the ISS as it passed across the face of our eclipsed star in the skies over Hodgdon, Maine.

The dual spacecraft of the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission also captured a lovely (though largely redundant) view of the moon moving to occult the sun's disk, which, in this case, was already perfectly hidden behind the lead spacecraft's coronograph!

Both Proba-3 spacecraft are designed to fly in perfect formation in line with the sun. The "Occulter" spacecraft, closest to the sun, is equipped with a large sunshield, or coronagraph. This coronagraph blocks the sun's disk for the more distant member in the Proba-3 formation, allowing that spacecraft to image our star's atmosphere in incredible detail.

Thanks to their unique setup, for a brief moment on Aug. 12, the Proba-3 spacecraft recorded a rare double eclipse, as the moon and its artificial mimic simultaneously hid light emanating from our parent star.

Sitting about 22,370 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface, ESA's Meteosat Third Generation Imager Satellite (MGT-I1) caught a spectacular view of the moon's shadow darkening our planet.

The moon's shadow can be seen arcing south in the satellite imagery, before eventually combining with the advancing terminator line, which heralded the transition from day to night wherever it passed.

That same shadow was observed on Aug. 12 by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-19 satellite as it kept watch over Earth from its perch in geostationary orbit.

Be sure to check out our photo roundup to see more stunning views of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse. Why not also read up on this month's lunar eclipse, which will see Earth's shadow turn the moon a deep crimson overnight on Aug. 27-28

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

This week's total solar eclipse captured the world's attention, and millions of skywatchers looked up (with the correct protective eyewear, hopefully) to experience the moon blocking out our star's light. And, as you can see in this image, even the International Space Station (ISS) itself got in on the fun.

What is it?

On Aug. 12, 2026, the moon completely blocked out the sun's light for millions of lucky skywatchers witnessing a total solar eclipse.

But the moon isn't the only thing orbiting Earth. Tons of satellites and probes do too, and that includes the ISS. This created a truly remarkable moment for some skywatchers. With the right equipment, it was possible to see the silhouette of the ISS in front of the sun.

This composite image shows eight different frames of the ISS silhouetted on the sun's face as the moon takes a "bite" out of our star to create a partial eclipse.

Why is it incredible?

Solar eclipses like this week's total solar eclipse really bring people together. It creates opportunities for humans to come together and gather for a common goal.

And while the ISS is featured in this image, we may also want to consider the astronauts aboard. In other words, people on Earth weren't the only ones who got to participate in the marvel.

The Expedition 75 astronauts on the ISS (NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev and Anna Kikina) caught the show too as they orbited our planet. There they were, in between Earth and the moon, as our planet's neighbor blocked out our star.

The total solar eclipse of Aug. 12, 2026 was one for the books. And this photo, snapped just as the eclipse was about to enter totality, really captures the drama of the moment.

What is it?

On Aug. 12, 2026, millions of people around the world witnessed a total solar eclipse. This happens when the moon passes in front of the sun, completely blocking it from our perspective here on Earth. (During a partial solar eclipse, only part of the sun's face is blocked by the moon.)

Observers lucky enough to be in the narrow "path of totality" that day got an experience they'll never forget.

Why is it incredible?

The chance to observe a total solar eclipse doesn't come along very often and is truly surreal and magical. While you might logically know that it's a predictable result of orbital dynamics, it's still incredibly strange in the moment to watch the sun disappear behind a black disk.

During totality, you experience a sort of false nighttime in the middle of the day. This can trigger strange responses from wildlife, with animals that are typically nocturnal coming out to see what's going on, confused about why night arrived at what feels like the wrong time.

Space.com skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic traveled to the Scoresby Sund off the coast of Greenland to experience the total solar eclipse from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage, and she's been taking us all along on her journey.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew exactly what to expect — I’ve written about total solar eclipses countless times and given talks about them — but nothing prepared me for the feeling of actually seeing it," Dobrijevic said about her experience watching the eclipse. "I was completely in awe. As thin clouds drifted in towards the end of totality, they only added to the drama and emotion of an already extraordinary sight."

Yesterday (Aug.12), millions of people enjoyed a total solar eclipse as it swept across parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain, while a partial solar eclipse was visible across much of Europe and northwest Africa.

If all that eclipse excitement has you eager for more, the good news is you won't have to wait long, because two remarkable solar eclipses are coming in 2027. First comes a dramatic "ring of fire" annular solar eclipse on Feb 6, followed six months later by the total solar eclipse on Aug. 2 — an event many eclipse chasers are already calling the "eclipse of the century".

First up, a dazzling "ring of fire"

On Feb. 6, 2027, an annular solar eclipse will be visible across parts of Chile, Argentina and the coastal parts of West Africa, while the partial phase of the eclipse where the moon takes a "bite" out of the sun will be visible across South America and West Africa.

An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon passes directly in front of the sun when it is slightly farther away from Earth than during a total solar eclipse. As such, the moon appears a little smaller in the sky and doesn't completely cover the sun, leaving a brilliant ring of sunlight around the moon's silhouette, the "ring of fire".

The "eclipse of the century"

If the "ring of fire" eclipse wasn't enough, 2027 serves up another, even more spectacular eclipse.

On Aug. 2, 2027, the moon's shadow will race across southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, treating skywatchers with one of the longest total solar eclipses of the century. At its greatest point, totality will last an extraordinary 6 minutes and 23 seconds — more than twice as long as many other total solar eclipses.

Combined with favorable August weather across parts of North Africa, it's easy to see why many eclipse enthusiasts are already planning their trips in advance.

If you're thinking about experiencing the Aug. 2, 2027 total solar eclipse for yourself, now is the perfect time to start planning. We've rounded up expert travel tips to help you choose the best viewing location and avoid common pitfalls, as well as 10 unforgettable tours and experiences that will put you right in the heart of one of the greatest celestial events of the century.

And just like that, it's over.

Total solar eclipses are incredible moments in time, but they are fleeting. As the moon passes directly in front of the sun and its shadow sweeps across Earth's surface, the temperature drops and the light takes on an eerie twilight quality. Birds and other animals go quiet. It's a spectacle unlike any other. And for millions today who were lucky enough to be in the path of totality across Greenland, Iceland and Spain, that's exactly what they experienced.

"I cannot believe what I just witnessed. I knew what to expect  — I've seen thousands of photos but nothing compares to that feeling you get when you watch the sun transform before your very eyes," Space.com skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic said after watching the eclipse from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund, Greenland on Aug. 12, 2026.

"It looked so big in the sky with the delicate corona streaming out into the abyss. Jupiter, Mercury and Venus even joined in the show. The huge prominence was the icing on the cake," Dobrijevic added.

"This is something I will never forget and I feel privileged to have experienced it in one of the most remarkable environments on Earth and alongside an incredible group of people aboard HX Expedition's MS Spitsbergen."

The 182 mile-wide (293-kilometer) path of totality — the line "drawn" on the face our our planet by the moon's shadow — began near Siberia over the Arctic Ocean and first arced down into eastern Greenland.

From there, the path stretched across western Iceland and then into northern Spain where millions gathered to witness the spectacle.

"It was the most incredible thing I've seen in my entire life," said Space.com skywatching writer Anthony Wood after witnessing the eclipse from Valoria la Buena, Spain alongside a team of citizen scientists from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast initiative. "It feels like it really shouldn't be happening. It strikes the lizard part of your brain that just tells you that this shouldn't be real."

The path then crossed the Balearic Islands just east of Spain before ending over the Mediterranean Sea as the sun set.

Eclipse-watchers inside the narrow path of the moon's shadow were given a rare naked-eye glimpse of the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Witnessing the crown-like shape of the corona stretching away from the dark shadow of the moon is one of the most breathtaking moments of an eclipse. Photographs don't do it justice, as they rarely do.

Outside of the path of totality, skywatchers throughout Europe and Scandinavia were able to catch a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse — in which the moon appears to take a "bite" out of the sun.

Space.com's Harry Bennett captured the partial eclipse from a hilltop in Somerset, England, shooting the scene with a Unistellar Equinox 2 smart telescope equipped with a solar filter.

The partial solar eclipse was also visible for much of the northeastern United States and as far west as Michigan. Much of Canada got to witness the partial eclipse too, and so did Alaska.

What causes a total solar eclipse?

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes directly in front of the sun as seen from Earth. When this alignment happens, the moon casts its shadow along a line known as the path of totality. Only within this stripe will you be able to experience full totality.

Another factor to consider is that the moon has an elliptical, or oval-shaped, orbit. This means that it's sometimes closer to Earth than other times. Total solar eclipses only occur when the moon is at just the right distance from Earth, making it appear the same size in the sky as the sun (or even slightly larger). This obscures the blinding light of the sun, allowing viewers to glimpse our star's outer atmosphere, or corona.

When the moon is a bit farther away from Earth, it appears relatively smaller. And when solar eclipses fall on a date when the moon is at this greater distance from our planet, the moon doesn't completely block the sun. This creates what's known as an annular solar eclipse, or a "ring of fire" in the sky.

When is the next total solar eclipse?

The next total solar eclipse will occur on Aug. 2, 2027 and will be visible throughout a 160-mile-wide (258-kilometer) path that crosses southern Spain, northern Morocco, northern Algeria, northern Tunisia, northeast Libya, central Egypt, the northeastern tip of Sudan, southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the northeastern tip of Somalia.

Outside of this path, a partial solar eclipse will be visible to most of Europe, much of the African continent, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, eastern Canada and parts of Maine.

In North America, the next total solar eclipse will take place on March 30, 2033, and will be visible from Alaska. Looking farther out, the U.S. states of Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and areas of Canada will witness a total solar eclipse on Aug. 23, 2044.

Submit your eclipse photos! If you captured a photo of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send photos, videos, a brief description of your experience, and your name, location and content usage permission release to spacephotos@space.com.

The first breathtaking photos of totality for the total solar eclipse 2026 are pouring in, revealing incredible views of the sun's atmosphere radiating out from behind the moon's colossal silhouette.

Eclipse chasers have spent the past few hours watching in awe, as the moon transformed the sun into an incandescent crescent in the run up to totality, before swallowing it entirely in the skies over Scoresby Sund, Greenland as seen from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage.

Read on to see spectacular photos of the sun's corona glowing in the false twilight of totality. And be sure to stay with us in the coming hours as the moon's central shadow sweeps over Europe, before ultimately disappearing from view off the north coast of Africa at 2:34 p.m. EDT (1834 GMT).

First photos of totality

The first photos of totality revealed the sun's corona, visible thanks to the moon blocking most of our star's light.

Luckily, weather cooperated for the eclipse chasers on the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund, Greenland.

Space.com's own skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic was onboard, capturing the first images of totality.

As the moon drifted past the sun, the first glimpses of the sun began to reveal themselves as the path of totality moved onwards towards Spain.

We'll have more coverage on our total solar eclipse live blog throughout the day, including reports from Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic as she catches the entirety of the eclipse unfolding in the skies over Greenland aboard an HX Expeditions cruise ship.

Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood will also be giving you the live updates from his vantage point in central Spain, where the eclipsed sun will set below the horizon just a few short hours from now.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your eclipse photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your image(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Today (Aug. 12), millions of people across Greenland, Iceland and Spain will witness a total solar eclipse as the moon completely covers the sun, turning day into night, albeit briefly.

It's Europe's first total solar eclipse since 1999, and with a maximum of 2 minutes, 18 seconds of totality, it will be worth the wait … weather permitting!

Even if you're not inside the path of totality, there's still plenty to see. A dramatic partial solar eclipse will be visible across much of Europe, offering millions more the chance to watch the moon take a 'bite' out of the sun. More than 90% of the sun will be covered for major cities such as London, Paris and Dublin.

Where will the eclipse be visible?

Today's eclipse will unfold over roughly 96 minutes as the moon's shadow races across Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Totality begins in Greenland in the late afternoon before reaching Spain in the evening, where skywatchers will witness the rare spectacle of a low-horizon sunset eclipse.

Not sure what you'll see from your location? Check out our where to see the total solar eclipse guide for visibility details.

What time is the eclipse?

The eclipse occurs at different times depending on your location.

Looking for a more detailed breakdown of timings? Our what time is the eclipse guide can help.

Can I watch the eclipse online?

If you can't make it to a location within the path of totality, you can still experience the eclipse from home.

We've rounded up the best ways to watch the eclipse online, including livestreams from the path of totality.

Follow the eclipse with Space.com

Our eclipse live blog will bring you the latest updates throughout the day, including weather reports, photos, videos and observations from across Greenland, Iceland and Spain.

We'll also have reporters in the field. Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic is on an eclipse expedition to Greenland with HX, while Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood is observing from northern Spain with the DEB initiative and a team of citizen scientists.

Follow along throughout the day here on Space.com and our social channels (Instagram and TikTok) as we bring you firsthand reports from the path of totality and share some of the best eclipse images.

How to observe the eclipse

Never look directly at the sun without proper eye protection.

During the partial phases of the eclipse, you must use solar eclipse glasses or a certified solar filter. Looking at the sun without appropriate protection can cause serious and permanent eye damage.

The only time it is safe to view the eclipse without eye protection is during the brief period of totality, when the moon completely covers the sun. As soon as even a small portion of the sun reappears, eclipse glasses must be worn again.

For more information, check out our guide to observing the sun safely. If you haven't been able to get hold of some solar eclipse glasses, don't fear! We also have a handy guide on how to safely view the eclipse using items from around the home.

Editor's note: If you capture a photo of the solar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

A total solar eclipse isn't just a spectacular sight to witness for those lucky enough to lie in the path of totality (or travel to it, as many dedicated skywatchers do). It also gives scientists a rare chance to study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, during the day.

As such, NASA plans to take full advantage of the opportunity for the upcoming total solar eclipse happening on Aug 12.

The space agency's WB-57 high-altitude research jet will chase the moon's shadow across the globe, which will extend the agency's ability to capture data from the eclipse. The NASA-supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project will also coordinate teams to release balloons that will help us know how our atmosphere changes when an eclipse turns the sky dark during the day.

"From our unique perspective on Earth during a total solar eclipse, scientists can study the sun's corona in a way we can't from anywhere else in the solar system," Kelly Korreck, eclipse program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in an official announcement.

"The sun impacts our daily life, satellites, and astronauts in space, and we can take advantage of this moment to advance our understanding of that influence," she continued.

Inside the research jet's nose cone, four cameras will capture images of the corona's structures, outflows, and changes. This data may help scientists gain a better understanding of how materials within the corona relate to solar winds.

"The sun is always changing," Amir Caspi, principal investigator for the study at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in the announcement. "Every eclipse is different. So we could see things we didn't see before. And we learn from each eclipse how to better observe the next one."

Angela Des Jardins at Montana State University will lead the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, with the help of students from universities in the U.S., Iceland and Spain.

By releasing balloons in anticipation of the eclipse, scientists will be able to look at the ozone levels in the atmosphere during the eclipse and study how the eclipse impacts the "boundary layer" of the Earth, which shifts due to temperature and moisture in the air.

Both the research jet and balloons were used to collect data during the total solar eclipse in April 2024. These new projects will use what NASA learned last time to sharpen up the methods, and hopefully provide new insights into the relationships between the sun, moon, and Earth.

The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse is just one day away! Here's how you can watch the entire show live online from the comfort of your home

Millions of people across Spain, Iceland and Greenland will see the moon completely hide the sun during the climactic phase of totality on Aug. 12. Countless more skywatchers across Europe will witness a deep partial solar eclipse, as the moon's curved silhouette covers a swathe of the sun's surface, while failing to cover it entirely.

Thankfully, we live in modern times. So there's no need for you to miss out on the solar spectacle if you find yourself outside of the path of totality, or if clouds conspire to ruin your view. Here's where to watch every phase of the 2026 total solar eclipse live online.

NASA

NASA will be hosting its own livestream of the event starting at 1:15 p.m. EDT on Aug. 12, featuring live views of totality from cameras spread throughout the path of the eclipse. The visuals will be accompanied by information on the science of the incredible event and details on how the agency is working to learn more about our sun.

The NASA coverage will be hosted here on Space.com, but can also be streamed through YouTube, Twitch, NASA+, Facebook, Instagram and Amazon Prime.

Time and Date

Time and Date's YouTube livestream kicks off at 12 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Aug. 12, bringing live views of the eclipse from Leon in northwestern Spain and the island of Mallorca, along with live commentary from journalist Anne Buckle and astrophysicist Graham Jones.

The European Space Agency

An official European Space Agency (ESA) livestream will begin at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) on Aug. 12. The stream will feature expert commentary on the science of the eclipse along with live views from telescopes at the Observatorio Astrofisco de Javalambre, which is located close to the Spanish city of Teruel directly in the path of totality.

Royal Observatory Greenwich

London's historic Royal Observatory Greenwich will host two simultaneous YouTube streams featuring live views of the partial solar eclipse starting at 1:15 p.m EDT (1815 GMT) on Aug. 12. The first livestream will be presented by Royal Observatory astronomer Greg Brown, who will discuss the science of the sun while providing expert commentary on the eclipse, while the second will offer a silent livestream, featuring visuals of the eclipse with no accompanying audio.

The Virtual Telescope Project

The Virtual Telescope Project livestream begins at 1:20 p.m. EDT (1720 GMT) on Aug. 12, bringing real-time views from the organization's robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy, where a partial eclipse will be visible and from the path of totality in Spain. The Virtual Telescope Project will host a separate livestream a few hours later featuring views of the Perseid meteor shower peak, which occurs overnight on Aug. 12-13.

Be sure to check out our live blog for all of the latest news on the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse. We'll also have reports from Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood as he watches the eclipse unfold low in the horizon in central Spain, and also from Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic as she witnesses the spectacle during a voyage with HX Expeditions to Greenland!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your eclipse photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

If you're planning to watch the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, knowing exactly when to look up is crucial.

While totality will be visible from parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain, millions more people across Europe will experience a dramatic partial solar eclipse. Whether you're chasing the moon's shadow in Reykjavik or watching the moon take a 'bite' out of the sun from London, Paris, or Berlin, timing is everything.

You can keep up with the latest total solar eclipse news and coverage with our total solar eclipse live blog.

Total solar eclipse timings

Partial solar eclipse timings for major cities

Looking for your own eclipse time? The interactive map and resources from Time and Date let you search by city and view detailed timing information for every stage of the eclipse.

What is a total solar eclipse?

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves directly between Earth and the sun, completely blocking the sun's disk from view.

During totality, the sky darkens significantly, temperatures drop and bright stars and planets can even become visible. Observers can also catch a glimpse of the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, glowing around the silhouetted moon.

Totality — when the sun is completely obscured — is only visible within the narrow path of the moon's shadow. Outside that path, observers may see a partial solar eclipse, whereby only a portion of the sun is covered.

REMEMBER to NEVER look directly at the sun. To view this solar eclipse safely, you must use solar filters. Only during the brief period of totality when the moon completely covers the sun, is it safe to look at the sun without protection. Observers will need to wear solar eclipse glasses, and cameras, telescopes and binoculars must have solar filters placed in front of their lenses at all other times.

Our how to observe the sun safely guide tells you everything you need to know about safe solar observations.

After this, when is the next solar eclipse?

After the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, the next solar eclipse will be an annular solar eclipse on Feb. 6, 2027 visible across parts of Africa and South America. The next total solar eclipse will be a spectacular event on Aug. 2, 2027. Visible across North Africa, it will be the longest totality on land since 1991.

Every total solar eclipse is different. While the silhouette of the moon passing across the sun barely changes, the moment our natural satellite covers the entire solar disk, something spectacular happens — the emergence of the corona. The Latin word for "crown", the solar corona is one of the wonders of nature. To gaze upon its delicate, spiky white tendrils during brief moments of totality is to glimpse the infinite, but it's only a glimpse because the corona is always changing. Shaped by the sun's constantly changing magnetic field, the corona evolves from year to year, month to month and even day to day. No two total eclipses ever reveal exactly the same structure.

It's one reason why eclipse chasers keep traveling. The corona visible during the total solar eclipse of Aug. 12, 2026 — if skies are clear — will be a unique snapshot of the sun at a specific moment in Solar Cycle 25. It will reflect years of changing magnetic activity, thousands of sunspots and countless eruptions of solar material.

Once totality ends, that exact configuration of the corona will never be seen again. Can we know in advance what it might look like?

The sun's hidden atmosphere

Under normal circumstances, the sun's corona — our star's outer atmosphere — is invisible. It extends millions of miles into the solar system, but it's overwhelmed by the brilliant light of the sun's photosphere, its visible surface. Totality changes that. When the moon completely covers the photosphere, the corona suddenly emerges. White streamers extend away from the black silhouette of the moon. Pink loops and prominences can appear around the edge of the moon.

For many first-time observers, the greatest surprise during totality is not only the detail but the scale. The corona often appears much larger than expected, extending several solar diameters away from the eclipsed sun. Photographs can capture some of that complexity, but they rarely reproduce the impression of depth and structure visible to the human eye, whose dynamic range is vastly superior to any camera.

Why every corona looks different

The corona is not a fixed object. It is created by extremely hot plasma — highly energized, ionized gas — that's trapped and sculpted by the sun's magnetic field. Since the sun's magnetic field is constantly changing, the corona changes with it.

"The sun follows a natural 11-year cycle of increasing and decreasing activity," Ryan French, solar physicist, author and science communicator at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in Boulder, Colorado, and author of Little Book of Eclipses: An Essential Companion to Solar and Lunar Events told Space.com in an email. "At the peak of this cycle, called solar maximum, there are loads of sunspots on the sun, which are giant magnets nestled in the base of the sun's atmosphere. These sunspots produce a lot of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are kind of bursts and eruptions of energy from the sun's atmosphere, and at solar minimum, the sun has none of these things."

That magnetic activity determines the overall shape of the corona. During solar minimum, when the sun has few or no sunspots, the corona tends to look more uniform and more symmetrical. Long streamers often stretch from either side of the sun, giving the corona a wing-like appearance. During solar maximum, it can look much more complex. Sunspot regions act like magnetic anchors, creating structures that can appear as spikes or streamers extending in different directions.

"If you were to see a total eclipse during solar maximum, the solar corona looks almost like a five-pointed cartoon star," said French. "That's because every one of these sunspot regions creates a spire or spike that you can see with the eye."

Not solar maximum — but not quiet

The 2026 eclipse will not occur at solar maximum. Solar Cycle 25 peaked in October 2024, according to NASA and NOAA, with the Aug. 12, 2026 eclipse occurring almost two years later, during the cycle's declining phase. However, solar activity does not collapse immediately after solar maximum. It declines gradually, and the sun is expected to remain more active than it was in the lead-up to solar maximum.

"We're no longer in solar maximum — we're a third of the way past the peak in terms of amplitude and years passed," said French. "The corona will still be far more active than during the 2017, 2019 and 2020 total solar eclipses, but much less so than 2024's."

That makes the 2026 eclipse especially interesting. It likely won't show the full, highly structured corona seen close to the peak of activity in 2024, when the April 8 total solar eclipse occurred with a monthly sunspot number of about 144. Current predictions for August 2026 are closer to 102; far fewer, but still considered active by recent-cycle standards.

That means eclipse-watchers should expect something between extremes: not the clean, flattened corona of solar minimum, but not quite the wildest solar-maximum display either.

A comparison with past eclipses

A useful comparison may be the total solar eclipses near the previous solar maximum. Solar Cycle 24, which peaked in April 2014, was relatively weak. The closest total solar eclipses to that peak were the rare hybrid eclipse of Nov. 3, 2013, when the monthly sunspot number was around 113. By contrast, Solar Cycle 23, which had a double peak — in March 2000 and November 2001 — was relatively strong. The closest total solar eclipse occurred on June 21, 2001, with a monthly sunspot number of around 203. Its corona was likely more complex than expected in 2026.

The 2026 eclipse therefore sits in a middle category. It's not a repeat of 2024, but it's not a quiet-sun eclipse either. An active declining-phase corona, it will likely feature strong streamers extending far into space, but with greater asymmetry, with one side of the corona more active. "It's sunspots specifically near the edge of the sun that dictate what the corona will look like," said French. The sun rotates every 27 days, so any large active region of sunspots rotating onto the sun's edge shortly before Aug. 12 could alter the corona's appearance dramatically. It's why any forecasts of what the corona looks like — which often come from Predictive Science a week before the eclipse — are generally refined on the day of the eclipse.

Red prominences may steal the show

One of the most memorable sights during totality is the appearance of vivid pink or crimson features around the moon's edge. These are usually prominences — immense structures of hydrogen plasma suspended above the sun's surface by magnetic fields. They're often mistaken for solar flares by beginners, such as after the 2024 total solar eclipse.

"Prominences are large magnetic structures that suspend plasma in the atmosphere of the sun, and they glow very bright in a very specific wavelength of light called hydrogen alpha," said French. Prominences are more likely when the sun is active, and because they can last for days or weeks, they are easier to anticipate than a flare. In hydrogen-alpha images taken before eclipse day, observers may be able to see which prominences are present around the solar edge.

The 2026 eclipse may have favorable geometry for sighting prominences. Because the moon will appear only slightly larger than the sun — which contributed to the relatively short duration of totality, at a maximum of just 2 minutes 18 seconds — smaller prominences on different sides of the sun could be visible at the same time. That is different from longer eclipses, where the larger apparent moon can cover prominences on one side before revealing others on the opposite side.

Could a CME be visible?

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is an eruption of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's atmosphere. Seeing one during totality is possible — it happened during the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020 — but requires luck. "CMEs travel very slowly, so they take several hours to traverse and escape from the sun's atmosphere, so you wouldn't see any motion during an eclipse," said French. "But what you could see, if you're lucky, is a snapshot of an eruption — though maybe a long exposure camera will be more likely to see this than your eye would." Such a view would be rare, but the chances are higher in an active solar environment than near solar minimum.

Predicting the corona yourself

There will be a forecast from Predictive Science, which can be so accurate that some eclipse chasers avoid it, so as not to ruin the surprise of totality. One way to get a general idea is to look at real-time images from telescopes that use coronagraphs to block the sun, such as the COSMO K-Coronagraph, NASA SOHO's LASCO C3 and the GOES CCOR-1. For sunspots, check the latest H-Alpha image from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG).

No scientist can say exactly what the corona will look like on Aug. 12, 2026. That will depend on the sun's magnetic activity in the days immediately before totality, the location of sunspot groups, the presence of prominences and the possibility of eruptions. "What exactly we see during the August eclipse will depend on what the activity is that week," said French. "And even if you saw an eclipse a month before or a month after, it could be very different." For a few fleeting minutes over Greenland, Iceland, Spain and the Balearic Islands, the sun's hidden atmosphere will become momentarily visible before vanishing back into the glare, never being seen again in quite the same way.

We're just a few short days away from the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse, when millions will watch as the moon glides across the face of the sun, hiding its light in a wondrous display of orbital mechanics.

The eclipse will unfold during August's new moon phase, as the lunar disk slips silently between the sun and Earth in the daytime sky. Ordinarily, the subtle tilt in the moon's orbit causes its shadow to pass just below, or above our planet, missing it entirely.

However, on Aug. 12, the moon's orbit will carry it into a near-perfect alignment with the sun and Earth, casting its colossal shadow across a 182-mile-wide corridor known as the path of totality, where viewers will get to see the lunar disk fully hide the sun's disk.

The path of totality for the Aug. 12 eclipse cuts through Spain, Iceland and Greenland. Hundreds of millions more watching from outside of this narrow corridor will also bear witness to a spectacular partial solar eclipse, as the moon passes in front of our parent star, without fully obscuring its surface. Those unable to watch the eclipse in person by dint of geography can also follow along online, with details of the livestream to be released closer to the event.

Read on to discover what will happen during each stage of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse.

Stage 1: The partial eclipse begins

The partial phase of the eclipse officially begins at the moment of "first contact", when the lunar disk takes its first nibble out of the sun — a subtle transformation that will first become visible in the skies over the U.S. state of Alaska at 11:34 a.m. EDT (1534 GMT) on Aug. 12.

You can check out exactly when the partial eclipse will begin from your location and find out exactly how much of the sun will be hidden by the moon using Time and Date's interactive eclipse tracker.

The hour and a half following first contact will see the moon sink ever farther into the sun's disk for those in the path of totality, transforming it from a burning orb into a magnificent shining crescent.

You may notice the temperature drop noticeably, accompanied by a subtle darkening of the sky in the half hour preceding the climactic phase of totality, as the moon reduces the sun to a thin sickle in the evening sky. Pinpricks of light — such as those that shine through a colander, or the gaps in a leaf — will also appear to mirror the scene above, creating a kaleidoscope of tiny bright crescents.

Remember, staring at the sun for even the briefest of moments can lead to permanent loss of vision, so be sure to read our guide on how to view the sun safely and to wear your eclipse glasses or sunoculars during the entirety of the partial phases of the eclipse. You can read our roundup of the best solar viewing equipment to find out more, along with our tips on how to check the quality and condition of your eclipse glasses.

Stage 2: Second contact

Some of the most spectacular moments of an eclipse occur just before and after totality. First, look out for the "diamond ring" effect, as the last sliver of the sun peeks out from behind the lunar disk to appear as a gorgeous celestial jewel, while the outermost layer of our star's atmosphere, the corona, creates a glowing halo around the moon.

Tear your eyes away from the sun for just a second and you may just catch sight of the moon's shadow advancing on you from the west, before it engulfs your surroundings in a false night.

The final seconds before totality will see bright "Baily's Beads" form dazzling points of light on the moon's edge, where the last shreds of the sun's disk shine through the ravines and valleys that scar the ancient lunar surface.

Stage 3: Totality & maximum eclipse

As the last of the sun's surface slips behind the moon, totality begins. This is the climactic phase of the eclipse, when the moon acts like a natural coronagraph to block the brilliance of the sun's disk, ushering in a false night in which our star's outer atmosphere can be seen leaping out from the lunar silhouette.

Totality will last a maximum of 2 minutes, 18 seconds, during which time it's safe to remove your glasses and look at the sun. Just be sure to put them on again before its fiery disk reemerges from the other side of the lunar disk.

That white halo surrounding Earth's natural satellite is the sun's corona — a jacket of superheated gas that surrounds our parent star. Look out for glowing solar prominences leaping outward through the sun's atmosphere, along with the red line of the chromosphere — the layer of the sun's atmosphere beneath the corona — which appears fleetingly at the beginning and end of totality, according to NASA.

The point of maximum eclipse occurs roughly halfway through totality, when the sun's disk is most hidden by the moon.

Eagle-eyed skywatchers may catch Jupiter and Mercury shining to the lower right of the eclipsed sun in the faux twilight experienced during totality, while Venus will appear as a bright star-like object to its upper left. If you're incredibly lucky, you could even spot one of the brightest shooting stars or fireballs of the Perseid meteor shower, which comes to a peak around the same time as the Aug. 12 total eclipse.

Stage 4:Totality ends

The fourth stage of the eclipse comes as the very edge of the sun's disk emerges from behind the moon, marking the end of totality as Bail's Beads and the diamond ring effect play out in reverse, before giving way to an ever-thickening solar crescent.

Stage 5: The partial eclipse ends.

The waning partial eclipse will come to a global end at 3:57 p.m. EDT (1957 GMT), as the moon's silhouette exits the sun's disk in the skies off the west coast of Africa — a moment known to astronomers as fourth contact.

Space.com is on hand to provide expert coverage and on the ground reporting as the eclipse unfolds. Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic is undertaking an expedition with HX to observe the total solar eclipse from the waters around Greenland, while Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood heads to Spain in a cowboy hat, to catch the orbital showdown with citizen scientists from NASA's Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast Initiative.

Be sure to check out our total eclipse live blog to stay up to date with all the latest news, along with our handy explainer article detailing everything you need to know about the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse.

If photography is your thing then why not read our guide to imaging the total solar eclipse, along with our roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography? You'll also want to peruse our picks for the best eclipse glasses and viewing gear available in 2026.

Editor's Note: If you capture footage of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

It's hardly a "Great American Eclipse," but on Aug. 12, 2026, some parts of the North American continent will see a partial solar eclipse.

Will it be as impressive as on April 8, 2024, when totality visited Mexico, 15 U.S. states and six provinces in Canada? No, yet in some parts of the U.S. and Canada, astronomers will be out in force to capture a significant chunk of the sun as it is obscured by the new moon.

The spotlight may be on the total solar eclipse in Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, but millions across North America can still see the moon take a bite out of the sun on Aug. 12. The farther northeast you are, the deeper the eclipse. Here's everything you need to know about the partial solar eclipse in North America.

During a partial solar eclipse, it is NEVER safe to look directly at the sun without solar eclipse glasses designed for solar viewing. Read our guide on how to observe the sun safely.

Where to see the partial solar eclipse in the U.S.

Between 7:34 a.m. AKDT and 2:52 p.m. EDT, 20 U.S. states will see something of the partial solar eclipse, though only northeastern states will get a good view. Here's a sample of locations and the time of maximum eclipse. Note that the partial eclipse begins (first contact) and ends (last contact) around 55 minutes before and after the time of maximum eclipse given here.

Where to see the partial solar eclipse in Canada

Between 8:38 a.m. MST and 4:38 p.m. NDT on Aug. 12, every province in Canada will be able to see some kind of partial solar eclipse, but those in the east of the country will see something much more significant. Here's a sample of locations and the time of maximum eclipse. Note that the partial eclipse begins (first contact) and ends (last contact) around 55 minutes before and after the time of maximum eclipse given here.

What to expect

This is a small partial solar eclipse in North America, which occurs at lunchtime. In the east of the continent, it will occur high in the sky — about two-thirds of the way between the horizon and the zenith — in the south-southwest. At maximum eclipse, the partially eclipsed sun with resemble a thick crescent or a smile. It won't get dark — that only happens within the path of totality — nor will daylight be affected.

Those using a telescope to observe or image the partial eclipse (using a solar filter) should also consider that Venus — which will be visible just after sunset — reaches dichotomy on Aug. 12. This is the point in its current apparition as the "Evening Star" that it starts becoming interesting in a telescope. Dichotomy sees it reduce to 50%-lit and gradually become an ever-shrinking crescent.

Perhaps more importantly, the early hours of Aug. 13 see the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.

When is the next solar eclipse visible from the US after August 2026?

The next solar eclipse on Aug. 2, 2027, will be seen in Newfoundland, Canada, where a 23% partial eclipse will occur at the province's southwestern tip.

On Jan. 26, 2028, during an annular solar eclipse across northern South America, eastern U.S. states and eastern Canada will see a very small partial solar eclipse shortly after sunrise. Florida will have the best view, with around 15% of the sun blocked.

On Jan. 14, 2029, a large partial solar eclipse will be seen in the morning sky across all of North America — up to 81% in northern Canada and 74% in northwestern U.S. states. On June 12, 2029, a smaller partial solar eclipse will peak at 34% just after sunrise from Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the northern tips of Alberta and British Columbia.

It will be a magnificent day for England's south coast. From Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard and Brighton's Royal Pavilion to Dorset's Jurassic Coast and Cornwall's Land's End, beaches and cliff tops will be plunged into darkness in the day during the U.K.'s first total solar eclipse for almost 91 years. There is, however, a problem — this scenario won't occur until Sept. 23, 2090.

A total solar eclipse visits a location on Earth on average once every 366 years, and the British are currently in no-man's land. Aug. 12, 2026, is particularly cruel, with a path of totality cruising past the British Isles as it surges across the Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to northern Spain. Eclipse chasers in the U.K. are used to traveling, and travel they will, but those left behind will nevertheless experience a very deep partial solar eclipse peaking at 98% in extreme locations. It will be the U.K.'s most significant partial solar eclipse since March 20, 2015, when another path of totality just missed the U.K. to the north.

Related: Total solar eclipse 2026 — Everything you need to know

During a partial solar eclipse, it is NEVER safe to look directly at the sun without solar eclipse glasses designed for solar viewing. Read our guide on how to observe the sun safely.

Where to see the partial solar eclipse in the U.K.

A deep partial eclipse is a compelling sight, and the widespread nature of this one means millions of Brits can experience it without leaving home.

London, Manchester and Glasgow all experience 91.4% coverage, staggered by only a few minutes. Belfast does slightly better at 93.1%, while Cardiff edges ahead among the U.K's capitals at 93.2%. In practice, these differences are subtle — this is a nationwide event that requires no travel. That said, expect crowds at U.K. national parks, such as Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and the Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales; the South Downs and the Lake District in England; and the Cairngorms and the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

However, it's in County Kerry, Ireland, that sees the biggest eclipse in the British Isles archipelago, with Great Skellig — Luke Skywalker's island sanctuary in "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi" — seeing a whopping 98% partial eclipse.

When to see the partial solar eclipse in the U.K.

This is a late, low eclipse, and timing matters. The action takes place between 5:59 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. BST, but the main event comes around 7:05-7:13 p.m. BST, when the eclipse reaches its maximum across the U.K. The deeply eclipsed sun will appear above the west-northwest horizon as a thin crescent, hanging like a curved blade, with its tips pointing toward the ground.

It won't get dark — that only happens within the path of totality. However, daylight will feel very subdued with a noticeable dimming.

Location will be crucial. Because the sun will be so low, you'll need a clear, unobstructed horizon — ideally from a coastal viewpoint, hilltop, or open landscape. Get into position early, use proper eclipse glasses and solar filters, and follow the sun as the moon slowly takes its bite.

If you're somewhere rural, it's worth spending the night, which also happens to be the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.

Best weather for the partial solar eclipse in the U.K.

Whether the sky is clear on the day is another matter; August may be warm in the U.K., but it's not known for clear skies (as anyone who traveled into the last British path of totality, in Cornwall in 1999, will recall). This is why many British eclipse chasers are perfectly happy that there is no total solar eclipse in the U.K. until 2090, but statistics are not destiny. A single high-pressure system on the day could transform the outlook entirely.

Meanwhile, the path of totality crosses regions with more reliable weather patterns, particularly north-central Spain and the Balearic Islands.

Partial solar eclipse beyond the U.K.

While observers in the U.K. will see a deep partial eclipse, those inside the narrow path of totality — across eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain — will experience something fundamentally different, if only for a few minutes. In eastern Spain, totality arrives just before sunset, with the fully eclipsed sun hovering only a few degrees above the western horizon. The sun will disappear almost immediately after totality ends.

However, what's been largely overlooked is the scale of the partially eclipsed sunset across Europe and northwest Africa. Across Algeria, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland and beyond, millions will see the sun set while deeply eclipsed. In some locations, maximum eclipse occurs just minutes before sunset; in others, the sun slips below the horizon still significantly covered by the moon. Expect slim crescent suns to be photographed slipping beneath the horizon from across Central Europe.

Consequently, U.K. observers will see the edge of a much larger event — the moon's expansive penumbral shadow stretching across continents. It will be one of the most widely visible and visually striking eclipse phenomena of the decade. According to Time and Date, 283 million people will see at least a 90% partial eclipse.

When is the next partial solar eclipse in the U.K.?

If Aug. 12, 2026, feels like a one-off, it isn't. The U.K. is in the midst of an unusually active spell for partial eclipses, with at least one visible almost every year through the end of the decade. After this deep event comes a more modest partial on the morning of Aug. 2, 2027 — linked to the century's longest total eclipse over North Africa — with a maximum obscuration of 48% in southern England.

On Jan. 26, 2028, attention shifts once again to a partially eclipsed sunset during which up to 56% of the sun will be obscured by the moon. That one will be best seen from western locations such as Cornwall and Wales, while the central path delivers an annular "ring of fire" across Portugal and Spain. The June 12, 2029, eclipse is much more marginal, visible only from northeast England and eastern Scotland as a shallow partial eclipse at sunrise. Finally, on June 1, 2030, another annular eclipse brings a partially eclipsed sunrise to the entire U.K., with up to about 49% of the sun blocked by the moon in the southeast.

Individually, these events are varied — morning, sunset and sunrise eclipses, deep and shallow — but taken together they form a rare sequence for armchair eclipse chasers in the U.K. who likely won't be around for totality 64 years from now.

Want to know how to make the most of your eclipse viewing experience? Our best solar viewing gear for 2026 is here to help. We also have a guide on how to photograph a solar eclipse for those looking to take an even closer look at our star.

Be sure to stay up to date with all the latest news with our total solar eclipse live blog, where skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic will be sharing her experience of totality from aboard a HX Expeditions cruise ship in the waters off eastern Greenland. Skywatching writer Anthony Wood will also be bringing reports of each eclipse phase from central Spain, as he watches the eclipse accompanied by citizen scientists from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast initiative.

Are you ready for the eclipse? Whether you're bound for the path of totality or set to see a partial eclipse from Europe, Canada or the northeast U.S. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, there's a dirty word eclipse chasers hate to utter during an eclipse season, and yet become completely obsessed with — clouds.

Related: Total solar eclipse 2026 — Everything you need to know

We all start behaving as though Earth's atmosphere owes us something. After spending years studying the climate and where it is most likely along a path of totality to have a clear sky, we're in position and can now do almost nothing about it save for drive or sail a few miles. We refresh cloud forecasts. We compare satellite imagery. We point at scraps of blue sky as if we can persuade them to remain so at a specific time. By the time the moon is almost on the sun, we've spent the best part of a week staring at our phones and fretting.

The received wisdom is that you must have a perfect view of a total solar eclipse, and that if you don't, you've failed because you didn't do your research or take evasive action. Never mind that many who end up under a blue sky then spend the entire time behind a camera. The desire for a clear sky and a clean horizon is obvious — particularly if you're in the path of totality — and yet it's entirely possible that clouds will be present, very possibly in the places expected to be clear. That's exactly what happened on April 8, 2024, when the favored state of Texas was cloudy while wintry Maine and New Brunswick had a bluebird day.

Having seen many total, annular and partial solar eclipses, I have come to believe something slightly heretical: you do not need a perfectly clear-sky view of a total or partial solar eclipse to matter. Sometimes one clear second is enough. Whisper it, but clouds add a lot of drama not just to an eclipse, but to photos of it, too.

Beginners often assume an eclipse is only "successful" if they see the sun's corona throughout totality. Some even rank eclipses in advance according to how long totality lasts. It's all an illusion. If a gap opens in the cloud for a short time and the corona appears, that is not a consolation prize. That is the thing itself. The same goes for a glimpse of a partially eclipsed sun if that's what's heading your way.

So don't fret the eclipse — check weather forecasts and do your best to find a clear sky, but when nature takes over, don't fight it or get upset by it. Cherish whatever you get. You only need a one-second window — and even that is not in your control.

What's happening

On Aug. 12, the moon's shadow crosses eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, with a small part of Portugal also near the action. From inside the narrow path of totality, the sun will be completely covered for up to 2 minutes 18 seconds. If that's your destination, get excited — and be prepared. During totality, stay present. An eclipse is short enough that distraction becomes a genuine hazard to observing. A one-second look can be enough, but only if you are really paying attention.

Outside of the path of totality, a much wider partial solar eclipse will be visible across the U.K., Europe, parts of North America and northwest Africa.

The U.K. gets one of the more striking consolation prizes: a very deep partial eclipse late in the day. Across much of Britain, around nine-tenths of the sun will be covered, with the deepest views toward the west and southwest. London, Manchester and Glasgow are all in the roughly 91% range, while Cardiff and Belfast do slightly better. Maximum eclipse takes place around 7:05 to 7:13 p.m. BST, when the sun will be low in the west-northwest. That low sun is the detail many people will miss. This is not an eclipse to watch from behind a row of houses, trees or office blocks. A beach, cliff top, hill or open field may make the difference between seeing a thin solar crescent and seeing nothing at all. But having a clear western horizon means clear weather is needed not just where you are, but where you're looking — possibly a 100 miles away to the northwest. That will be even more of an issue in eastern Spain and the Balearic Islands, from where the total solar eclipse will occur when the sun and moon are just a couple of degrees above the horizon.

North America gets a smaller event, but not a meaningless one. The farther northeast you are, the better — though a partial eclipse probably isn't something to travel far to see more of. It's best to take what's coming your way. In the U.S., northern Maine sees the deepest partial eclipse, while Boston, New York, Philadelphia and parts of New England see a smaller bite taken from the sun after lunch. Canada does better, especially in the east and north. Newfoundland sees more than half the sun covered, while the rest of Atlantic Canada has a much better show than most of the U.S.

Wherever you are, remember that it is never safe to look directly at the sun without proper eclipse glasses or certified solar filters. Thin cloud does not make it safe to look at the sun. Nor do sunglasses. Even a quick glance requires eclipse glasses.

How and when I'm watching it

I'll be in Greenland for this one, but the way I recommended you watch it is low-tech. I would bring eclipse glasses, a printed or saved set of local timings (visit Time and Date for a location-specific schedule), and binoculars with a proper solar filter fitted securely over the front of the lenses. Personally, I wouldn't build the day around photography. The great trap of a total solar eclipse is believing it is mainly something to photograph. It is not. It is something that happens to the whole environment.

If you're in the path of a deep partial eclipse — say, over about 80% — you may begin to notice the light taking on an unusual quality, with a more noticeable dimming around 90% coverage. If you're in the path of totality, you'll feel a coolness as totality begins, birds and humans going quiet, and light levels suddenly crashing as the moon's shadow sweeps across you. Clouds can even sharpen the strangeness. In the path of totality, a low, milky sky may hide the corona, but that also makes the darkness feel heavier and more sudden. All of this is why people cherish their experience of an eclipse — not because of a photograph.

Stargazer's corner: August 7-13, 2026

Here comes an incredible week of stargazing, with the solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower — both occurring on the same day — hard to underplay. Those chasing the eclipse in Greenland and Iceland may have a chance to see the aurora after midnight, though the darkness is short. Farther south, it's peak Milky Way season. The galaxy arches high across the sky, with its brightest and most detailed regions now well placed after dusk. All this week, the moon will be a thin crescent, if present at all, creating excellent conditions for simply stepping outside and exploring the sky at night. If you can glimpse the Milky Way, an eclipsed sun and a "shooting star," you've bagged one of the greatest combinations in skywatching.

Related: The biggest skywatching day of 2026 is coming. Here's what you'll see in North America and Europe

Constellation of the week: Perseus

Perseus is the name attached to the week's meteor shower, but the meteors do not actually come from the stars of Perseus. They only appear to radiate from that direction because Earth is moving through a stream of comet debris. To find Perseus, look northeast late in the evening and higher before dawn, below the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. The beginner's mistake is to stare at the radiant. Use Perseus only as an anchor point, then watch the widest patch of dark sky you can manage. This meteor shower — one of the best of the year, taking place under perfect moonless conditions — rewards patience more than precision.

The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse is less than a week away! We know that eclipse planning can be daunting, so we've put together a list of great eclipse apps to help make things that little bit easier.

Over 15 million people across Spain, Greenland and Iceland will witness totality on Aug. 12, while almost a billion will bear witness to a partial eclipse, as the moon blocks a portion of the sun's light without hiding its surface entirely, according to Time and Date.com. However, each person's experience will be subtly different, whether it be the exact timing of totality, the terrain, cloud cover, or a myriad of other reasons.

From location-specific totality alerts to weather forecasts, there are plenty of ways that these apps can help enhance your eclipse viewing experience.

Eclipse smartphone apps 2026

SolarWatch

The popular iOS stargazing app SolarWatch has had a major update to introduce a slew of helpful eclipse-planning features. According to solo developer Engin Kurutepe, the app offers interactive eclipse path maps that allow you to simulate precise timings for each phase of an upcoming eclipse, while also providing data on local cloud obscuration.

SolarWatch also gives real-time and time-lapse simulations of the moon's shadow racing across a 3D representation of Earth, along with educational content on eclipse phenomena such as Baily's Beads. It also tracks each eclipse phase with countdowns and even gives details on the speed of the moon's shadow at your specific location!

The Eclipse App

As its name suggests, The Eclipse App is available on iOS to cater to all your eclipse needs. The app has been rebuilt for the Aug. 12 eclipse, featuring exact timings for each stage of the event running from first contact through totality and beyond.

See simulations of the eclipse from your specific vantage point, receive alerts and discover exactly how much of the sun is covered during any given moment of the eclipse, the length of totality and more. Inbuilt features also allow you to record your experience in real time and return to relive it after the event.

Totality by Big Kid Science

Like other apps on this list, Totality by Big Kid Science on IOS and the Play Store offers users a wealth of eclipse information, including detailed timings based on your phone's GPS data, safety tips, eclipse science and more. It also provides handy navigation tools to help eclipse chasers find a way into the path of totality.

Solar Snap

Want to capture the eclipse but don't have access to an expensive camera? Then Solar Snap on iOS or the Google Play Store might be for you.

The app provides a range of useful controls and features to help you capture the Aug. 12 eclipse with your smartphone, along with an interactive global eclipse map and information on the timings of phases, position of the sun and more.

It's designed to work in conjunction with a solar smartphone filter, which can be purchased as part of the Solar Snap filter kit. Alternatively, there are in-app tutorials that show how to make your own smartphone filter using a pair of eclipse glasses!

Be sure to check out our live blog for all of the latest news on the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse, along with on-the-ground reporting of the eclipse from skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic, who is currently aboard HX Expeditions' MS Spitsbergen off the coast of Greenland and skywatching writer Anthony Wood who will be heading to Spain. We'll also be publishing information on how to watch the eclipse live online for free closer to the time.

While you're at it why not download the Space.com app, available on IOS and Android, to stay up to date on all the latest launches, space science, skywatching news and eclipses?

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your eclipse astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026 will sweep across parts of the Northern Hemisphere, offering millions of people a chance to witness one of nature's most spectacular sights.

The path of totality — in which the moon completely covers the sun — begins over the Arctic Ocean, before crossing eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain. It then passes over the Balearic Islands before ending over the Mediterranean Sea.

Only skywatchers inside this relatively narrow path, just 182 miles (293 kilometers) wide, will experience totality, where day briefly turns to twilight. Here, you'll be able to safely see the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, with the naked eye during the fleeting moment when the moon completely obscures the sun.

A much larger region surrounding the path of totality will instead see an impressive partial solar eclipse. Much of Europe, including the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia, will witness the moon take a "bite" out of the sun.

Northern Spain is expected to be one of the most popular destinations for eclipse chasers thanks to its relatively accessible location and the low evening sun on the big day, which could create dramatic views as totality unfolds close to sunset. Greenland and Iceland offer very different experiences, with totality taking place higher in the sky against the nations' spectacular Arctic landscapes.

We'll have reporters on the ground to keep you updated each step of the way. Be sure to follow along on our total solar eclipse live blog to stay up to date with all the latest news and action as Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic embarks on an eclipse expedition to Greenland with HX Expeditions and Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood heads to Spain to experience the eclipse with NASA's DEB initiative and citizen scientists.

How to watch

Wherever you plan to watch from, remember that it is never safe to look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. Certified solar eclipse glasses or a solar filter fitted to telescopes, binoculars and cameras must be used throughout the partial phases. Only during the brief period of totality, when the moon completely blocks the sun, can you safely remove your eclipse glasses and look directly at the eclipse.

We will also be livestreaming the eclipse here on Space.com; details will be released closer to the time.

Want to know exactly where the eclipse will be visible and how long totality will last at different locations? Check out our complete guide to where to see the Aug. 12, 2026 total solar eclipse, including detailed maps, timings and viewing advice.