Umbra
The darkest central shadow. Entering it produces totality.
Total Solar Eclipse of August 12, 2026
Greatest eclipse 17:46 UTC. Check the local times for your own place below.
Local circumstances
Will you see it, and when?
Choose a place to see local times.
Pick a place above and this panel will show whether the eclipse is visible from there, and the local clock time of every phase.
Some of the eclipse visiblePath of totality, as published
Contact times are solved for your coordinates from the polynomial Besselian elements NASA publishes for this eclipse, not interpolated from the greatest-eclipse instant. Terrestrial Time was converted to UTC with the published 75.4 s value of Delta-T. Source: Five Millennium Catalog, Besselian elements, central path table. Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC. Full method and limits in our methodology.
Total Solar Eclipse of August 12, 2026
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Totality begins in the high Arctic, crosses northeast Greenland and western Iceland, then reaches northern Spain with the Sun low in the west. NASA's published path table ends the central line out over the Balearic Sea.
Interactive orbit lab
See how totality forms
Move time through this total event, then hover, focus, or tap any labeled object. The light direction and shadow order are physical; sizes and distances are compressed for clarity.
Sun → Moon → EarthPartial phaseThe penumbra crosses Earth, so observers see part of the Sun covered.
View from Earth's shadow pathPartial eclipse
Moon
At new moon, the Moon can pass between the Sun and Earth. Only a node crossing makes its shadow touch Earth.
Hover, focus, or tap a body or shadow to inspect it.Total solar eclipseThe closest approach is constrained to this cataloged event type.
Penumbra
The lighter outer shadow reaches a wider area where only part of the Sun is blocked.
Why not every month?
The Moon's orbit is tilted about 5.1°. An eclipse needs new or full moon near a node, where the two orbital planes cross.
At totality, the sky darkens and the Sun's faint corona appears around the Moon. Just before or after totality, one bright point creates the diamond-ring effect.
Key facts
| Type | Total solar eclipse |
|---|---|
| Date | August 12, 2026 |
| Greatest eclipse | 17:46 UTC (the panel above shows your own local times) |
| Longest central duration | 2 m 18 s |
| Central path | the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain |
| Visible from | northern North America, western Africa, and Europe |
| Saros series | 126 |
| Gamma | 0.8977(how far the shadow axis passes from Earth's centre, in Earth radii) |
| Sun's altitude at greatest eclipse | 26 ° above the horizon |
What you will see
Along the narrow central path (the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain), the Moon covers the Sun completely for up to 2 m 18 s: daylight collapses into a deep twilight, the brightest stars appear, and the solar corona becomes visible to the naked eye. Outside the path, across northern North America, western Africa, and Europe, the Sun appears partially bitten. Never look at the partial phases without proper eclipse glasses.
To follow the day and night line on the date of the eclipse, open the live globeand use its time scrubber: the eclipse happens along the Moon's shadow track through the daytime side .
Catalog data from NASA GSFC (Five Millennium Catalog of SolarEclipses), Terrestrial Time converted to UTC with the Delta-T value published for this eclipse. Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC. Local contact times are solved for your coordinates from the published Besselian elements. How we compute this.