Total solar eclipse of 12 August 2026
The Moon covers the Sun completely along a band 285 km wide, reaching 2 minutes 21 seconds of totality where the eclipse is greatest. Of the 3,116 cities searched, 464 see the Sun at least partly covered and 16 sit inside the path itself.
- Greatest duration
- 2 min 21 s
- Path width
- 285 km
- Cities in path
- 16
- Cities seeing it
- 464
Where the shadow falls
The dark band is where the eclipse is total. Dots are cities, shaded by how much of the Sun's area is covered at their local maximum.
- under 20%
- 20-40%
- 40-60%
- 60-80%
- 80-100%
- total
Watch the shadow move
The Earth as the Sun sees it, so the edge of the globe is sunrise and sunset. Drag the slider, or press play. The small dark spot is the umbra — the only place the eclipse is total — and it is drawn to scale, which is the point: it is a few hundred kilometres across on a planet twelve thousand wide.
What you would see
Total from Bilbao — 100% of the Sun's area covered, with the Sun only 8° above the horizon.
Totality runs from 20:27 to 20:27 — 36 seconds.
Local time, UTC+2.
Local times, city by city
Every time is that city's own local clock at the moment given. Ordered by how much of the Sun is covered.
| City | Type | Starts | Maximum | Ends | Covered | Totality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 19:31 | 20:27 | 21:19 | 100% | 36 s | |
| Total | 19:30 | 20:27 | 21:20 | 100% | 1 min 48 s | |
| Total | 19:30 | 20:28 | 21:21 | 100% | 1 min 18 s | |
| Total | 19:31 | 20:27 | 21:20 | 100% | 1 min 51 s | |
| Total | 19:37 | 20:31 | 21:22 | 100% | 1 min 38 s | |
| Total | 19:38 | 20:32 | 21:24 | 100% | 1 min 7 s | |
| Total | 19:34 | 20:30 | 21:23 | 100% | 1 min 30 s | |
| Total | 19:34 | 20:29 | 21:21 | 100% | 1 min 27 s | |
| Total | 16:47 | 17:48 | 18:47 | 100% | 1 min 5 s | |
| Partial | 19:36 | 20:32 | 21:24 | 99.9% | — | |
| Partial | 19:34 | 20:29 | 21:20 | 99.8% | — | |
| Partial | 18:42 | 19:35 | 20:25 | 98% | — | |
| Partial | 19:27 | 20:20 | 21:10 | 92% | — | |
| Partial | 19:22 | 20:17 | 21:09 | 92% | — | |
| Partial | 18:17 | 19:13 | 20:06 | 91% | — | |
| Partial | 19:22 | 20:15 | 21:06 | 89% | — | |
| Partial | 18:48 | 19:43 | 20:35 | 87% | — | |
| Partial | 19:15 | 20:08 | 20:58 | 85% | — | |
| Partial | 19:59 | 20:50 | 21:40 | 79% | — | |
| Partial | 18:58 | 19:53 | 20:44 | 70% | — | |
| Partial | 19:00 | 19:54 | 20:45 | 70% | — | |
| Partial | 14:28 | 15:34 | 16:36 | 53% | — | |
| Partial | 18:17 | 19:07 | 19:53 | 46% | — | |
| Partial | 18:25 | 19:12 | 19:55 | 37% | — | |
| Partial | 18:30 | 19:14 | 19:56 | 31% | — | |
| Partial | 13:01 | 13:54 | 14:45 | 16% | — | |
| Partial | 13:07 | 13:53 | 14:38 | 9.5% | — | |
| Partial | 12:55 | 13:39 | 14:23 | 8.2% | — | |
| Partial | 13:11 | 13:53 | 14:34 | 7.0% | — | |
| Partial | 12:18 | 12:27 | 12:37 | 0.1% | — |
Reading these numbers
Covered is obscuration — the fraction of the Sun's area the Moon hides. It is not the same as magnitude, the fraction of the Sun's diametercovered, which is the larger number and the one usually quoted. A magnitude of 0.5 leaves 61% of the Sun's light, not 50%.
The difference matters more than it sounds. Even at 99% obscuration the remaining sliver is thousands of times brighter than the full Moon, the sky stays blue, and none of what makes a total eclipse worth travelling for happens. Only inside the dark band does the corona appear.
Positions come from a truncated VSOP87/ELP ephemeris accurate to about an arcminute, and the path is traced by intersecting the Moon's shadow cone with the Earth's ellipsoid. The published time of greatest eclipse for 12 August 2026 is reproduced to within a few seconds, and contact times for individual cities agree with published values to the minute. Durations are good to a few seconds; a prediction this far ahead cannot do better, because the Earth's rotation is not known exactly that far in advance.
Looking at the Sun without certified eclipse filters will damage your eyes. The only moment it is safe to look unaided is during totality itself — the interval marked in the timeline above, and only if you are inside the dark band. Everywhere else, and at every other moment, you need proper filters.