Overview
- The partial solar eclipse on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 began in the early evening, peaked around 20:09–20:11 with roughly 88–90% of the Sun covered in the Netherlands, and ended near 21:00–21:03.
- Large crowds gathered at beaches, parks, rooftops and observatories and many events were organized to share the limited supply of certified eclipse glasses.
- Ophthalmologists warned that unfiltered direct viewing can cause permanent retinal damage and advised only ISO 12312-2 / CE‑marked eclipse glasses or safe indirect methods such as pinhole projection or attending supervised observatory events.
- Universities and student groups ran short, one‑shot experiments measuring temperature, light intensity and shadow behavior, while multiple livestreams and media feeds carried the event and one RUG telescope stream suffered a brief technical outage.
- After the event, thousands of photos and liveblogs circulated, retailers reported near‑total sellouts of certified glasses and some non‑compliant listings were removed, with experts reminding the public the next similar eclipse in the Netherlands will not occur until 2081.