Overview
- The Moon’s shadow produced totality across northern Siberia, parts of Greenland and Iceland and broad swathes of northern and eastern Spain including the Balearic Islands on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.
- Spanish authorities prepared for massive visitor flows by deploying more than 33,000 police and Guardia Civil officers, distributing about two million certified solar‑eclipse glasses and imposing traffic controls and road closures to limit congestion and fire risk.
- Most of Germany experienced a deep partial eclipse with roughly 84–90 percent of the Sun covered, local partial phases starting in the far north around 19:11–19:14 CET and peaking between about 20:05 and 20:15 CET before ending with sunset.
- Officials and scientists repeatedly warned that ordinary sunglasses do not protect the eyes, reported shortages of certified EN ISO 12312‑2 eyewear in some cities led to long lines at planetariums, and safe indirect methods such as pinhole projection were promoted.
- Viewing quality varied by location: much of Germany had largely clear skies while Reykjavík and parts of Iceland were clouded out, broadcasters including ZDF, 3Sat, NASA and ESA provided live feeds from totality zones, and the night also coincided with the Perseid meteor peak.