Overview
- The eclipse on Wednesday, August 12, will be total along a narrow trans-Atlantic path that includes parts of Spain, Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia and a small area of Portugal, and only partial across a band of the United States from Alaska to the Northeast.
- NASA will begin live coverage at 1:15 p.m. Eastern and fly a WB-57 research plane with student balloon launches to study the corona, and the ESA will stream from Javalambre starting at 19:30 CEST with on-site reporting from multiple Spanish locations.
- City-specific forecasts from NASA show wide variation in U.S. coverage — for example Fairbanks about 37% and Anchorage about 28% of the Sun obscured, Boston roughly 16%, New York roughly 9% and Washington, D.C. around 4% — with each city having its own start, peak and end times.
- Officials and astronomers warn that certified solar filters or ISO 12312-2 eclipse eyewear are required for all partial phases, that camera and phone sensors can be damaged without proper solar filters, and that only the brief moments of totality are safe to view without protection.
- Local planners in Spain are readying public viewing sites, transport and environmental advisories for large visitor numbers, veterinarians say most pets will only show short-lived confusion from sudden darkness, and observers should choose clear western horizons because totality will occur near sunset in some Spanish locations.