The 2026 total solar eclipse is finally upon us. Today, for a few brief moments, some one billion people will experience partly or fully dark skies as the moon passes directly in front of our star, obliterating its light.
For Earth, the beauty of total solar eclipses is, in some ways, a happy accident of our position in the universe. The sun is around 400 times wider than the moon, but it is also about 400 times as far away, which is why they look to be about the same size in the sky. At totality, the moon totally covers the sun, plunging the land below into a temporary night. It’s a profound moment and not just for humans: in some cases, birds and other animals can even start their nighttime routines.
This eclipse will be best viewed from the Arctic Circle, Iceland, Spain and parts of Portugal. And its marks mainland Europe’s first total eclipse in decades.
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Scientific American is on the ground in Iceland and Spain, and we’ll be bringing you photographs and dispatches throughout the eclipse. Our guide can answer your questions about where the path of totality will fall, what weather is forecast for those areas and how to photograph the event with any camera. Importantly, never look at the sun without adequate eye protection or do so with a camera or any other device unless it is fitted with a solar filter.
For those of us who cannot be in the path of totality, NASA and the European Space Agency will be livestreaming the event, and we’ll be playing it live here.
And keep checking back for updates as we get our first images of the eclipse. The path of totality will begin sweeping over northern Russia around 1 P.M. EDT and will subsequently pass over parts of Europe.
Editor’s Note (8/11/26): This is a developing story and will be updated.