August 12, 2026 Total Solar Eclipse Path Map (2026 Data)

On August 12, 2026, the Moon's shadow drew a path of totality from the Arctic Ocean across Greenland and Iceland to northern Spain and the Balearic Islands. At its best, just off Iceland's west coast, totality lasted 2 minutes 18 seconds¹, in a band 183 miles¹ (294 km) wide. Spain saw a sunset eclipse: along the central line there, the Sun stood between 10° and 2° above the horizon, and 3,963² of the country's 8,131 municipalities were inside the path.

This page maps where the shadow went, how long totality lasted along the track and in named cities, what the rest of Europe and North America saw, and what Spain's hotels recorded that August. It then looks ahead. The August 2, 2027 eclipse will last 2.77³ times as long at its peak, and a list of every total solar eclipse to 2045 shows where the shadow goes next. The total lunar eclipses of 2025, 2026 and 2028 close the page.

Where the path of totality crossed on August 12, 2026

The shadow first touched Earth at sunrise over the Arctic. The first point of the central-line table lay at 82.3°N, 112.5°E at 17:02 UT; the last, at 18:32 UT, lay at 39.4°N, 3.0°E, over the Balearic Islands, as the Sun was setting.¹ From sunrise to sunset, totality crossed northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, Spain and a small corner of Portugal.⁴

Greatest eclipse, the instant the shadow's axis passed closest to Earth's center, came at 17:45:53.8 UT at 65°13.5'N, 25°13.7'W, at sea west of Iceland, with the Sun about 26° high. The path was 294 km (183 mi) wide there, but the width changed along the way: 273 km at the first point, a maximum of 319 km¹ (198 mi) over the Atlantic between 18:14 and 18:20 UT, and 262 km¹ (163 mi) at the sunset end. The table lists the central line every six minutes.

How long totality lasted along the path

On the central line, totality grew from 105.8 seconds at the first point to a peak of 138.2 seconds¹ between 17:44 and 17:46 UT, then shrank to 95.8 seconds over the Balearics at 18:32 UT. At the two ends, where the Sun sat on the horizon, it lasted 94.3 seconds at sunrise and 92.8 seconds at sunset. The single longest totality, 2 minutes 18.2 seconds, fell at 65°50'N, 25°29'W at 17:44:42 UT, a little north of the greatest-eclipse point.¹

Away from the central line totality was shorter, and it dropped to zero at the path's edges. For most places in the path it lasted less than two minutes; even near the center of the track, in Greenland, Russia or the North Atlantic, it stayed under two and a half minutes.⁴ These are predictions for a smooth Moon: the mountains and valleys on the lunar edge can move the path limits by 1 to 3 km and change durations by 1 to 3 seconds.¹

Why Spain saw a sunset eclipse

Off Iceland the Sun stood 26° above the horizon during totality. By the time the shadow reached Spain it was low in the west: 10° at 18:28 UT over the northwest of the country, 8° at 18:30 UT and 2° at 18:32 UT over the Balearics.¹ In local time (CEST, UT+2), totality in Spain's provincial capitals fell between 8:26 p.m. in Santander and 8:33 p.m. in València, and in many towns the Sun set before the partial phase ended.² Palma saw totality with the Sun just 3° high and sunset 17 minutes³ later.²

Total Solar Eclipse 2026 Map: Time of Totality by City

On local clocks the eclipse came late in the afternoon in Iceland and in the evening in Spain. In Reykjavík the partial eclipse began at 4:47 p.m., totality ran from 5:48 to 5:49 p.m., and the Moon left the Sun at 6:47 p.m. In León totality came at 8:28-8:30 p.m., in Zaragoza at 8:29-8:30 p.m. and in Valencia at 8:32-8:33 p.m.; in the last two the Sun set before the partial phase was over.⁴

Counted from the first contact anywhere on Earth, over the Bering Sea, to the last, over the Atlantic, the eclipse ran from 5:34 p.m. to 9:58 p.m. Spanish time, 264 minutes². Its maximum came at 7:46 p.m. Spanish time, near Iceland.²

Outside the path the Moon covered only part of the Sun. Maximum coverage, the share of the Sun's area hidden, reached 99%⁴ in Barcelona and Madrid, 95% in Lisbon, 94% in Dublin, 92% in Paris and Milan, 91% in London and 85% in Berlin and Vienna. Nuuk, Greenland's capital, saw 79%.⁴ In North America the eclipse came in the morning or around midday: 37% in Fairbanks, 28% in Anchorage, 16% in Boston, 9% in New York and 4% in Washington, D.C.⁴

Still, 99% is not totality. Madrid's magnitude rounds to 1.00 (at least 99.5% of the Sun's diameter covered), yet it had 0 seconds of totality: the city center lay just outside the path.²

The 2026 path of totality in Spain

On any 2026 total solar eclipse path map for Spain, the band runs from the coasts of Galicia and Asturias across Castilla y León and Aragón to Castellón, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.² It was the first total solar eclipse visible from the Iberian Peninsula in over a century.⁵ Of Spain's 8,131 municipalities, 3,963 were inside the path, 48.7%³ of the total, and 1,045² (12.9%³) had 100 seconds of totality or more. The longest, 110 seconds², was reached in three municipalities of Asturias: El Franco, Navia and Salas. The central line passed near Avilés, Oviedo, Aranda de Duero, Soria, Peñíscola and Palma.²

Twenty-three of the 51 provincial capitals in the municipal tables had totality. Oviedo had the longest, 108 seconds², followed by León (105), Burgos (104), Palencia (102) and Soria (101). Palma had 96 seconds, Zaragoza 83 and València 60, while Bilbao (30), Lleida (27) and Zamora (19) sat near the edge of the path. Eight capitals reached magnitude 1.00 without totality: Madrid, Barcelona, Pamplona, Salamanca, Ávila, Huesca, Ourense and Donostia/San Sebastián.²

By province, 13 lay entirely inside the path: every municipality of Asturias, Burgos, Cantabria, Castellón, Guadalajara, the Balearic Islands, La Rioja, León, Palencia, Soria, Teruel, Valladolid and Araba/Álava had totality. Madrid province was split almost in half, with 93 of its 179 municipalities (52.0%³) inside, as were Navarra (51.8%) and Valencia (49.6%). Twenty-one provinces, from Salamanca and Girona to Andalusia and the Canary Islands, had none.²

The table names the municipality with the longest totality in each province. After Asturias, the best spots were in León (Cármenes) and Lugo (Ribadeo), both at 109 seconds, and in Burgos, A Coruña and Palencia at 107. In the Balearic Islands, Algaida had 96 seconds with the Sun only 2° high.²

Weather was the other factor. Over the 16 years before the eclipse, on August 11-13 between 17:00 and 20:00 UTC, the Cantabrian coast had clear or partly cloudy skies only about 30% to 50% of the time, while inland Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and the Ebro valley had a moderate-to-high chance of clear skies. The southern half of the country, most often clear, was outside the path.⁶

The 2026 eclipse in Iceland

Iceland lay close to the point of greatest eclipse. On any 2026 total solar eclipse path map for Iceland, the band, just under 300 km wide, covers the west of the country.⁷ Reykjavík had 1 minute 10 seconds of totality, from 5:48 to 5:49 p.m. local time,⁴ and Ísafjörður in the Westfjords had 1 minute 36 seconds.⁷ The longest totality of the whole eclipse fell at sea west of the country, so Reykjavík's was 68.2 seconds³ shorter than the maximum.¹ In Norðfjörður, in the east and outside the path, the Moon covered 95% of the Sun's diameter.⁷

It was the first total solar eclipse seen in Iceland since 1954, 72 years³ earlier, when totality reached the south coast. The next central eclipse there will be annular, not total: on June 11, 2048, a ring of Sun will show from southern Iceland, for 4.6 minutes in Reykjavík. The next total eclipse over the country, on June 26, 2196, will cross the northwest and again give Ísafjörður 1 minute 36 seconds.⁷

2026 Total Solar Eclipse Travel: What Spain's Hotels Recorded

Spain's hotels had their busiest August on record. They registered 14,227,157⁸ travelers in August 2026, the highest August count since 1999 and 2.9%³ more than the 13,822,199 of August 2025. Overnight stays rose 1.4%³ to 48,798,426.⁸ The August 2026 figures are provisional and cover hotels only, not apartments, campsites or rural houses.

Over 28 Augusts, hotel travelers roughly doubled, to 2.04³ times the 6,986,211 of 1999. The sharpest break came in 2020, when the count fell to 5,924,218, and it took until 2023 to pass the 2019 level (13,266,497 against 13,028,096); overnight stays followed in 2024.⁸ A straight line fitted to 1999-2026, 2020 included, adds about 235,000³ travelers a year; the projection it draws is our calculation, not a forecast.

Nights grew more slowly than guests. August overnight stays reached 48,798,426 in 2026, up from 31,967,269 in 1999, while the number of travelers more than doubled, so the average stay became shorter.⁸

Guests from abroad drove the 2026 rise. Hotel travelers living outside Spain rose 6.2%³ to 7,857,121, or 55.2%³ of all August travelers, while residents of Spain fell 0.8%³ to 6,370,036.⁸ Residents abroad first outnumbered residents of Spain in August 2016, and they have done so every August since 2023.⁸

Hotel travelers living in Spain followed a flatter line. Their August count was 3,753,975 in 1999, peaked at 6,935,006 in 2021, when travelers from abroad numbered only 3,473,029, and has stayed between 6,363,350 and 6,526,507 since 2022.⁸

Was August unusual within 2026? Hotel travelers were above the 2025 level in every month from January to August except June, when 12,187,821 checked in against 12,270,669 a year earlier. The August gain, 2.9%, was smaller than March's 7.3%³ and about the same as January's 3.0%³.⁸

Path provinces against the rest

Did the provinces inside the path pull ahead? We grouped Spain's 52 provinces by the share of their municipalities with totality. In the 23 provinces where at least half had totality, hotel travelers rose 3.6%³ in August 2026 but overnight stays only 0.6%³; in the 21 provinces with no totality, both rose 1.8%³.⁸² The clearest gap was among guests from abroad: 8.2%³ more in the path provinces against 2.7%³ more in the provinces without totality. Residents of Spain went the other way, down 2.1%³ in the path provinces and up 1.0%³ elsewhere.

Province by province the picture was mixed. Palencia (+9.1%), Valladolid (+7.7%) and Asturias (+6.2%) gained travelers, while Teruel (-15.5%), Burgos (-13.0%) and Araba/Álava (-12.9%), all fully inside the path, lost them.⁸ Monthly hotel counts cover the whole month, so they cannot isolate one evening or show that the eclipse caused a change. Read the comparison as a pattern, not proof.

Summed by group, the 23 path provinces gained 215,709³ hotel travelers between August 2025 and August 2026. The 8 provinces with totality in under half their municipalities also rose 3.6%, but their nights grew 2.5%, faster than in the path provinces.⁸

2027 Total Solar Eclipse Path Map

From 110 seconds in Asturias to more than six minutes in Egypt: the next total eclipse is on another scale. On August 2, 2027, totality will last up to 6 minutes 23 seconds⁹ at 26°49'N, 31°08'E, and the path will be 257.7 km (160 mi) wide at greatest eclipse.⁹ The shadow will cross Morocco, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.¹⁰¹¹ In Spanish time the eclipse as a whole will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:43 p.m., 313 minutes¹², with the maximum in Egypt at 12:06 p.m.; it will be one of the longest total eclipses of the century.¹²

On the central line, totality will start at 204.6 seconds at 08:26 UT over the Atlantic, pass five minutes by 08:52 UT and peak at 383.2 seconds around 10:00-10:02 UT. At the last point, over the Indian Ocean at 11:48 UT, it will still last 194.9 seconds.⁹

Across 2026, 2027 and 2028, totality crosses 15 countries and territories, including Greenland. Spain is the only one crossed twice, in consecutive years.¹⁰⁴¹¹

The table lists each country or territory with the eclipse or eclipses that cross it. Five countries and territories (Greenland among them) are in the 2026 path, nine in the 2027 path and two in the 2028 path.¹⁰⁴¹¹

The 2027 path in Spain

On any 2027 total solar eclipse path map for Spain, the band clips the far south. Only 105¹² of the 8,131 municipalities, 1.3%³, are inside it, in six provinces: Cádiz (30 of 45 municipalities), Málaga (55 of 103), Granada (13), Almería (5) and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.¹² Ceuta will have Spain's longest totality, 288 seconds¹² (4 minutes 48 seconds, 10:45-10:50 a.m.), followed by Tarifa (278 seconds) and Melilla (274). Cádiz city gets 174 seconds and Málaga 109.¹² Ceuta's totality is 2.62³ times Spain's best of 2026, and with the Sun 38° high, the eclipse will stand well clear of the horizon.¹²

Cádiz province holds most of the path: 30 of its 45 municipalities have totality, and 11 of the 15 longest totalities in Spain are there. Málaga has the most municipalities inside the path, 55. In Granada the best spot is Torrenueva Costa with 130 seconds, and in Almería it is Balanegra with 105.¹²

Seville is outside the path, with a magnitude of 0.98. Everywhere in Spain at least 70% of the Sun will be hidden. In Madrid the partial eclipse runs from 9:45 a.m. to 12:02 p.m., with the maximum at 10:51 a.m. and the Sun 39.8° high; the Moon will cover 85% of the Sun's area, a magnitude of 0.88.¹² The table lists every provincial capital.

Next Total Solar Eclipse Map: 2028 to 2045

After 2027 the shadow moves to the Southern Hemisphere. On July 22, 2028, totality will last up to 5 minutes 9.9 seconds¹³ at 15°04'S, 125°47'E, in a path 230.2 km (143 mi) wide at greatest eclipse, crossing Australia and New Zealand.¹³¹⁰ Spain gets an annular eclipse six months earlier, on January 26, 2028. The whole annular phase, when a ring of Sun shows around the Moon, comes before sunset in 2,934¹⁴ municipalities (36.1%³); in 325³ more, Barcelona among them, the Sun sets while the ring is still showing. Madrid sees no ring.¹⁴

From the 2017 eclipse across the United States to 2045, there are 19¹⁵ total solar eclipses. The longest is 2027's 6 minutes 23 seconds, followed by August 12, 2045 at 6 minutes 6 seconds and 2028 at 5 minutes 10 seconds; the shortest, 1 minute 51 seconds, come in 2039 over Antarctica and in 2041 over Africa.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷ A total solar eclipse 2024 map shows the path running from Mexico through the central United States to eastern Canada, with 4 minutes 28 seconds of totality at greatest eclipse in a band 198 km (123 mi) wide.¹⁵¹⁰

Path widths vary more than durations: from 72 km (45 mi) in 2041 to 781 km (485 mi) in 2033, when the path crosses eastern Russia and Alaska. The 2017 path was 115 km (71 mi) wide.¹⁵

The United States is crossed five times in 2017-2045: in 2017, in 2024, in 2033 (Alaska), in 2044 (Montana and North Dakota) and in 2045 (the south). Australia gets four paths and New Zealand three. Spain's two paths come back to back.^18101617 After 2027, the next total solar eclipse seen from Spain comes in 2053, 26 years³ later.⁵

Nine countries, Greenland and Antarctica get two paths each in these years, among them Spain (2026 and 2027), Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Somalia (2027 and one later eclipse each), and Greenland and Russia (2026 and one later eclipse each).¹⁰¹⁶¹⁷

How often totality comes around

In the 100 years from 2001 to 2100 there are 224¹⁵ solar eclipses: 68 total, 72 annular, 7 hybrid and 77 partial. A total solar eclipse map for any one decade of the century shows 6 to 8 paths.¹⁵ The decade from 2021 to 2030 has 6 total, 7 annular, 1 hybrid and 8 partial eclipses, 22 in all.¹⁵

Total eclipses are not the rarest kind. Hybrid eclipses, annular along part of the path and total along the rest, number just 7 in the whole century, and none after 2070. The current decade splits as follows.¹⁵

Total lunar eclipses, 2025 to 2028

A total lunar eclipse map looks nothing like a solar one. A lunar eclipse has no narrow path: everyone on the side of Earth where the Moon is up sees it at the same moment, so a total lunar eclipse (blood moon) map shows zones where the whole eclipse, part of it or none of it is visible. From 2021 to 2030 there are 22 lunar eclipses: 9 total, 7 partial and 6 penumbral. Totality ranges from 15 minutes on May 26, 2021 to 1 hour 42 minutes on June 26, 2029.¹⁹

Penumbral eclipses, when the Moon passes only through Earth's faint outer shadow, have a negative umbral magnitude. Three of them fall in 2027.¹⁹

March 14, 2025

On March 14, 2025, totality lasted 1 hour 5 minutes 24 seconds, from 06:25:59 to 07:31:23 UT. The whole eclipse was visible from the Americas; western Europe and western Africa saw it before moonset, East Asia and Australia after moonrise, and most of Asia missed it.²⁰ A 2025 total lunar eclipse visibility map for that night would put the Americas in the zone that saw it all.

September 7, 2025

On September 7, 2025, totality lasted 1 hour 22 minutes 6 seconds, from 17:30:41 to 18:52:47 UT, with an umbral magnitude of 1.3619, the deepest of the four eclipses in the table. On a September 2025 total lunar eclipse visibility map, the zone that saw the whole eclipse covers Asia, eastern Africa and western Australia; Europe and most of Africa saw it after moonrise, and the Americas missed it.²¹

March 3, 2026

The most recent total lunar eclipse, on March 3, 2026, had the shortest totality of the four: 58 minutes 19 seconds²², from 11:04:26 to 12:02:45 UT, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1507. On the March 3, 2026 total lunar eclipse visibility map, the whole eclipse was visible from the central Pacific; the Americas saw it before moonset, Asia and Australia after moonrise, and Africa, Europe and the Middle East missed it.²²

The next total lunar eclipse: December 31, 2028

There is no total lunar eclipse between March 3, 2026 and December 31, 2028. The August 28, 2026 eclipse was partial, the three of 2027 are penumbral only, and January 12 and July 6, 2028 bring partial eclipses.¹⁹ On December 31, 2028, totality will last 1 hour 11 minutes 20 seconds, from 16:16:19 to 17:27:40 UT. On the next total lunar eclipse visibility map, the whole eclipse will be visible from Asia and Australia, Europe and Africa will see it after moonrise, and the Americas will miss it.²³

Conclusions

1. The 2026 eclipse was longest where almost nobody lives. Totality peaked at 138.2 seconds at sea west of Iceland, against 70 seconds in Reykjavík and 110 seconds at best in Spain, where the Sun stood only 2° to 12° high.
2. Almost total is not total. Madrid and Barcelona reached 99% coverage and still had no totality, while 48.7% of Spain's municipalities had up to 110 seconds of it.
3. Spain's August 2026 was a hotel record, but the path provinces did not pull ahead in nights. Travelers rose 3.6% there and nights 0.6%, against 1.8% and 1.8% in provinces without totality. The clearest gap was among guests from abroad, up 8.2% against 2.7%: a pattern, not proof of cause.
4. 2027 is the bigger event. Totality at its peak lasts 2.77 times as long as in 2026, and Ceuta's 288 seconds are 2.62 times Spain's best of 2026, but only 105 Spanish municipalities, 1.3%, are inside the path, against 3,963.
5. After 2027 the map moves on. Spain waits 26 years, to 2053, for its next total eclipse, while the United States gets five paths in 2017-2045.