Animations of the August 12, 2026, Total Solar Eclipse

On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, the Moon passes in front of the Sun, casting its shadow across a wide swath of Earth's Northern Hemisphere. The path of totality begins in far northern Siberia, near the North Pole, and travels south through the oceans of the Arctic and North Atlantic, passing over western Iceland (including Reykjavik) and northern Spain. The rest of Europe and parts of North America and Africa experience a partial eclipse.

The Moon's shadow can be divided into two parts: the very narrow umbra, where the Sun is completely blocked, and the much broader penumbra, where the Sun is only partially blocked. The red swath marks the path of totality, where a total solar eclipse is visible. The black oval traveling along this path is the umbra. The penumbra is rendered in discrete shades in 20% intervals of obscuration (area of the Sun blocked by the Moon). Loops at either end of the path indicate where the eclipse is in progress during sunrise or sunset.

In the first animation, captioned "Following the shadow," the virtual camera flies on a path that keeps the shadow near the center of the view but makes Earth's rotation difficult to discern. In the second animation, captioned "Fixed in space," the camera doesn't move. Strictly speaking, the camera is stationary in the J2000 coordinate system centered on Earth — nothing is truly motionless except in relation to a particular reference. Other views are stationary over Iceland and Spain and over the United States.