This was a total eclipse of the Sun: for a short time the Moon hid the whole bright disc over a narrow strip of the Earth, the sky went dark enough to show the brightest stars, and the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere, the corona, could be seen with the naked eye. The track ended in northern Spain, with the Sun low in the evening sky. Most people in the table saw only the partial eclipse, and it is the partial times that this page tabulates.
The path
The shadow of the Moon first touched the Earth in the Arctic, then crossed the east coast of Greenland and the west of Iceland. It swept across the Atlantic and came ashore in northern Spain, with the Sun low in the evening sky. The greatest eclipse, at 17:45 UT, was in the Atlantic west of Iceland, where totality lasted 2 minutes 18 seconds. On either side of the path a partial eclipse was visible across most of Europe, North America and the north-west of Africa. Everywhere in this partial zone, the nearer the path, the larger the part of the Sun that was covered.
What the cities saw
For London the eclipse began at 18:17 British Summer Time, reached its greatest at 19:13 with 91 per cent of the Sun’s disc covered, and ended at 20:06 with the Sun low in the west. Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester were all within a point or two of that. Amsterdam and Frankfurt, an hour east, saw 88 to 90 per cent covered, but in Frankfurt the Sun set at 20:49 before the eclipse ended. In New York the greatest eclipse came at 13:54 and covered about 9 per cent, in Boston 16 per cent, and in Calgary only about 2 per cent, at 10:37 in the morning. Chicago saw almost nothing. A 90 per cent partial eclipse makes the light strange and the shadows sharp, but the sky does not go dark, which only happens in totality.
Not visible in India
When the eclipse was at its greatest the time in India was a little after eleven at night. The Sun had set many hours earlier, so the eclipse was not visible in India or anywhere else in Asia, and no sutak applied. The day itself was still an Amavasya in the Indian calendar, and you can read about that observance on the page on Amavasya.
In the Hindu calendar
The new moon of this day was Shravana Amavasya in the purnimanta calendar. At the greatest eclipse the Sun and Moon stood together in Karka, the sidereal Cancer, about 26 degrees into the sign and close to its end, in Ashlesha nakshatra. Ashlesha is a nakshatra of the Moon’s own sign, ruled by Mercury, and the end of Karka is the point where the zodiac passes into Simha. Those are the Lahiri positions, worked out to within a few hundredths of a degree. How an astrologer reads them depends on the whole chart, and no single eclipse carries a fixed outcome for anyone. The Rahu Mahadasha and Ketu Mahadasha pages describe the two nodes themselves.
Sutak where the eclipse was visible
The sutak column gives the time twelve hours before first contact, which is the time at which a family that keeps the rule would have begun it in the cities that saw the eclipse. Some of these times fall on the previous day. For a household abroad that follows a Hindu calendar, the rule is the same as in India, and the temple or priest you consult will tell you the local custom.
Watching a solar eclipse safely
Looking at the Sun, even when most of it is covered, can burn the retina, and the damage is painless while it happens. The only time the naked eye is safe is the few minutes of totality, when the Sun's bright disc is completely hidden, and that happens only on the narrow path of a total eclipse. At every other moment, and everywhere in a partial or annular eclipse, use one of these.
- Eclipse glasses or a handheld viewer marked ISO 12312-2, from a maker you trust. Throw away any that are scratched or torn. Ordinary sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed film and a stack of filters are not safe.
- A pinhole projector: a card with a small hole, held so that the Sun's image falls on a second card. The same works with the shadows under a leafy tree, which show hundreds of small crescents.
- No cameras, binoculars or telescopes pointed at the Sun without a proper solar filter fitted to the front of the lens, never behind it. Looking at a phone screen is safe, but pointing the phone's camera at the Sun for long can harm the sensor.
- Children should be watched by an adult, and anyone with an eye condition should ask their eye doctor before watching.
Many Indian families follow the traditional rule of not looking at the eclipse directly. That rule and the safety advice point the same way, and a pinhole view lets everyone share the sight.
Seen from 17 of the 49 cities (16 for the whole eclipse, 1 for part of it). All times are local to each city and cut to the whole minute. For any other place use the eclipse visibility calculator.
How the solar eclipse times are worked out
The shadow of the Moon is described by a small set of numbers, the Besselian elements, that NASA publishes for every eclipse (Fred Espenak, eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov, public domain). For each city this site finds where the Moon's shadow axis passes in relation to the place and when the edge of the shadow reaches it, which gives first contact, the moment of greatest eclipse and last contact, and the share of the Sun's diameter covered, called the magnitude. The share of the Sun's disc that is hidden is the obscuration. The Sun's height above the horizon decides what can be seen, so where the Sun rises or sets during the eclipse the table says so and shows the first or last moment you can see it.
Times are the local clock time of the city, with daylight saving where it applies, cut to the whole minute. Magnitude and obscuration are for the moment shown in the Maximum column.
Sutak. By Hindu tradition the period of caution before a solar eclipse, sutak, begins twelve hours before first contact and ends when the eclipse ends. It is kept only at places where the eclipse can be seen. Temples close, cooking and eating are avoided in many households, and a bath and fresh food follow the eclipse. Some families go by a sutak of a different length, and some regions keep it more loosely, so follow your own family or temple. Children, the elderly and the unwell are generally excused from fasting.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Where was the 12 August 2026 solar eclipse total?
Totality ran from the Arctic across eastern Greenland and western Iceland to northern Spain. Outside that path, which was about 294 km wide at its widest, it was a partial eclipse.
↳ Was this eclipse visible in India?
No. It took place late at night in India, long after sunset. Indian almanacs list it as not visible, and no sutak was observed for it.
↳ How long was the longest totality?
NASA gives 2 minutes 18 seconds at the point of greatest eclipse. At the edges of the path the total phase was much shorter.
↳ Was a partial eclipse safe to look at?
No. Even when 90 per cent of the Sun is hidden, the part left is bright enough to damage the eye. Only the minutes of totality are safe without a filter, and those were available only on the narrow path. Use eclipse glasses or a pinhole projector, as the safety note on this page describes.
↳ When is the next total solar eclipse?
The next is the total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027, which crosses Spain again and then Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and is partial in India.