Solar eclipse - 12 August 2026
Total over Iceland and northern Spain. In France, a deep partial eclipse - up to 99.4% of the Sun covered from Biarritz, in the early evening.
Key facts
- When: Wednesday 12 August 2026, late afternoon and early evening (CEST).
- Totality: western Iceland and northern/central Spain. Maximum totality ~2 min 18 s.
- France: partial phase only. Basque coast ~99.4%. Southwest and Occitanie ~97-98%. PACA and Corsica ~95-97%. Paris region ~92%. North and east ~90-91%.
- Safety: ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses are required throughout - there is never a safe moment to look without protection from France.
- Horizon: the Sun will be very low on the western horizon at maximum. Pick a spot with an unobstructed western view.
Why this eclipse matters
On 12 August 2026 the Moon will pass in front of the Sun and cast its shadow cone over the North Atlantic. This is the first total solar eclipse visible from continental western Europe since 11 August 1999 - the March 2015 totality was only visible from the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. To witness totality, you must be under the band, less than 300 km wide, that crosses western Iceland, arcs over the North Atlantic, comes ashore on Spain's Cantabrian coast, cuts across northern and central Spain (Oviedo, Burgos, Valladolid, Zaragoza) and finishes over the western Mediterranean and Majorca. Our Spain-Iceland guide lists the cities inside the band with local times.
From metropolitan France, the Moon will never fully cover the Sun - but it will hide a spectacular fraction. In the southern half of the country this will be the deepest eclipse since 1999. It will also have the unusual feature of occurring in the early evening with the Sun low on the western horizon - a rare configuration that produces distinctive warm-toned imagery, but one that makes location selection critical.
What will we see from France?
The partial phase will last about 1 h 45 where it is visible in full. First contact (the Moon's limb touches the solar disc) happens around 19:20 local time (CEST) - near 19:18 in the north, near 19:33 in Corsica and Roussillon. Maximum eclipse ranges from 20:14 (Lille, Calais) to 20:27 (Perpignan, Bayonne). In the south and east of the country, the Sun will set before the eclipse fully ends; in Ajaccio the maximum itself occurs right on the horizon, on a setting Sun eclipsed at nearly 97%.
At maximum, 92.1% of the solar disc's surface is covered from Paris, 93.8% from Lyon, 96.3% from Marseille, 98.2% from Perpignan and about 99.4% from Bayonne and Biarritz. At these levels of obscuration, ambient light changes noticeably: shadows sharpen and split, birds go quiet as at dusk, the temperature drops a few degrees. But it does not become night - the residual sliver of Sun is still a thousand times brighter than a full Moon. Looking directly at it without protection is not safe: see our safe-observation guide.
Times and obscuration by city
Local circumstances computed from Fred Espenak's Besselian elements (EclipseWise) and cross-checked against IMCCE and timeanddate.com; times rounded to the minute (CEST). For a precise forecast at your address, with real-time cloud-cover updates on the day, use the Pulsar app.
| City | Region | Max obscur. | Max (CEST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayonne | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 99.4% | 20:27 |
| Perpignan | Occitanie | 98.2% | 20:27 |
| Toulouse | Occitanie | 97.8% | 20:26 |
| Bordeaux | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 97.5% | 20:25 |
| Ajaccio | Corse | 96.7% | 20:26 |
| Montpellier | Occitanie | 96.6% | 20:25 |
| Quimper | Bretagne | 96.5% | 20:20 |
| La Rochelle | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 96.5% | 20:22 |
| Brest | Bretagne | 96.4% | 20:19 |
| Marseille | PACA | 96.3% | 20:25 |
| Lorient | Bretagne | 96.3% | 20:20 |
| Toulon | PACA | 96.3% | 20:25 |
| Nantes | Pays de la Loire | 95.7% | 20:21 |
| Limoges | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 95.5% | 20:23 |
| Nice | PACA | 95% | 20:24 |
| Rennes | Bretagne | 95% | 20:19 |
| Saint-Malo | Bretagne | 94.7% | 20:18 |
| Clermont-Ferrand | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 94.6% | 20:22 |
| Tours | Centre-Val de Loire | 94.3% | 20:20 |
| Saint-Étienne | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 94.3% | 20:22 |
| Grenoble | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 94% | 20:22 |
| Le Mans | Pays de la Loire | 94% | 20:19 |
| Lyon | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 93.8% | 20:22 |
| Caen | Normandie | 93.3% | 20:17 |
| Orléans | Centre-Val de Loire | 93.1% | 20:19 |
| Annecy | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 93.1% | 20:21 |
| Le Havre | Normandie | 92.7% | 20:17 |
| Rouen | Normandie | 92.2% | 20:17 |
| Paris | Île-de-France | 92.1% | 20:17 |
| Dijon | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 92.1% | 20:19 |
| Besançon | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 91.8% | 20:19 |
| Amiens | Hauts-de-France | 91.2% | 20:16 |
| Reims | Grand Est | 90.9% | 20:16 |
| Calais | Hauts-de-France | 90.7% | 20:14 |
| Mulhouse | Grand Est | 90.7% | 20:18 |
| Nancy | Grand Est | 90.4% | 20:17 |
| Lille | Hauts-de-France | 90.3% | 20:14 |
| Dunkerque | Hauts-de-France | 90.3% | 20:14 |
| Metz | Grand Est | 90% | 20:16 |
| Strasbourg | Grand Est | 89.8% | 20:16 |
In the south and east (Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Strasbourg among others), the Sun sets before the end of the partial phase: the eclipse finishes on the horizon. In Ajaccio the maximum occurs at sunset itself.
Safety: ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses required
From France, there is no safe moment to look at the Sun without protection on 12 August 2026 - the partial phase is always dangerous. Looking at even a 99%-obscured Sun causes irreversible retinal burns within seconds.
Safe viewing methods
- Eclipse glasses marked ISO 12312-2:2015 or ISO 12312-2. Check the standard printed on the arm.
- Pinhole projection: a simple card with a small hole projecting the Sun's image onto a second card.
- Eyepiece projection from a telescope or binoculars onto a white sheet (never look directly into the eyepiece).
- A dedicated solar filter mounted in front of a telescope, binoculars or camera objective.
Never use
- Sunglasses, even very dark ones - useless, the infrared load is dangerous.
- Photo negatives, CDs, DVDs, smoked glass - no UV/IR protection.
- Emergency blankets / food-packaging mylar - invisible microscopic pinholes.
- Eclipse glasses combined with a telescope, binoculars or telephoto lens: the concentrated light destroys the filter.
ISO 12312-2 certified glasses are sold by most opticians, planetariums and astronomy clubs. Expect a few euros. Check the standard printed on the arm before buying.
Get the eclipse-start alert for your city
The Pulsar app notifies you at first contact, at maximum and at the end of the eclipse, with exact times computed for your location and real-time cloud cover.