Solar eclipse - 12 August 2026
Total over Iceland and northern Spain. In France, a deep partial eclipse - up to 96% of the Sun covered from the southwest, in the late afternoon.
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. Southwest ~94-96%. Southeast and Corsica ~90-92%. Paris region ~87%. North and east ~82-84%.
- 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 Europe since 1999 - the intervening totalities (2015, 2021) grazed the Arctic and Antarctic. To witness totality, you must be under the few-hundred-kilometre-wide band that crosses western Iceland, arcs over the North Atlantic, comes ashore in Galicia, cuts across northern Spain (Oviedo, Burgos, Valladolid, Zaragoza) and finishes over the western Mediterranean and Majorca.
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 late afternoon 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 2 h 30. First contact (the Moon's limb touches the solar disc) happens near 18:30 local time (CEST), earlier in the west, later in the east. Maximum eclipse ranges from 19:56 at Brest to 20:19 at Ajaccio. Across much of northern and eastern France, the Sun will set before the eclipse ends - the final quarter of the partial phase is lost below the horizon.
At maximum, 87% of the solar disc is covered from Paris, 89% from Lyon, 92% from Marseille, 94% from Perpignan, 96% from Bayonne. 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.
Times and obscuration by city
Values computed by Pulsar's ephemeris engine from NASA GSFC projections. For a precise forecast at your address, with real-time cloud-cover updates on the day, use the Pulsar app.
| City | Region | Max obscuration | Max time (CEST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayonne | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 96% | 20:03 |
| Perpignan | Occitanie | 94% | 20:14 |
| Toulouse | Occitanie | 93% | 20:11 |
| Bordeaux | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 93% | 20:04 |
| Marseille | PACA | 92% | 20:14 |
| Montpellier | Occitanie | 92% | 20:12 |
| Ajaccio | Corse | 92% | 20:19 |
| Clermont-Ferrand | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 91% | 20:08 |
| Nice | PACA | 90% | 20:16 |
| Lyon | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 89% | 20:11 |
| Grenoble | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 89% | 20:13 |
| Nantes | Pays de la Loire | 88% | 20:01 |
| Brest | Bretagne | 88% | 19:56 |
| Paris | Île-de-France | 87% | 20:06 |
| Dijon | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 87% | 20:10 |
| Rennes | Bretagne | 86% | 20:00 |
| Reims | Grand Est | 85% | 20:07 |
| Strasbourg | Grand Est | 84% | 20:13 |
| Metz | Grand Est | 84% | 20:10 |
| Lille | Hauts-de-France | 82% | 20:05 |
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.