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Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
Total solar eclipses are incredible moments in time, but they are fleeting. As the moon passes directly in front of the sun and its shadow sweeps across Earth's surface, the temperature drops and the light takes on an eerie twilight quality. Birds and other animals go quiet. It's a spectacle unlike any other. And for millions today who were lucky enough to be in the path of totality across Greenland, Iceland and Spain, that's exactly what they experienced.
"I cannot believe what I just witnessed. I knew what to expect — I've seen thousands of photos but nothing compares to that feeling you get when you watch the sun transform before your very eyes," Space.com skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic said after watching the eclipse from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund, Greenland on Aug. 12, 2026.
The sun during a total solar eclipse as seen from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund, Greenland on Aug. 12, 2026. | Credit: Daisy Dobrijevic/Future
"It looked so big in the sky with the delicate corona streaming out into the abyss. Jupiter, Mercury and Venus even joined in the show. The huge prominence was the icing on the cake," Dobrijevic added.
"This is something I will never forget and I feel privileged to have experienced it in one of the most remarkable environments on Earth and alongside an incredible group of people aboard HX Expedition's MS Spitsbergen."
The sun during a total solar eclipse as seen from deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund on Aug. 12, 2026. | Credit: Daisy Dobrijevic/Future
The 182 mile-wide (293-kilometer) path of totality — the line "drawn" on the face our our planet by the moon's shadow — began near Siberia over the Arctic Ocean and first arced down into eastern Greenland.
From there, the path stretched across western Iceland and then into northern Spain where millions gathered to witness the spectacle.
"It was the most incredible thing I've seen in my entire life," said Space.com skywatching writer Anthony Wood after witnessing the eclipse from Valoria la Buena, Spain alongside a team of citizen scientists from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast initiative. "It feels like it really shouldn't be happening. It strikes the lizard part of your brain that just tells you that this shouldn't be real."
A total solar eclipse as seen in Valoria la Buena, Spain on Aug. 12, 2026. | Credit: Anthony Wood/Future
The path then crossed the Balearic Islands just east of Spain before ending over the Mediterranean Sea as the sun set.
A total solar eclipse is seen above the mountains on Aug. 12, 2026 in Segur de Calafell, Spain. | Credit: Eric Alonso/Getty Images
Eclipse-watchers inside the narrow path of the moon's shadow were given a rare naked-eye glimpse of the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Witnessing the crown-like shape of the corona stretching away from the dark shadow of the moon is one of the most breathtaking moments of an eclipse. Photographs don't do it justice, as they rarely do.