Total darkness begins near North Pole, sweeps to Spain and Portugal
A total solar eclipse will sweep across Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and a patch of Portugal on Wednesday, while observers in the far northern United States and Canada may see a partial eclipse as the moon moves in front of the sun. The event marks continental Europe’s first encounter with totality since 1999.
Totality will begin near the North Pole and streak southward across the countries in its path, according to the AP. Daytime darkness at any given location along the total path will not last more than a couple minutes at best, a duration far shorter than North America’s more recent total eclipses.
The eclipse signals a shift in the shadow path after North America experienced two coast-to-coast total solar eclipses in 2017 and 2024. The Great American Eclipse of 2017 produced more than two minutes of totality across a path stretching from Oregon to South Carolina, the AP reported.
In 2024, the amount of totality nearly doubled, with the eclipse shadow racing diagonally from Mexico’s Pacific coast all the way past Newfoundland.
Spain will receive a much longer shot at totality next August, the AP reported, and North Africa and the Middle East will also fall under the path.
For the United States, the partial eclipse on Wednesday offers a chance for sky-watchers in the far north to see the moon take a bite out of the sun, even as the main event unfolds across Europe.