People jumping from the diving platform at Kolovare Beach in Zadar, Croatia during the total solar eclipse, August 12, 2026 —Zvonimir Barisin—PIXSELL/Sipa USA/Reuters
On Aug. 12, the luckiest 15 million people in the world were those living in a narrow band measuring approximately 5,100 miles long and 180 miles wide, stretching from northern Russia, down through Greenland, then Iceland, then Spain, then a tiny nip of Portugal, before passing into the Mediterranean Sea. That strip represented the path of totality for the recent total solar eclipse—the first visible from Europe in 27 years.
The eclipse did not take long to play out, lasting just 4.4 hours before it at last extinguished its fires in the Mediterranean waters. But it made an enduring impression—and will continue to, thanks to the uncounted astronomers and lay folk who photographed the event with ordinary cameras, great observatories, and even a NASA chase plane. Here is just a sampling of the work these eclipse-watchers produced.
A composite image of seven separate photographs taken with a single fixed camera shows stages of a solar eclipse before and during totality, as seen from Arija, Spain, on August 12, 2026. —Borja Suarez—ReutersPeople observe the total solar eclipse from the Arenal beach in Llucmajor, on the Balearic island of Mallorca. —Jaime Reina—AFP/Getty ImagesA beachgoer wearing protective eclipse glasses looks up during the beginning phase of a solar eclipse at Puerto de Sagunto beach near Valencia, Spain. —Alberto Saiz—APOutside the band of totality, Paris’ Eiffel Tower is silhouetted as the moon partially covers the sun during the solar eclipse. —Sarah Meyssonnier—ReutersAttendees watch as the moon fully passes over the sun’s horizon during a partial solar eclipse at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Marche-en-Famenne, southern Belgium. —John Thys—AFP/Getty ImagesPeople outside the band of totality look through welding shields during the solar partial eclipse in Halde Hoheward Park in Herten, western Germany. —na Fassbender—AFP/Getty ImagesThe total solar eclipse as seen from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain. —Bill Ingalls—NASA/Getty Images)The total solar eclipse peeking through sunflowers on August 12, 2026 in Palencia, Spain. —Leon Neal—Getty ImagesPassengers on board the Ambassador cruise ship Ambition watching the start of the total solar eclipse off the coast of Greenland. —Owen Humphreys—PA Wire SCIENCE/Press Association/AP ImagesPeople view a partial solar eclipse on Glastonbury Tor, in Glastonbury, Britain. —Toby Melville—ReutersThe moon completely covers the sun during a total solar eclipse as seen from the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory in Arcos de las Salinas, near Teruel, Spain. —Christian Hartmann—ReutersThree people record a video of the moon partially covering the sun during a solar eclipse, as seen from Berlin, German. —Fabrizio Bensch—ReutersThree Catholic nuns wearing solar eclipse glasses at Parc Andre Citroen in Paris, Ile-de-France, France. —Samir Maouche/Hans Lucas—AFP/Getty ImagesOutside the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London, one spectator uses a protective viewer of her own devising to watch the eclipse. —Yui Mok—PA Images/ Getty Images
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