{"id":251360,"date":"2026-01-25T17:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251360\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:52:19","slug":"how-to-see-2-total-solar-eclipses-in-the-next-2-years-including-the-eclipse-of-the-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251360\/","title":{"rendered":"How to see 2 total solar eclipses in the next 2 years \u2014 including the ‘eclipse of the century’"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has not been a total solar eclipse<\/a> since the “Great American Eclipse” on April 8, 2024<\/a> \u2014 but now, two are coming up in the next two years.<\/p>\n

The first of these total solar eclipses<\/a>, on Aug. 12, 2026, will grace parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain. The second, on Aug. 2, 2027, will occur across parts of North Africa, southern Spain and the Middle East and is being dubbed the “eclipse of the century.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here’s what you need to know about the back-to-back sky spectacles.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The August 2026 solar eclipse<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

The path of totality in August, 2026. “GE” marks the point of greatest eclipse, where the moon will appear largest in front of the sun. (Image credit: OpenStreetMap contributors \/ US NSF National Solar Observatory)<\/p>\n

The 2026 total solar eclipse will begin as an eclipsed sunrise in a remote part of northern Siberia, with the path of totality \u2014 the path of the moon’s dark central shadow, where a total eclipse is visible \u2014 sweeping across eastern Greenland, the west coast of Iceland and northern Spain, before concluding as an eclipsed sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n

For European observers, this marks the first total eclipse visible from mainland Europe since 1999. In Spain, cities like Le\u00f3n, Burgos and Valladolid will be the best places to witness totality.<\/p>\n

The eclipse will be visible about 10 degrees above the horizon, which is about the width of your fist held at arm’s length.<\/p>\n

Totality there will occur close to sunset, and clear skies are likely for both the eclipse and the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower later that night. It may even be possible to spot a meteor in the twilight-like skies of totality, which will last less than two minutes.<\/p>\n

Get the world\u2019s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Travelers seeking the longest totality \u2014 just over two minutes \u2014 may head to Iceland’s Sn\u00e6fellsnes Peninsula or the fjords of eastern Greenland. At these latitudes in August, the nights are too short for reliable meteor spotting. However, the northern lights<\/a> may make an appearance during the brief night or, perhaps, during a fleeting totality.<\/p>\n

August 2027: The ‘eclipse of the century’<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

The path of totality in August, 2027. “GE” marks the point of greatest eclipse, where the moon will appear largest in front of the sun, and “GD” marks the point of greatest duration, where totality will last longest. (Image credit: OpenStreetMap contributors \/ US NSF National Solar Observatory)<\/p>\n

Although any total solar eclipse is special, the 2027 event is a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.<\/p>\n

The Aug. 2, 2027 total solar eclipse will last up to an extraordinary 6 minutes, 22 seconds and will be seen from a path of totality that touches parts of Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.<\/p>\n

This eclipse is already being billed as the “eclipse of the century,” with observers near Luxor, Egypt, enjoying the longest land-based totality of the 21st century. Besides being the longest total solar eclipse of this era, this event is special for another reason: The climate in the path of totality means clear skies are likely throughout the region.<\/p>\n

While these two total solar eclipses are already getting skywatchers excited, a lesser-known totality lies just beyond. On July 22, 2028, a total solar eclipse will cross Australia and New Zealand, with Sydney witnessing its first totality since 1857. For eclipse chasers across the globe, a boom time beckons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has not been a total solar eclipse since the “Great American Eclipse” on April 8, 2024 \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-251360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}