Eclipses have a special consequence to the human history. It is noted by Asimov that the first correct prediction of the Eclipse was done in May 28, 585 by Thales of Miletus and this event is considered the "Birth of Science". It took approximately 1500 years from the first (recorded) observation of eclipse (in china), the correct prediction of the solar eclipse in advance. This is truly marvelous.
Incidentally, unknown and not connected with the prediction, during the same eclipse, a 5 year battle between Medes and the Lydians came to stop as the armies got scared, if it was a divine intervention and they let their arms down.
Living in Vancouver, I traveled to Toronto to watch the Eclipse in 2024. We faced a nasty cloud, and had to drive hundreds of kilometers (hundreds of miles) to get a reasonably good view. On the drive back I decided that I'll travel for the one that's happening today, and here I am, in Sierra, with some cool people.
Solar eclipses happen rarely enough, and frequently enough, to act as milestones in my life: I can review what happened since the previous one, and make a plan for the next one.
They are some of the most magnificent natural phenomena, much more interesting than what's expected.
The only other one that I got to see in perfect conditions was in my home town, Isfahan in 1999. I hope this one is perfectly clear again, and I have some resolutions for the next one.
Posting this from a HN post a few days ago - one of the better "where is the eclipse currently" trackers that isn't currently ddossed.
adding that there are some great webcams in santander on youtube that you can watch as it starts in a few minutes:
Also there is solar panel monitoring data. That is also an interesting watch:
https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/ES/live/five_minute...
Sierra de Guadarrama - Puerto de Cotos https://www.infonieve.es/espacio-nordico/puerto-de-cotos/web... looks decent, different views, good weather.
Live streamg from IAC (Canary Islands) https://www.youtube.com/@iacvideos/streams
I do think that it's really worth it to see the eclipse with the glasses [1]. Something also very beautiful is to see other amazing things like the shadows it creates through the trees [2].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyiFxGlrONQ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y93BIHjI4KY
(Plug) If you’re watching in person and want to be sure you’re in a place that will see the eclipse, I built a little web app to help with that [1]. It also has cloud data forecast overlayed for Spain.
This is great, can easily see what spots are overfilled with people or not :) I'm still thinking about where exactly I'll go to see it, was thinking Calafell or Vilanova as they're nearby and easily accessible, but probably half of Barcelona thinks the same so better to go a bit inland. Probably I'll end up just outside Lleida I think.
Any more Spanish HNers (or temporary visitors) who are going to any specific places to see it? :)
Goes very well with music by Total Eclipse [1]
Thanks for posting this, most of us won’t be able to view the eclipse but having a few webcams really helps to get the feeling!
Hoping to be able to see the great eclipse of 2027 live ;-)
Where Can I see it clearly
Extremely happy to live in a place where vision is perfect and with a clear day. Going out for a walk soon to find a quiet spot and enjoy.
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2026-august-12
Nice page showing where it will be, with times and visualizations for any point/city.
Doesn't seem like the best of weather now in Iceland, hopefully it clears up. Otherwise it would suck for the people who have planned the trip months if not years in advance only to get a clouded sky, but that's always the risk with astrotravel.
Cool, there is no check on the direction of the camera. Various camera's I checked do not seem to point in the direction of the sun during totality. It does filter candidate cameras down though.
Sorry for my ignorance, but can someone please explain what I'm looking at here?
I get access blocked errors all over the screen
Does anyone know if there will be any live feed of the earth viewed from space during the eclipse?
I get "access blocked, referer is required" errors tiled all over the screen
The eclipse should also be visible from space in the "live" satellite imagery on:
On a Virgin cruise near Ibiza, getting ready for it before sunset. Anyone else in the cruise say hello!
Really cool. I'm quite curious as to where the webcam data came from, as it seems to be from various websites/sources.
NASA https://www.youtube.com/live/rSvCuSQhC3w
ESA https://www.youtube.com/live/DRDx2xDR8NA
VirtualTelescope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfnV0FOgfE
Royal Observatory Greenwich https://www.youtube.com/live/X_lWDBTZdrY
Missing the official RÚV stream from Látrabjarg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0EQtb747n8
RÚV also has special programing around the event here: https://www.ruv.is/frettir/innlent/2026-08-12-almyrkvastofan...
And the Björk DJ-ing the eclipse is broadcasted on RÚV’s radio station Rás 1: https://www.ruv.is/utvarp/beint/ras1
Don't bother looking at Iceland: weather is awful right now.
Ugh - I didn't know this will pass over Reykjavik. Would have been fantastic to see from there.
Eclipse + perseids, which means people in Iceland/Spain will see shooting stars when the skies go dark, wow!
How often does this happen? Like, never?
Isn't there a big ship out there traveling between the clouds
Surprised they don't have a starlink uplink
We are going to get the full solar eclipse, but to be honest I'm going to enjoy the transitions more than the actual eclipse itself. It's not like the glasses will give you a great view of the actual sun itself compared to a live professional camera setup so I'll be having the tv on to se the "filtered" view of the sun directly instead of trying to stare at it. I'll peak a glance once in awhile.
Was just dealing with this yesterday
Very cool
I took my kids out of school and took an unplanned day off work in the middle of an important meeting series to drive 5 hours west from Virginia to Ohio to see the last eclipse. The schools and my boss were both yelling at me, both saying the eclipse wasn't a good enough excuse. I'm sorry, but it definitely was. I am so glad I did that. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
cool -thx
I'm declaring that sun will die a over northern Spain and western Iceland by the end of the day.
This is mine! Built it quickly in 2024 for the US eclipse [1] and finished minutes before totality started.
I completely forgot about it until a friend asked this morning. Coordinating a DDOS on cameras across Iceland and Spain was not on my to-do list for today.
Fingers crossed it doesn't break for you all - I will be watching it with my own eyes this time.
[1] https://jonty.github.io/2024_eclipse_webcams/