AI Insight
The total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 began with totality first visible from Scoresby Sund, Greenland, where observers aboard the MS Spitsbergen cruise ship captured the first photographs showing the sun's corona visible behind the moon's silhouette. The moon's shadow path is continuing eastward across Europe and will conclude off the north coast of Africa at 2:34 p.m. EDT (1834 GMT). Weather conditions were favorable for eclipse chasers in Greenland, allowing clear documentation of the solar corona during the brief period of totality.
Why it matters
Total solar eclipses provide rare opportunities for scientists to study the sun's corona and outer atmosphere, which is normally obscured by the sun's bright photosphere. These events also serve as significant public engagement opportunities for astronomy and space science education.
Understand the Science
The first breathtaking photos of totality for the total solar eclipse 2026 are pouring in, revealing incredible views of the sun’s atmosphere radiating out from behind the moon’s colossal silhouette.
Eclipse chasers have spent the past few hours watching in awe, as the moon transformed the sun into an incandescent crescent in the run up to totality, before swallowing it entirely in the skies over Scoresby Sund, Greenland as seen from the deck of the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage.
Read on to see spectacular photos of the sun’s corona glowing in the false twilight of totality. And be sure to stay with us in the coming hours as the moon’s central shadow sweeps over Europe, before ultimately disappearing from view off the north coast of Africa at 2:34 p.m. EDT (1834 GMT).
First photos of totality
The first photos of totality revealed the sun’s corona, visible thanks to the moon blocking most of our star’s light.
Luckily, weather cooperated for the eclipse chasers on the MS Spitsbergen on the HX Expeditions eclipse voyage in Scoresby Sund, Greenland.
Space.com’s own skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic was onboard, capturing the first images of totality.
As the moon drifted past the sun, the first glimpses of the sun began to reveal themselves as the path of totality moved onwards towards Spain.
We’ll have more coverage on our total solar eclipse live blog throughout the day, including reports from Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic as she catches the entirety of the eclipse unfolding in the skies over Greenland aboard an HX Expeditions cruise ship.
Skywatching Writer Anthony Wood will also be giving you the live updates from his vantage point in central Spain, where the eclipsed sun will set below the horizon just a few short hours from now.
Editor’s Note: If you would like to share your eclipse photos with Space.com’s readers, then please send your image(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Source: Total solar eclipse 2026 has begun. Here are the first views of totality