CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Sorry, North America. After winning the cosmic lottery with a pair of coast-to-coast total solar eclipses, now it’s Europe’s turn.
But look skyward anyway Wednesday and, if you’re far enough north in the U.S. and Canada, you might savor a partial eclipse as the moon nibbles away at the sun.
Totality will begin near the North Pole, then streak southward across Greenland, Iceland, Spain and a patch of Portugal. Daytime darkness won’t last more than a couple minutes at best — shrimpy compared with North America’s epic 2024 eclipse — but it is continental Europe's first encounter with totality since 1999. Spain gets a much longer shot at totality next August, along with North Africa and the Middle East.
Quick answers to key questions
•5 QUESTIONS
In North America, specific cities like Anchorage, Bangor, and St. Johns will experience a partial solar eclipse with varying coverage percentages on the scheduled date.
The 2026 solar eclipse marks continental Europe's first total solar eclipse since 1999, creating significant interest and excitement among observers.
The 2026 solar eclipse will show a shorter period of totality compared to the nearly doubled duration expected during the 2024 eclipse across North America.
Certified eclipse glasses are essential to protect your eyes from permanent damage when viewing the sun, as looking directly at it can cause harm.
During totality, the moon completely blocks the sun, leading to brief darkness, a drop in temperature, and unusual animal behavior due to the change in light.
For the U.S., the Great American Eclipse of 2017 kicked off the sun-vanishing mania with more than two minutes of totality from Oregon to South Carolina. The amount of totality almost doubled in 2024, racing diagonally from Mexico's Pacific coast all the way past Newfoundland.
America's next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse isn't until 2045. So catch a partial now if you can, but don't forget to protect your eyes with certified eclipse glasses.
Here's a list of some U.S. and Canadian cities in position to see a partial solar eclipse on Wednesday if skies are clear, in alphabetical order, with local times and the amount of sun coverage provided by NASA:
—Anchorage, Alaska, with 28% coverage. Begins at 7:36 a.m. and ends at 9:09 a.m., peaking at 8:21 a.m.
—Bangor, Maine, with 24% coverage. Begins at 12:54 p.m. and ends at 2:49 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.
—Detroit with 3% coverage. Begins at 1:03 p.m. and ends at 2:08 p.m., peaking at 1:36 p.m.
—Montreal, Quebec, with 18% coverage. Begins at 12:50 p.m. and ends at 2:38 p.m., peaking at 1:45 p.m.
—New York City with 9% coverage. Begins at 1:07 p.m. and ends at 2:38 p.m., peaking at 1:54 p.m.
—Philadelphia with 7% coverage. Begins at 1:11 p.m. and ends at 2:35 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.
—St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, with 53% coverage. Begins at 2:28 p.m. and ends at 4:37 p.m., peaking at 3:35 p.m.
—Toronto, Ontario, with 8% coverage. Begins at 12:55 p.m. and ends at 2:23 p.m., peaking at 1:40 p.m.
—Washington, D.C., with 4% coverage. Begins at 1:17 p.m. and ends at 2:27 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.
—Winnipeg, Manitoba, with 5% coverage. Begins at 11:25 a.m. and ends at 12:40 p.m., peaking at 12:02 p.m.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
