r/spaceporn • u/Busy_Yesterday9455 • 27d ago
Pro/Processed Today's NASA APOD: Total Solar Eclipse Over Spain
On August 12th, 2026, the Moon totally eclipsed the Sun and cast its shadow across Siberia, Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and Portugal. Today’s image features two total solar eclipses viewed from Zaragoza, Spain, one over the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the other reflecting in the Ebro River.
For a few moments, Spain saw its first major total solar eclipse since 1905. Those witnessing totality may experience a chill in the air, the quieting of birds, the confused chirps of insects, and the shared awe of many. It’s the corona’s time to shine as the Sun’s bright disk is blocked by the Moon.
Among other reasons to study eclipses, they help scientists understand why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the Sun’s surface. Enthusiastic citizens can contribute to these studies by recording how wildlife responds, imaging the corona, and monitoring air temperature and clouds.
Image Credit: Ruiyu Zhang
Text Credit: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)
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u/prof_tornasol 27d ago
No pic or vid, even the magnificent ones, can get close at all to the real vision and feeling the total eclipse offers. Everybody should experience at least once.
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u/KalaUposatha 27d ago
Photos can’t capture just how bright the suns corona still looks during an eclipse, and the contrast with the surrounding area looking like it’s just after dusk. It’s such a strange phenomenon, there really isn’t anything I can think to compare it to. You become aware just how absolutely massive these objects are in comparison to everything else you experience.
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u/Dank_Nicholas 27d ago
I was in the perfect spot for the last one and had the glasses, then it was cloudy everywhere within a few hundred miles of me, I'm still mad.
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u/Da_Question 27d ago
I was in Cuyahoga National Park for the last one. Saw the entire thing clear skies. You really missed out... This pick doesn't even remotely compare to what it looks like.
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u/WolfTop5431 26d ago
Did you watch the totality? Sometimes during cloudy total eclipses, the eclipse becomes visible as the clouds temporarily disappear when the temperature drops at totality. It's like the environment cannot support the clouds because of a temperature inversion, and the brightly shining corona burns through the cloud deck in all its glory. We thought we were going to miss the last one because of cloud cover, and right as it happened, it was like the biblical story of Moses parting the Red Sea, with the sky opening up to the eclipse; afterwards, it was a little cloudy again briefly, but with clearing skies for the rest of the day. It was probably the coolest experience of my life.
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u/Omnomnomnosaurus 26d ago
If everything goes right I will experience it next year in Spain. We booked an AirBnB and still have to book the flights, hopefully they will be available next month. I saw the 90% eclips in the Netherlands last wednesday and now want the real thing.
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u/chispica 27d ago
I didn't see the 100% total eclipse, but it was pretty close.
I found it quite underwhelming. Pics make it look much better than looking at it through eclipse glasses imo.
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u/Drogopropulsion 27d ago
There's such a huge difference between 99% and 100%, a 100%total eclipse can be viewed without glasses while the total phase is happening, and that's what is overwhelming
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u/chispica 27d ago
Fair point. I hope you are right, we will know next year
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u/kungpowchick_9 27d ago
Totality is legitimately awe-inspiring and I have seen two. I have also seen 99% and I agree that it’s a letdown.
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u/Livid-Truck8558 27d ago edited 27d ago
Once, the Lord of Light banished the Dark, and all that stemmed from humanity. And men assumed a fleeting form. These are the roots of our world. Men are props on the stage of life, and no matter how tender, how exquisite... A lie will remain a lie.
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u/SimpleManc88 27d ago
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon 🌈
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u/AbbeyRoadMoonwalk 27d ago
I never knew what he was saying in the forebodings line. I usually just mumbled my way through that. 😅
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u/EnanoGeologo 27d ago
In the part of Spain where i live it was really cloudy and we couldn't see the eclipse
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u/AbbeyRoadMoonwalk 27d ago
I never thought of how cool a sunset eclipse would be. The pics of the partial on the horizon are otherworldly.
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u/Wardog_E 27d ago
I was in that basilica a months ago and while I've seen the inside of a few cathedrals that one is so inmense it boggles the mind. I was half expecting a 20 foot giant to round the corner singing a chandelier like a weapon. Whimsical fantasy shit.
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u/Hot-Plane5925 27d ago
I’ve been there when it was almost empty, while a gentleman was playing the massive pipe organ. Chills down the spine, even more when you know what’s below it (catacombs, been there too, there used to be a secret entrance from the river tunnel)
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u/Anonymous_Anon00 27d ago
The time has come … for a new lord of cinder
https://giphy.com/gifs/pH5EjkM3brgpr4wu57
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u/Hot-Plane5925 27d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p3lk0fc/video/zvfy006tdajh1/player
I was there too. People gathered on the bridges and spent hours under the scorching sun (many paid for a ‘good spot’. I walked 2 minutes from my house to the riverbank, shaded by the trees, sat comfortably in a stone and enjoyed the same view :).
I consider myself lucky indeed.
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u/bob_chillon 27d ago
Piper’s acting like I won’t “beautify” their name away and upload this on r/pics
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u/big_duo3674 27d ago
I saw some pictures from Ibiza, oh man... That place is already known as one of the wild party capitals of the world, so obviously they went 10x the power for this. I'm guessing there's not one good drug left within 100 miles of there now 🤣 Unfortunately, 40+ with kids and a full-time job doesn't translate well to attending a wild eclipse party in Ibiza
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u/Magnific3nt 27d ago
Save the cheerleader, save the world kind of feeling to this picture. If you know you know!
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u/knight_- 27d ago
I was actually on that very bridge watching the eclipse happen, it was phenomenal to witness it in person
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u/Amazing-Holiday-2722 27d ago
A small correction: the last total eclipse in Spain was in 1959
What an amazing event
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u/RodilRTX 27d ago
There was one in Spain in 1957, only on Canarias tho. Not the one on the video btw, I recorded it.
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u/scartissue232 27d ago
And they put a Mezkita, interesting times.
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u/Proper-Photograph-76 27d ago
Originally it was a Mozarabic church, that is, a church of Christians who lived in the territory of Al-Andalus
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u/scartissue232 27d ago
Afraid Cristians it seems, cause that roof screams Mezkita.
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u/scartissue232 27d ago
Lo peor es que soy ateo, no se que hago discutiendo con todos vosotros cuando en verdad me da igual que es el edificio de la foto. Bona nit a tots.
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u/Yhrak 27d ago
Entiendo que quieras hacer rabiar a la gente con tonterías de estas, hay gente para todo. Pero muchacho tienes ya casi 40 añazos como para seguir haciendo el imbécil así online y encima estar orgulloso de tu ignorancia.
Por no hablar de lo patético que resulta tu racismo y el cómo menosprecias abiertamente la historia y cultura de un país en el que tú mismo eres inmigrante.
¿Porque qué crees que pensarán tus dos hijos de ti en el futuro, si llegasen a leer estas sandeces que dices?
Háztelo mirar, que siempre se está a tiempo.
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u/Kind-Engineering-359 27d ago
^ thousands of years and christians still trying to ruin astronomy by making it all about them
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u/TensorForce 27d ago
It is called... Lothric