Spain Witnesses Its First Total Solar Eclipse in Over a Century

Spain witnessed a total solar eclipse on Wednesday for the first time in more than a century, producing an unusually photogenic spectacle since the sun hung just above the horizon. The phenomenon was also partially visible in parts of northern North America, much of Europe, and western Africa.

The path of totality crossed the Northern Hemisphere from west to east, beginning in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, passing west of Iceland, and sweeping across the North Atlantic before the moon's shadow reached the Iberian Peninsula at 8:30 p.m. CEST.

Full totality was visible in Galicia, Asturias, Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands, while the rest of the country saw a partial eclipse. Crowds gathered to watch, from beachgoers at Arenal Beach in Mallorca to families in Madrid's El Cerro del Tío Pío Park, and even soccer fans wearing protective glasses before a match in A Coruña.

The overall event lasted roughly four and a half hours, though the sky went dark for under two minutes at totality's peak. Several space agencies used the brief window to run scientific experiments. Among the most notable was a NASA mission that tracked the moon's shadow using a WB-57 research aircraft flying at 50,000 feet, gathering data on the sun's corona — its outer atmosphere, which can only be studied closely during total eclipses.

NASA also brought students from several US universities to Iceland and Spain to launch scientific balloons before, during, and after the eclipse, aiming to study how the temporary darkness affects conditions in Earth's atmosphere.

Later this month, a partial lunar eclipse will be visible across the Americas, offering another opportunity for cosmic observation.