xkcd #2914: Eclipse Coolnesss

When I was a kid I was lucky enough to have an eclipse pass directly over head. I'll never forget that.

Its hard to describe it to any one that hasn't experience it.

Now I looked up the next total eclipse in europe. Spain 12 August 2026 here I come!

Btw, is a total eclipse that different from an annular eclipse? Anybody got tips on what to do?

An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farther out, making it appear smaller than the sun. So when it covers it, you still see a ring of sun. Cool, but not spectacular. You need special glasses for sun viewing the entire time. It looks like so:

A total solar eclipse is when the moon is closer and appears as large or larger than the sun, completely blocking it. This creates a temporary night-like environment for a small section of the earth. It also makes it so that you can view the sun's outer atmosphere, which extends away from the sun in ghostly white outcroppings. This is always there, but the sun's surface is so bright it usually drowns it out. It appears about as bright as a full moon, viewable with the naked eye. The moon itself becomes absolutely, mesmerizingly black. Even very-science minded persons have described it as a religious experience
in an annular eclipse you don't get the "someone broke the sky" thing. It basically means there's always bits of the sun sticking out from around the moon.

Edit: so bascially the whole spike in the middle of the graph is gone
If you are in the path of totality, go find a spot early on and just kind of hang out - bring snacks and water and a book. If you aren't familiar with the area, download a map on your phone because the cell network might be slammed with people. Don't look at the sun without solar glasses until totality. The moon takes a while to move in front of the sun and the light level gradually drops, but you won't notice it until probably 90% of the sun is covered. Once totality occurs, you can look at the eclipse with the naked eye.

It is beautiful and indescribable and I was profoundly moved when I watched the 2017 eclipse. I will watch the upcoming one, provided the clouds don't cover it.

Once the eclipse is over, prepare to wait for traffic. It might be a while to get out because so many people go to such a small area.
I think the problem with this one was how close it was to to sunset.

Global Event: Total Solar Eclipse, in Spain

Start of Partial: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 19:30 CEST

Start of Totality: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:26 CEST

End of Totality: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:33 CEST

End of Partial: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:46 WEST

Sunset:

20:49 - Wednesday, August 12, 2026 (GMT+2)
If you go north/west, the eclipse will take place a bit higher over the horizon. If you go to the eastern part/coast of Spain, it will be very low to the horizon, which would maybe suck inland but might be cool over the ocean.

Having seen a total eclipse before, I know solar eclipses are in danger of being overhyped. IMO, they probably aren't worth driving across the country. But if all you need is a 3 to 5 hour drive to get to the path of totality, I think you should absolutely do it. They're legit. Not, like, life changing, but legit. Find a place with a few trees so you can watch the crescent shadows and maybe hear some wildlife freak out.

Unless it's cloudy
- I’m in the path of totality but I fully expect it to be overcast here. Because of course it would be.
As someone who drove across country for the last eclipse - Phoenix to bfe Oregon - it's worth doing once in your life. Even in the middle of nowhere, there were enough people around that when the moment of totality came, there was a very audible collective gasp, it was pretty awesome.

I was quite impressed by the 20...17 eclipse over California, imo get lucky with a clear day, and stand near a tree without leaves, look at the kaleidoscope of shadows cast by the tree onto the ground, it's indescribable when shadows don't look like shadows any more.

2017 one went spot on over my hometown when I was lucky enough to have moved back there for a couple years. No traffic to get to a good spot just wandered outside during work to watch it all happen. The shadows were more fascinating to me than the sky it was incredibly surreal, it felt like an immersion breaking shader glitch in a game
- 2017 was the first one where I could notice it but coverage was at only like 40% in my area. The shadows were by far the most hallucinogenic thing I have seen sober. Especially on the tree leaves in the breeze? Magic.
  
  I haaaaaaate that I’m at literally 91% for 2024 with intermittent clouds.
- Shadow snakes? At least that's the name I recall from Smarter every day talking to an eclipse pro/fan.
  Sounded very cool, if I recall right it's a phenomenon you can observe shortly before, and especially right after, a total eclipse.

I still regret not pestering my parents enough to drive me out when there was a total eclipse in Germany.

To be fair, it was a pretty long drive from where you were living at the time, Azerbaijan..

Full solar eclipse made me nauseous when I saw it.

Are you a bird?
- Chirp chirp, motherfucker.

https://explainxkcd.com/2914

Meh I saw a full solar eclipse as a kid and it was fine. I mean it's not like we're seeing photographic proof of life at Alpha Centauri or something.

Schools are canceling for this by me. It's being treated like some sort of religious revelation.
- Seems like a thing schools could take kids outside and yea know, teach them with?
- Well, it's a really cool thing that you only get a once in a lifetime chance to witness first hand unless you have a shit ton of money for travel (most people don't). So I say, let them have it.

I'm curious what does an eclipse look like if your right on the edge of totality like do younget a full eclipse for like 1 second before it ends?

We live outside the edge of totality for the last eclipse. The sun became insanely bright, and changed colors, and all of the shadows had crescent shapes to them. It was trippy.
- Yeah I was outside the edge of totality last eclipse and the first thing I noticed was how much brighter the traffic lights looked. It's weird how my eyes adjusted to perceive the darker day as normal daylight but both the sun and other lights seemed so much brighter.
Like being brought to the edge and then being disappointed that you couldn't be taken all the way. I was outside of totality last time, it was like the moon avoided the last week of sunlight. Bright as hell even with the glasses.
Basically yes. Nearer the center of the path means a longer totality.
- I just landed in Houston, mainly to see the eclipse next week. Originally I was going to view from Austin, but it's because of this that I decided to trek to Dallas instead.
  
  Essentially "totality" is inside the moons shadow. Since the moon is spherical (well, mostly), the shadow it casts is a circle. That's the path of totality.
  
  I know you know this, I'm just saying this because you see that black band and you think all totality is the same. It's not. If you're on the edges, imagine a big circle shadow. Easier to visualize this way.

I'm the director of an observatory. We expect 3000 people to attend our free viewing event.

Eclipse starts at 1ish.... I had some even ask if that was am or pm.

Kinda bummed I'm on the wrong side of the planet for this. I guess Japan is a pretty small target to hit. It was neat watching the last one in the US on TV here. I remember as a kid in either the late '80s or early '90s we got to see one during school hours.

Went to Houston Space Center today and there was a presentation on the eclipse. I guess they will have an event there on ~~Tuesday~~ Monday, but at HSC they are only going to be 90%.

I'm planning to see it from Dallas, but I really wanted to speak up when she said "it's still gonna be great".

It will be nothing compared to actually being in totality. And I don't know why anybody in greater Houston that has the day off would spend it at HSC instead of actually inside the path.

I hope you don't go looking for it on Tuesday, cause the eclipse is on Monday the 8th
- Good catch lol. I'm all jumbled up. I'll be in Dallas Monday, and coming back to Houston on Tuesday.

We had a partial eclipse here in 2000. It was at noon, and I took an hour of from my job to watch it. Was still a pretty cool experience.

If you wanna believe, it can be daybreak....

When, to our puny little eyes, the sun is in effect infinitely bright, 9% of infinite is still infinite.

I called thunderstorms on Monday years ago knowing I'd be in the totality, and dammit if it doesn't look like I was right.