But if you've looked at maps of the Aug. 12, 2026, total solar eclipse, you may have noticed something puzzling. At first glance, the eclipse appears to do the exact opposite. The path seems to begin in far northern Siberia, near the North Pole, before heading toward eastern Greenland, making it look as though the moon's shadow were traveling from east to west. It then appears to curve over western Iceland and northern Spain. So what's going on?
An animation of the shadow path for the Aug. 12, 2026, total solar eclipse, from the point of view of the moon. (Image credit: Michael Zeiler at EclipseAtlas.com/Fred Espenak at EclipseWise.com)
"The path of this eclipse also has a strong north-south component, the combined effect of Earth's rotation and the tilt of both Earth's axis and the Moon's orbit," experts at NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio explained. "Combined with Earth's rotation, the umbra's eastern motion during the first half of its travel is effectively canceled out."
The moon's shadow has two parts — the narrow umbra, where observers experience totality, and the much broader penumbra, where only a partial eclipse is visible. The widths of these shadows depend on the moon's distance from Earth, while their speed is influenced by the moon's orbit, Earth's rotation and the geometry of the eclipse.
If you aren't in the right spot for the total solar eclipse, fear not. A near-total lunar eclipse will be visible over most of North America just two weeks later, and there are plenty of other summer skywatching highlights to watch for.
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