After eastern Greenland and western Iceland, the shadow crosses the Atlantic and sweeps northern Spain in the early evening — Basque Country, Navarra, Aragón, Catalonia, ending near the Balearic Islands — with up to ~2 minutes of totality, the Sun hanging just above the western horizon. A sunset totality is one of the rarest sights in astronomy: pick a spot with a perfectly clear western horizon, and book early — the region will be crowded.
Inside the path the Sun disappears entirely: sudden night in daytime, the corona visible to the naked eye — during totality only. Times in CEST:
| City | Totality around | Duration | Sun altitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reykjavik | 19:49 | ~1–2 min | 24° |
| A Coruna | 20:28 | ~2 min | 12° |
| Oviedo | 20:28 | ~1–2 min | 10° |
| Bilbao | 20:28 | path edge — a few seconds at best | 8° |
| Zaragoza | 20:30 | ~1–2 min | 6° |
| Valencia | 20:33 | ~1–2 min | 4° |
| Palma de Mallorca | 20:32 | ~1–2 min | 3° |
Same JPL ephemerides, one-minute sampling: exact durations (up to ~2 min depending on your position inside the path) require second-level precision — double-check locally on the day. Bilbao illustrates the path edge: magnitude exactly 1.000 — totality there is decided within a few kilometres.
| City | Begins | Maximum | Ends | Sun covered | Sun altitude at max. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toulouse | 19:32 | 20:26 | sets eclipsed (21:05) | 98% | 6° |
| Bordeaux | 19:30 | 20:25 | sets eclipsed (21:16) | 98% | 7° |
| Marseille | 19:32 | 20:25 | sets eclipsed (20:48) | 97% | 3° |
| Rodez | 19:31 | 20:25 | sets eclipsed (21:02) | 96% | 5° |
| Brest | 19:23 | 20:19 | 21:13 | 96% | 12° |
| Lyon | 19:28 | 20:22 | sets eclipsed (20:56) | 94% | 5° |
| Paris | 19:23 | 20:17 | 21:10 | 92% | 8° |
| Lille | 19:20 | 20:14 | 21:07 | 90% | 8° |
| Strasbourg | 19:23 | 20:16 | sets eclipsed (20:52) | 90% | 4° |
Times computed by Vigi-Sky from JPL Horizons topocentric ephemerides (atmospheric refraction included), rounded to the minute. Obscuration is the fraction of the Sun's area covered at maximum.
The detail photographers will remember: in most French cities the Sun sets while still eclipsed — a crescent of fire sinking into the horizon.
Page updated August 2, 2026 · Vigi-Sky