Spain is experiencing a highly anticipated astronomical phenomenon this Wednesday, also awaited by the millions of visitors expected to come to observe it: the solar eclipse that will cross the Peninsula and will be total only in a strip that runs from west to east, including several provincial capitals from A Coruña to Palma. It will begin from 19:30 and end shortly before 21:30. The eclipse is expected to bring life to part of depopulated Spain. Some communities have, however, warned of the risk of fires due to high temperatures and have asked those planning to go to countryside and forest areas to exercise maximum caution. EL PAÍS has compiled nearly 500 official viewpoints where you can observe that night during the day, which will last less than two minutes and for which the DGT estimates up to 1.5 million additional trips may occur. Once the sun sets, another phenomenon can be seen, although this one is more common (it repeats every summer): the Perseid meteor shower.
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Eclipses in Spain
Where will there be clouds during the eclipse? Check how the skies and horizon will be in each municipality
Low clouds can become the worst enemy of anyone wanting to see the eclipse on August 12. In the following map, we show two models estimating the cloudiness forecast for 8 p.m. on Wednesday in each municipality and towards the horizon, as well as the detail of cloud height. The latest available forecast was updated Tuesday night and incorporates hourly data from AEMET, with high resolution.
You can check the forecast by municipalities here
Neither SpaceX, nor Elon Musk nor NASA: the eclipse fills depopulated Spain with rumors
The first total solar eclipse Spain will experience in over 100 years has filled the towns in the totality strip, mostly passing through localities that have lost population in recent years, with rumors. One of the most persistent is that SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, reserved the Lerma parador a year and a half ago, and that Musk himself is inside an armored parador. In reality, the parador was rented by a U.S. company specialized in nature tourism and events like this, according to the parador director, Francisco Farinha, who confirms this to EL PAÍS. It has also gone viral that NASA had occupied an entire town in Burgos, and the Templar Castle in Ponferrada. The reality, the U.S. agency explains to this newspaper, is very different: the event in the Burgos town, Villalibado, is organized by the Exploratorium museum, and from the Leonese castle only telescope images are broadcast. “There are no official NASA events in Spain during the eclipse,” a spokesperson for the agency confirms to this newspaper.
Telecommunications companies try to prevent mobile network saturation
The main telecommunications operators in Spain —Telefónica, MasOrange, and Vodafone— along with infrastructure manager Cellnex have deployed a special technical operation focused on more than 700 key points to guarantee data traffic and roaming during the total solar eclipse. The measure responds to the sudden increase in demand expected in rural, coastal, and mountain areas.
Eclipses in Spain
Glasses to see the solar eclipse on August 12: everything about their correct use
During a total eclipse, you only need to protect yourself from the same thing as any other day: the intense light and radiation of the Sun. On a normal day, the dazzling brightness of our star makes us look away immediately; but during an advanced eclipse, it becomes much more tempting, and also bearable, to look directly at the Sun. But to avoid serious eye damage, you must always do so with protective glasses, and only those certified with ISO 12312-2.
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You can read the full information here
Fear of fires puts autonomous communities on alert
The devastating fires that have ravaged thousands of hectares this summer have put municipalities and communities on guard, holding their breath as the risk of fires multiplies with thousands of people going up to the mountains, gathering in the mountain ranges, or opening their sandwiches at viewpoints to witness the total solar eclipse. Most of Spain is at very high or extreme fire risk level. Public behavior will be decisive for safety kilometers around. The communities that will attract the most visitors have banned access to protected areas and forest tracks, and several have even issued extraordinary measures to try to avoid tragedies.
Eclipses in Spain
Where to see the solar eclipse in Spain? Map with time and visibility at each point in the country
The solar eclipse on August 12 will offer an uneven spectacle, depending on the point in Spain from which it is observed. The totality strip — where the Moon will completely cover the Sun for a maximum of almost two minutes — will cover about 40% of the territory. In the rest of the country, the phenomenon will be partial, with varying degrees of coverage depending on the location.
Read the full information here.
EL PAÍS deploys about fifteen journalists in the totality strip
About fifteen journalists and photojournalists from EL PAÍS have traveled to seven autonomous communities to report on this historic astronomical event on the ground. We will tell you how the eclipse is experienced and seen from various points along the totality strip: Galicia, Castilla y León, Community of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón, Catalonia, and Valencian Community, where it is expected that at sunset millions of people will watch as the Moon interposes itself between the Sun and darkens the day.
Eclipses in Spain
The wait is over: Spain will experience its first total solar eclipse in more than a century
The ritual will begin after 19:30 at the first points in the northwest of the peninsula. Millions of Spaniards and tourists will look towards the horizon to see an ancient and fascinating astronomical event: they will witness how it becomes night in broad daylight, as the Moon completely covers the Sun in the first total eclipse to cross the Peninsula in 121 years, from Galicia to the Balearic Islands, which will be fully visible in much of the northern half of the peninsula.
Read the full information here.
Good morning. Here begins the live narration of the historic total eclipse that will cross the northern half of the Peninsula this Wednesday. Millions of citizens are preparing to observe how the Moon will interpose itself between the Earth and the Sun near sunset. Authorities expect millions of trips to the areas that are part of the totality strip, where the eclipse will be seen in full.
