A total solar eclipse will darken the sky on Wednesday, August 12, the first such event in more than two years. The phenomenon happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow that completely blocks sunlight in some areas, according to NASA.
Skywatchers in parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain and northeastern Portugal will be able to see totality, the moment when the sky darkens as the Sun disappears entirely. A partial eclipse, in which only part of the sunlight is blocked, will be visible across regions of Europe, Africa and North America.
Effects on animals and light
Professional astronomer Alberto Silva Betzler said the effects of the eclipse are well known. Lighting conditions become similar to nighttime, he said, and animal behaviour can change as though dusk were arriving.
Betzler said chickens, for example, tend to head back to their roosting spots, as do other animals, beginning to act as they would if night were falling.
Path of totality
The narrow path of totality will stretch 8,300 kilometres (5,157 miles), according to EarthSky. It begins over the Arctic coast at around 1pm Brasilia time and passes near the North Pole before moving over Greenland, Iceland, Portugal and northern Spain.
Observers in Greenland will be able to watch the eclipse for just over two minutes, while those in northern Spain will see only about 20 seconds of totality, weather permitting. Cloud cover remains the biggest obstacle to eclipse viewing.
The eclipse will then cross Galicia and the Balearic Islands in Spain around nightfall, speeding up the transition from day to night, according to Spain's Scientific and Advisory Committee for the Trio of Eclipses.
How to watch
People wanting to check when the eclipse will occur in their region, and what it will look like, can consult the Time and Date website.
For those outside the eclipse's path, the European Space Agency will broadcast a live stream of totality from the Astrophysical Observatory of Javalambre, in Teruel, Spain.
