Skywatchers across Europe will turn their eyes skyward on Wednesday, Aug. 12, as a total solar eclipse traces a path over Iceland and Spain, while Poland experiences a partial eclipse just before sunset.
Total eclipses occur because of what physicist Paweł Janowski of Kraków's AGH University calls a cosmic coincidence: the moon, about 400 times smaller than the sun, also orbits roughly 400 times closer to Earth, making the two appear nearly the same size in the sky.
"That's precisely the extraordinary coincidence that allows the Moon to almost perfectly cover the solar disk during a total eclipse", Janowski said in a university statement. Were the moon slightly smaller or more distant, he added, total eclipses would be impossible, leaving only "annular" eclipses in which a ring of sunlight remains visible.
What Poland will see
In Poland, the eclipse will begin between 7:10 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. local time depending on region, with the sun sitting low on the horizon before setting around 8:00 p.m. in Rzeszow and 8:30 p.m. in Szczecin. East of a line through Olsztyn, Łódź and Opole, the eclipse's peak will not arrive until after sunset.
Coverage will range from just 42% of the solar disk in the southeastern Bieszczady Mountains to as much as 88% in the Kłodzko Valley and 85% across the Masuria lakes in the north. Experts said the partial eclipse should never be viewed with the naked eye, and recommended dedicated eclipse glasses — not ordinary sunglasses — as the cheapest, safest option.
Totality in Iceland and Spain
Totality itself will be visible only from western Iceland and parts of Spain, including the Balearic island of Majorca and the Iberian Peninsula's northeast.
Viewing conditions there could prove difficult: on Majorca the sun will hang just 2.5 degrees above a mountain-obstructed horizon during totality, prompting authorities to warn some roads may be closed for safety, while wildfires threaten sightlines in mainland Spain. The longest totality, two minutes and 18 seconds, will fall near Latrabjarg on Iceland's western coast.
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Source: Polish Radio, PAP