Spain experienced this Wednesday, after 121 years, the excitement around a total solar eclipse. The astronomical phenomenon skipped the Iberian Peninsula for several generations, but between 2026 and 2028 the territory will experience a “triad of eclipses.”
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The eclipse completely covered the Sun in a band crossing Spain from west to east, entering through Galicia and crossing Asturias, Castilla y León, Cantabria, Basque Country, La Rioja, Aragón, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, northern Castilla-La Mancha, and the Balearic Islands. Thus, Zaragoza was considered one of the best-positioned cities to see the phenomenon.
The eclipse caused a frenzy of tourists who hit the road in search of the best spot to watch the phenomenon, which lasted 1 and a half minutes in total darkness. Meanwhile, the hotel industry took advantage, and the average price for one night in cities like Soria or Teruel exceeded 500 euros.
The Spanish government had anticipated that up to 1.5 million people would travel to the “totality band,” where the eclipse was expected to darken everything. Due to these forecasts, a special security device was deployed, consisting of 9,400 National Police officers and 24,000 Civil Guard officers. Likewise, some areas imposed traffic restrictions.
Considering that the eclipse coincides with the holidays of much of the Spanish population, in the middle of summer, there was a lot of movement on the peninsula. A study prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business estimated that 8.4% of the people planning to see the eclipse traveled from their province of residence.
At least for Spain, this is a matter that chance has made rarer: until today, there was no one alive who could have observed a solar eclipse of these characteristics, since the last total eclipse visible in the country was on August 30, 1905.
On that occasion, King Alfonso XIII went to the city of Burgos, where a large part of the Spanish high society gathered to admire the astronomical phenomenon. “The presence of the King was an incentive; there is no doubt about that. In fact, as the Burgos City Council points out, special trains were organized to travel to the city. People from Madrid, Bilbao, Vitoria, Valladolid, or Irún did not want to miss the event,” recalls Vozpópuli.
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Despite the frenzy caused by the eclipse on August 12, Spaniards will have two more opportunities to observe it, in what will be an exceptional coincidence: an unprecedented astronomical triad, with the total solar eclipses of 2026 and August 2, 2027, and the annular eclipse of January 26, 2028, when the Moon will cover part of the Sun and leave a ring of light visible around the satellite.
Regarding this, the director of the Parc Astronòmic de Pujalt and director of the Observatori de Pujalt, Josep Maria Llenas, explained to La Vanguardia: “It is not usual to have three eclipses in a row at the same point on Earth.” In his opinion, the most interesting and exceptional eclipse will be the one on August 2 of next year.
“Today’s eclipse can be observed late in the afternoon, which makes its observation difficult as it is near the horizon, at sunset. The total eclipse of 2027 will occur at midday and will be the longest of the century, lasting an average of six or seven minutes,” Llenas indicates.
On the other hand, the annular eclipse of 2028 will have less impact on Spanish territory. “The moon will be farther away and will not manage to cover the entire solar disk,” explains Llenas. Although it will also be visible from Catalonia — the path will cross the peninsula from southwest to northeast — the date and weather conditions will not be as favorable. It will be on January 26 and in Catalonia it will arrive between 17:50 and 17:55, so “the maximum phase of the eclipse will be observed at a point even lower than today’s.”
Amid the anticipation for this Wednesday’s total solar eclipse, authorities had to withdraw low-quality eclipse glasses, as they posed a serious health risk. Various autonomous communities ordered the withdrawal from the market of seven models of eclipse glasses, which implies the prohibition of their sale and the immobilization of units found at points of sale.
What the National Consumer Alert Network detected was that, when using lenses from seven brands that were on sale, users only perceived darkness. The predictable reaction to this was to momentarily remove the glasses, leaving the eye directly exposed to solar radiation. This brief exposure interval can cause chemical or thermal injuries to the focal cells of the retina.
