How to Safely Watch the Total Solar Eclipse and Northern Lights During This Rare Celestial Event

August 12, 2026 is shaping up to be an extraordinary day for anyone who loves looking at the sky. A total solar eclipse will cross parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Spain, and a small portion of Portugal, while a much larger region will experience a partial eclipse. At the same time, elevated geomagnetic activity could create another spectacle at high northern latitudes: the aurora borealis. The possibility of seeing both phenomena around the same date makes this an especially fascinating event, although the northern lights remain much less predictable than the eclipse itself.

At first, the idea of a solar eclipse and the northern lights appearing together sounds almost contradictory. During an eclipse, the Moon moves directly between Earth and the Sun and temporarily blocks the Sun from our perspective. The aurora, however, is created through a completely different process involving solar activity, Earth’s magnetic field, and charged particles interacting with gases high in the atmosphere. The Moon may temporarily hide the Sun from our view, but solar activity continues behind the scenes.

Where the Total Solar Eclipse Will Be Visible