Total Solar Eclipse to Sweep Spain, Iceland and Beyond on August 12

For the first time in more than 100 years, a total solar eclipse is coming to mainland Spain. Maximum totality will occur off Iceland's west coast, but hundreds of millions more are in for a treat. Throw in a crescendoing meteor shower and a six-planet parade on the same day, and stargazers will be treated to a view like no other.

Daytime darkness will descend August 12 across the Iberian Peninsula close to sunset — plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland — as the sun, moon and Earth align perfectly in the sky. Starting near the North Pole before tracking south, totality will last up to two minutes and 18 seconds, an appetizer for an even longer solar show next year — a 6 and a half minute extravaganza that will sweep from Spain to North Africa and the Middle East. It will take 1 and a half hours for the umbra, or moon’s sun-blocking shadow, to race along the 5,130-mile (8,260-kilometer) course, most of it over an empty Atlantic.

By the time it reaches a small patch of Portugal and then Spain with its massive crowds, totality will have dwindled to a minute or so. The spectacle will end in the Mediterranean. Hundreds of millions more on the sidelines are in for a treat as well.