Totality Among the Vineyards: the Total Solar Eclipse of August 12, 2026

On August 12, 2026, the Moon's shadow crossed northern Spain. It was the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Spain since 1905, and we watched it from a vineyard near La Horra, in the Ribera del Duero wine region, about 15 km from Aranda de Duero. The eclipse happened only about an hour before sunset, with the Sun just 8° above the horizon. That made it a tricky eclipse to observe, but also a very beautiful one.

The Eclipse at La Horra

These were the circumstances for our observing site (local time, CEST):

First contact (start of the partial phase)	19:34
Second contact (start of totality)	20:29
Maximum eclipse	20:30
Third contact (end of totality)	20:31
Duration of totality	about 1 min 42 s
Altitude of the Sun at maximum	about 8°, in the west-northwest
Sunset	21:19, with the Sun still partially eclipsed

Because the Sun was so low, we were looking at it through about seven times as much air as when it is straight overhead. That dims and reddens the Sun, and it also takes away the faint outer parts of the corona. The other problem with a low Sun is that you need a clear view of the horizon. That's why we chose a spot on a hill in the vineyards, with an open view to the west. The fourth contact never happened for us: the Sun set while the Moon was still covering part of it.

A Nervous Morning

We got up around 9:30. It was already very warm outside, and even though the sky was deep blue, I was very nervous. In the morning we watched the (eclipse) news on TV and kept working on the scripts that would control the cameras during the eclipse.

The eclipse was all over the Spanish news that morning.

Final work on the camera scripts in our holiday house.

We walked to the bar, where we tried to fight the stress with tortilla and tinto de verano. Then we went back to the house, but at 16:00 we couldn't wait any longer and drove to the bodega in La Horra. First we got a tour of the winery, and the owner insisted that we taste some of his wine.

Wine tasting at the bodega, a few hours before the eclipse.

Setting Up in the Vineyard

A bit after 17:00 we left for the vineyard. The car had to stay at the bottom, so we climbed up through the sand several times to carry everything to the top. After a while Kwinten and Laura joined us, and later Wim, Aaron and Sep arrived too.

Our spot on the hill, early in the setup.

Of course there were some problems while setting up, mainly with getting the telescope in focus. This was the first time we had a telescope on a real mount with us at an eclipse. Focusing on the Sun is never easy, and the heat shimmer over the hot ground didn't help.

Getting the telescope ready.

The camera line-up.

A few minutes before the start of the eclipse, everything was ready. But the cameras had been switched on for too long, and not all of them were taking pictures. A quick restart of Solar Eclipse Workbench, and from then on everything ran automatically.

Our Photo Setup

This eclipse was in Europe, so we could travel by car and take heavier equipment with us: a good mount and a real telescope. Our earlier eclipses were far from home, and the luggage had to stay light. This was the first time we could bring a telescope and mount to an eclipse. Our setup:

• Canon EOS R on the TS Optics PhotoLine 80mm refractor, on the mount, for the close-ups: the detailed images of the corona, the diamond rings and the chromosphere, the composites, and the close-up timelapse.
• Canon EOS 80D with a Sigma 18–35mm f/1.8 lens for the wide-angle shots: the sequence of the eclipse above the vineyard and the wide-angle timelapse.
• A GoPro filming the whole scene in wide angle, for the movie.

Both Canon cameras were controlled from a laptop by Solar Eclipse Workbench, the open-source software we wrote ourselves for automating eclipse photography. You give it your location and the eclipse, and it calculates the contact times (C1, C2, maximum, C3, C4) and the altitude of the Sun for your site. A script then defines every picture relative to those contact times, for every camera, with its own shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Before the eclipse, the software synchronizes the clocks of the cameras with the computer and checks battery level, free memory, and whether focus and exposure are set to manual. Once the script is started, everything happens automatically, so we could simply enjoy the eclipse ourselves.

We made the script with the SEW Wizard, which is part of the software. It calculates an exposure for every phase of the eclipse, and it takes the altitude of the Sun into account: the lower the Sun, the more light the atmosphere absorbs. For the Canon EOS R behind the telescope (480 mm focal length, f/6, ISO 100) this gave the following exposures:

• Partial phase (with an ND 3.8 solar filter): one picture every 10 seconds, about 330 before totality and 260 after. The exposure went from 1/8000 s at first contact (Sun at 18°) to 1/3200 s just before totality. After totality, as the Sun set, it went up to 1/40 s at ISO 400 with the Sun on the horizon.
• Baily's beads and the diamond ring (solar filter removed): short bursts at 1/3200 s, 8 seconds before second contact, and at 1/60 s, 2 seconds before. The same was done in reverse after third contact.
• Prominences: 1/800 s at the start of totality. Chromosphere: 1/1600 s, just before third contact.
• Corona: a repeating cycle of 1/200 s, 1/25 s, 1/2 s, 1 s and 1.3 s, each exposure showing the corona out to a different distance from the Sun.
• HDR series at maximum eclipse: 15 pictures, from 1/200 s seven stops down and back, for the HDR image of the corona.
• Earthshine: 4 s at ISO 400, to capture the dark side of the Moon, lit by sunlight reflected from the Earth.

So the exposures during totality ranged from 1/3200 s to 4 s, a factor of more than 10,000. No single exposure can show both the prominences and the outer corona, which is why the pictures are combined into one HDR image afterwards. The Canon EOS 80D (at f/1.8) followed the same pattern, with exposures from 1/8000 s to 1/8 s during totality.

In total, the script took more than 1,200 pictures with the two cameras. Voice prompts counted down to every contact, so we knew exactly when to take off the solar filters (and put them back on).

If you are planning to photograph an eclipse yourself, the software is free to use, and it works with many Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras.

Solar Eclipse Workbench running the script, with the partial phase on screen. Thumbs up!

The Partial Phase

It was striking how fast the eclipse went. Very soon a big bite was missing from the Sun, and it quickly started to get darker. We saw the projected crescents through the holes of a passe-vite (a food mill), but with the Sun so low this wasn't easy. Every hole works like a pinhole camera and projects a small image of the Sun.

Dozens of little crescent Suns, projected on a hand through a passe-vite.

We didn't see shadow bands this time. The light quickly became eerie, Venus was visible minutes before totality, and it got noticeably cooler and darker very fast (more about the temperature below).

About half a minute before totality. Even a thin crescent is still dazzling.

Totality

And then suddenly the diamond ring was there! What a beautiful sight! A huge prominence was visible, and what a beautiful corona! It was a bit less extended because the Sun was so low, but it showed a lot of detail. On the horizon there was still light all around us, which was very impressive: we were inside the Moon's shadow, but beyond its edge, tens of kilometres away, the Sun was still shining.

HDR image of the corona, combined from the exposure brackets taken with the Canon EOS R on the TS Optics PhotoLine 80mm during totality. Note the pink prominence on the left edge.

The corona shows long streamers. Around solar maximum, the corona tends to look more round, with streamers in all directions. In 2026 the Sun was already past the maximum of solar cycle 25, but the corona still had streamers in many directions.

Second and third contact in one image: the thin red arcs are the chromosphere, the layer just above the solar surface, visible for a few seconds at the start and end of totality.

Second contact, mid-totality and third contact.

Unfortunately, it was over much too soon...

The Whole Eclipse in One Image

Because the cameras ran automatically from start to finish, we can show the whole eclipse in one picture. The sequence over the vineyard shows how low the Sun was: it descended towards the horizon throughout the eclipse and turned redder and redder.

The complete eclipse above the vineyard, from the first bite to just above the horizon, taken with the Canon EOS 80D and the Sigma 18–35mm f/1.8.

The phases of the eclipse arranged around totality. The colour change is caused by the Sun sinking deeper into the atmosphere.

From first contact to sunset, from the close-ups taken through the telescope.

After Totality

It became much brighter right away. The chips and the champagne came out. As usual, the part after totality was followed less closely. But the last part was spectacular again! A still partly eclipsed Sun could just be seen above the horizon, and at the end even without eclipse glasses.

A toast with the bodega's wine to the setting, still eclipsed Sun.

The eclipsed Sun just before sunset, as a red crescent above the trees.

Around 21:14 the Sun sank behind the hills on the horizon, with part of it still covered by the Moon.

The last bit of the eclipsed Sun on the horizon.

How Much Colder Did It Get?

Next to our setup we had a small TZ-TempU03 data logger, measuring the temperature and humidity every minute. It stood in the shade the whole time, so it measured the air temperature and not the heat of the sunlight. It was switched on at 18:53 and switched off at 21:20, right after sunset.

Temperature and humidity at our site during the eclipse.

When we arrived, it was still very hot. At first contact (19:34), the logger measured 39.5 °C, and the temperature had even risen a little in the minutes before. As the Moon covered more and more of the Sun, the temperature started to fall, slowly at first and then faster and faster. In the last quarter of an hour before totality it dropped by about 0.2 °C every minute. At totality it was 34.0 °C, 5.5 °C colder than at first contact. We really felt that difference.

Normally the temperature rises again after totality, when the Sun comes back. That didn't happen here: the Sun was only 8° high and setting, so it never warmed up again. The temperature levelled off at about 32.5 °C and then slowly kept falling, to 31.6 °C at sunset. This means that part of the drop is simply the normal cooling in the evening. But the stable temperature before first contact and the steep drop towards totality show that the eclipse did most of the work.

The relative humidity went up from about 17% to 20%. The amount of water vapour in the air didn't change: cooler air can hold less water vapour, so the same amount of water vapour gives a higher relative humidity. Even at 20%, it was still very dry air.

Wine and Perseids

After the eclipse we packed everything up and then joined the winemaker's table between the vines. We enjoyed the good wine and the snacks. It soon got dark, so we watched the Perseids for a while. The timing was perfect: a solar eclipse only happens at new Moon, so there was no moonlight to spoil the meteor shower, which peaks around August 12–13.

Dinner between the vines.

Twilight over the vineyard.

We drove back to the house, where we had another drink and kept watching the Perseids from the terrace. Even the car's navigation hadn't forgotten the eclipse yet.

The navigation app's eclipse warning, still showing on the way home that night.

We didn't go to bed until very late (2 o'clock)...

The Movie

We also made a movie of our eclipse day, with the GoPro footage and the timelapses: