ESA will broadcast the UK partial solar eclipse 2026 live from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre in Teruel, Spain, starting at 19:30 CEST on 12 August 2026. Dame Dr Maggie Aderin will host the programme in English, with the peak moment at 20:31 CEST.
The live coverage will run on ESA Web TV and ESA's YouTube channel, and it will end at about 20:45 CEST. The broadcast will include ESA’s Director of Science Professor Carole Mundell, ESA scientists Andy To, Miho Janvier and Martin Hewitson, and observatory director Javier Cenarro.
Javalambre in Teruel
The observatory sits inside the path of totality, where the Moon will cover the Sun completely for 1 minute and 21 seconds. ESA says the site has low light pollution, rare cloud cover and a clear view to the western horizon, which is why it selected Javalambre in Spain for the live programme.
That timing gives viewers a full broadcast window of roughly 75 minutes, from 19:30 CEST until about 20:45 CEST, while the most concentrated part of the event lasts just over a minute. ESA will also take additional small telescopes up to the observatory, with a live feed from those instruments showing the Moon moving across the Sun.
Europe and the path
The eclipse will be visible across much of Europe on 12 August 2026, but only a narrow path will see totality. That path crosses Greenland, Iceland, a small area of northeastern Portugal and Spain, while other parts of Europe will see only a partial solar eclipse.
For viewers outside that corridor, the practical choice is the broadcast. The coverage on ESA Web TV and ESA's YouTube channel is set up to show the eclipse in real time from the location where the full event can be seen, rather than from places where the Sun will only be partly covered.
Dame Dr Maggie Aderin’s role as host gives the programme a single anchor as the eclipse moves from partial phases into totality and back out again. The most direct way to follow it is to tune in before 19:30 CEST, because the live window starts before the 20:31 CEST peak and closes shortly after 20:45 CEST.
