Iceland’s total eclipse will be the only one most residents see

Wednesday evening’s total solar eclipse will be visible from Iceland for the first time since 1954, mbl.is reports. It will also be the first total eclipse visible from Reykjavík since June 17, 1433.

The next solar eclipse visible from Iceland will occur in 2196, over Snæfellsnes and the Westfjords. Reykjavík will not see another total solar eclipse until May 26, 2245.

That means the eclipse visible on Wednesday will be the only solar eclipse most Icelanders are likely to have the opportunity to see. But there are four types of solar eclipse.

The Icelandic science website Vísindavefurinn explains that a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, partially or completely blocking the Sun as viewed from Earth. This can happen only when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned.

The Moon’s shadow consists of two parts: the umbra and the penumbra. To see a total solar eclipse, an observer must be inside the umbra, which falls on only a very small part of Earth. The Earth’s rotation creates an eclipse path across its surface, whose width depends on the Moon’s distance.

A total eclipse occurs when the Moon covers the entire solar disc, allowing the solar corona to appear. It can be seen only from the limited area crossed by the eclipse path.

An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are precisely aligned but the Moon’s apparent size is smaller than the Sun’s. The Sun then appears as a bright ring around the Moon’s dark disc. The last annular eclipse visible from Iceland occurred on May 31, 2003, and the next will be visible in 2048.

A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not perfectly aligned, so the Moon covers only part of the Sun. Partial eclipses are visible from a much larger area of Earth than the other types.

A hybrid eclipse is both annular and total, depending on where the observer is along the eclipse path. A total eclipse is visible in some places, while an annular eclipse is visible in others. Hybrid eclipses are relatively rare.

The Sólmyrkvi 2026 website contains further information about the eclipse, including advice on using a smartphone to photograph it.