See Gorgeous Pictures of the 2026 Total Photo voltaic Eclipse From Nat Geo Photographers

And the sky present didn’t finish with the eclipse. The Perseid meteor bathe peaked later that very same night time, and since a photo voltaic eclipse can solely happen throughout a brand new moon, there was little moonlight to scrub out the meteors. Under the precise situations, observers might even catch a vivid Perseid throughout totality.

National Geographic photographers had been stationed alongside the trail to seize the eclipse because it unfolded. Here are a few of the greatest pictures from throughout Europe—and the main points that make each price a better look.

Spain: A Total Eclipse at Sunset

Catalan photographer and National Geographic Explorer Wayra Ficapal had determined a yr earlier that she wished to expertise the eclipse from Spain’s Ebro Delta, however she selected the precise location solely per week beforehand. After realizing that the moon’s shadow would hint a lot of the Ebro River from northern Spain towards its mouth within the Mediterranean, she headed to the Illa de Gràcia bridge in Sant Jaume d’Enveja, hoping to {photograph} the eclipsed solar mirrored within the water.

“I had read that experts advise not to look only at the eclipse, but to pay attention to your surroundings, the sky and the stars,” Ficapal says. “But during the minute and a half that it lasted, I couldn’t take my eyes off the Moon as it eclipsed the Sun. It was magical, like a scene from another planet. You feel that you are part of the cosmos.” As totality approached, she heard birds calling earlier than they all of the sudden fell silent and felt the temperature drop sharply. When daylight returned, mosquitoes emerged in pressure.

For Ficapal, the expertise was additionally deeply communal. “Experiencing a total eclipse is a collective experience that makes you realize that we are all part of something bigger.”