On Wednesday 12 August 2026, millions of people looked up at the sky to witness a spectacle as rare as it was fascinating : a solar eclipse. Visible from several countries, the passage of the Moon’s shadow across the Earth had been predicted to the nearest second by the Time and Space Laboratory (LTE) at the Paris Observatory – PSL, the national authority for the calculation and publication of official ephemerides for the Solar System.
For this great moment of shared experience and scientific culture, LIRA staff gathered at various locations, with their families, colleagues or members of the public. Whether observing directly with suitable protection, through a telescope, via optical projection or using a pinhole camera, a variety of techniques enabled the phenomenon to be observed in complete safety. This mosaic of photographs bears witness to this diversity and shows the Sun obscured to varying degrees depending on the location and time of observation.
The Paris Observatory – PSL also played an active role in bringing the event to life and explaining it through numerous media appearances.
Photos from left to right and top to bottom : Emanuele Congiu (Sardinia, Italy), Raphael Moreno (Tarifa, Spain), Alain Doressoundiram (León, Spain), Stéphane Erard (Villers-sur-Mer), Merlin Frédéric (Saint Miguel de Bernuy, Spain), Arnaud Pès (Dinard), Jacques Crovisier (Paris), Nicolas Biver (Clichy), Rupam Jash, Anthony Boccaletti (Torreblacos, Spain), Jean-Louis Bougeret, Lee Roy Malac-Allain (Logroño, Spain), Paulina Palma-Bifani (Cité Universitaire), Sandrine Vinatier (Fuensaldana, Spain), Thibaut Vacelet, Thibaut Paumard (Corella, Spain).
