How to see this week's eclipse (and the next big one)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Short Wave

Episode: How to see this week's eclipse (and the next big one)

Date: August 11, 2026
Host: Regina Barber (NPR), with Hannah Chin (Producer & Guest Host)
Featured Guests:

• David Barron (Eclipse chaser and author)
• Ralph Chu (Eye specialist, University of Waterloo)

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Overview

This episode explores the total solar eclipse happening tomorrow (August 12, 2026), focusing on where and how to see it safely, why eclipses are so captivating, and upcoming opportunities for eclipse viewing—sprinkled with humor and real-life stories from the hosts and guests.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Makes a Total Solar Eclipse Special?

• Definition: Occurs when the Moon passes directly between Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow that turns day into night for a brief moment ([00:49]).
• Personal Stories:
  • Hannah recounts seeing the 2017 eclipse in Oregon ([00:49]).
  • Regina missed it due to fear of traffic, caught only a partial eclipse in Washington ([01:06]).
• Eclipse Chaser Perspective:
  • David Barron (eclipse chaser/author):

    “A total solar eclipse is the closest thing to space travel that you can experience without leaving the surface of the earth. ... For a few minutes, you are suddenly transported to some alien world.” ([01:56])

2. Eclipse Science 101: The Path of Totality & Viewing Zones

• The Path:
  • David Barron:

    “A total solar eclipse is visible only along a narrow path that snakes across the surface of the earth. It’s called the path of totality.” ([04:19])

  • Umbra = path of totality (full shadow, see total eclipse)
  • Penumbra = wider area (partial shadow, see partial eclipse) ([04:49])
  • Regina explains Latin root:

    “Umbra is Latin for shadow...” ([04:29])

3. How to View Safely

• Essential Safety Tips:
  • Never look directly at the sun without protection; use certified eclipse glasses ([05:16]).
  • Ralph Chu (eye specialist):

    “You look at the eclipse...the next morning, you wake up...you suddenly realize you can’t see their face.” ([05:29])

  • Eye damage might not be immediate, but can be permanent ([05:52]).
  • The American Astronomical Society certifies safe sellers of eclipse glasses ([06:09]).

4. Strange & Wonderful Eclipse Effects

• Light and Shadows:
  • Dimming light mimics dusk—colors fade, the world feels surreal ([07:14]).
  • Regina's story:

    “As I was reading the book [to her daughter], I started to notice things getting like, visibly darker. ... Eventually I couldn’t read the Book’s text anymore.” ([07:14])

  • Unique “moon-shaped shadows” and crisper outlines—tree leaves acting as pinhole projectors ([07:42], [08:01]).
  • David Barron:

    “If you look under a tree...they will project onto the ground the shape of the sun. So you’ll see tiny little crescents everywhere.” ([07:48])

  • As totality approaches, shadows sharpen; minor details, like individual hairs, become visible ([08:06]).

5. The Magic Moment: Totality

• During Totality:
  • Day turns to night; it gets cold, birds stop singing ([08:24]).
  • It is only at totality that you can safely remove your eclipse glasses and look directly at the sun ([08:35]).
  • What you see:
    • The solar corona:
      David Barron:

      “You’re actually looking at the sun’s outer atmosphere, which is called the solar corona.” ([08:50])
      “It’s this beautiful textured thing...like a wreath or a crown...it’s made out of tinsel or strands of silk. It shimmers in space. It’s different every time.” ([09:01])

6. Why This Eclipse Is Unique

• Timing:
  • Occurs at sunset—rare because summer eclipses usually happen with the sun high in the sky ([09:33]).
  • Viewing Tips:
    • Avoid obstructions (buildings, mountains), especially important at sunset ([09:33]).

7. Clouds, Weather, and Eclipses

• Cloudy Day Frustrations:
  • Regina recounts 2024 Buffalo eclipse: Drove for hours, thick clouds threatened visibility, but clouds parted at totality ([10:08]-[10:32]).
  • Science behind weather changes:
    • Solar eclipses may clear clouds by reducing sunlight and thus convection/evaporation rates ([11:00]).
    • David Barron:

      “Total eclipses change the weather. ... Under some conditions, they can cause clouds to clear up because all of a sudden, the sun’s warmth is being cut off...” ([11:17])

8. Future Eclipses: Mark Your Calendars

• Next US Total Solar Eclipse:
  • August 22, 2027 (primarily Montana, North Dakota) ([11:50]).
  • Major “coast-to-coast” US eclipse: August 12, 2045—“The Great American Solar Eclipse” ([12:05]).
• Global Eclipse Tourism:
  • Eclipses happen about every 18 months somewhere on Earth.
  • Northern Africa (Morocco to Egypt) in 2027; New Zealand & Australia in 2028 ([12:30]).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• David Barron ([01:24]):

  “An umbraphile is a fancy word for what I am, and that’s an eclipse chaser...It means a shadow lover.”

• Regina Barber ([07:14]):

  “I was actually reading the Hobbit to my daughter...and as I was reading the book, I started to notice things getting like, visibly darker. ... It felt so strange.”

• David Barron ([09:01]):

  “It looks sort of like a wreath or a crown. ... It shimmers in space. It’s different every time.”

• Regina Barber ([10:32]):

  “Like magic, as soon as totality happened, the clouds opened up around the sun, and we saw it. Everyone was so surprised. And then I told all my friends that I was a witch.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• What is a total solar eclipse? – [00:49]
• Eclipse chaser perspective (David Barron) – [01:24], [01:56], [07:48], [08:06], [08:50], [09:01]
• Science of eclipse paths (umbra and penumbra) – [04:19]-[04:55]
• Safety tips for viewing – [05:16]-[06:19]
• Strange eclipse effects/light/shadows – [07:14]-[08:24]
• Solar corona during totality – [08:50]-[09:17]
• Why this eclipse is special (sunset timing) – [09:33]
• Cloud/weather effects – [10:08]-[11:35]
• Next eclipses and eclipse tourism – [11:47]-[12:51]

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Tone and Style

Friendly, curious, conversational, full of real-life anecdotes and sprinkled with humor (e.g., playful banter about eclipse “witchcraft,” hosts poking fun at one another’s FOMO, memorable stories of watching past eclipses).

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Takeaway

This episode is your cheat-sheet for seeing, understanding, and safely enjoying tomorrow’s total solar eclipse—and the next ones to come, wherever you are in the world.

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[Ad segments, intro, and credits have been omitted from this summary.]

Transcript

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[Regina Barber]

You're listening to Short Wave from npr.

[Hannah Chin]

Hey guys. Producer Hannah Chin here in disguise as a host. Don't tell on me to talk about something pretty rad happening tomorrow. A total solar eclipse. And here to help me talk through this amazing stellar event is astrophysicist and host of shortwave. Real host this time, Regina Barber. Hey, Gina.

[Regina Barber]

Hey Han. For our listeners, if they are in parts of Greenland, Iceland or northern Spain, maybe a tiny sliver of Portugal, they'll be able to see the total solar eclipse tomorrow.

[Hannah Chin]

Yeah, and just so we're all on the same page here, a total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes in front of the sun and completely covers it and day. Basically turn tonight, right? And the first time I saw a solar eclipse was in 2017, actually, when I was home for the summer from college in Oregon.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, I missed that one because I was scared there'd be like too much traffic driving there, which I totally regret now. I did see a partial eclipse though, in Washington State, which people in parts of Europe, Africa and North America will be able to see tomorrow too. Though if you're anything like David Barron, that won't be enough.

[David Barron]

An umbraphile is a fancy word for what I am, and that's an eclipse chaser. It just. It means a shadow lover. And that's what I am. I love being in the shadow of the moon.

[Regina Barber]

So David's an eclipse chaser and author of the book American A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World.

[Hannah Chin]

Long title.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, yeah, it's actually about the eclipse that was visible across the US in 1878. And I spoke with him a couple years ago in 2024, in preparation for the big US eclipse that year.

[David Barron]

A total solar eclipse is the closest thing to space travel that you can experience without leaving the surface of the earth. It's like for a few minutes, you are suddenly transported to some alien world. It's like you're living in some sci fi movie, seeing a sky you've never seen, seeing the universe in a whole new way. And as brief as it is for me and a lot of people, it really can change your outlook for years to come, if not the rest of your life. It's like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world.

[Regina Barber]

And that's what keeps him coming back again and again.

[Hannah Chin]

So today on the show, we've got a total solar eclipse. What it is, how to view unsafely,

[Regina Barber]

and what makes this one tomorrow so special.

[Hannah Chin]

You're listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Hannah Chin]

Okay, Gina, let's start really basic.

[David Barron]

Okay.

[Hannah Chin]

How does a solar eclipse happen in the first place?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, so basically it's just when the moon gets directly in between the sun and the earth and it casts a shadow. And that shadow of the moon on Earth is what differentiates a partial solar eclipse from a total one.

[David Barron]

A total solar eclipse is visible only along a narrow path that snakes across the surface of the earth. It's called the path of totality.

[Regina Barber]

And that path of totality is called the umbra. Umbra is Latin for shadow, hence Byron saying he was an umbraphile earlier.

[David Barron]

So there's a broad area where you can see a partial eclipse, but there's a that the moon completely blocks the sun. So in order to see the total eclipse, you need to be in this so called path of totality.

[Regina Barber]

But for those who can't make it to the path of totality, there's the penumbra and that's the larger path of the moon's shadow.

[Hannah Chin]

Got it. Okay. Okay. So you were saying you saw the partial eclipse in 2017 because you weren't in the umbra like I was. You were in the penumbra.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. You're rubbing it in, but yes.

[Hannah Chin]

Okay, well, I'll move on. So for this Eclipse tomorrow in Spain and Iceland and Greenland. What's the best way for people to sneak a peek at that one?

[Regina Barber]

You gotta wear proper eye protection, please, because staring at the sun directly will really mess up your eyes. If you take a quick look, that might be okay. But if you keep looking, you could run the risk of damaging your retina permanently. Possibly.

[Ralph Chu]

Typically, what will happen is you look at the eclipse as it is happening. Without protection, your eyes don't appear to be damaged. You know, everything's fine. The next morning, you wake up, and when you look in the bathroom mirror or you look across the breakfast table at your nearest and dearest, you suddenly realize you can't see their face.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, you can have this, like, blurry vision. That was Ralph Chu, another eclipse chaser and also an eye specialist at the University of Waterloo in Canada. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield Boyce spoke with him about how your eyes getting burned by the sun is terrible and can have long lasting effects, which is

[Hannah Chin]

a huge reason to get your hands on some eclipse classes. I know the American Astronomical Society has a list of vetted sources for legitimate eclipse classes on their website, so we'll link that list in our show notes.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, and even if you aren't looking at the sun, you'll see some strange light effects before you actually see totality. Or if you're viewing a partial solar eclipse.

[Hannah Chin]

Yeah. Wait, say more about that.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, I mean, I'll let David explain.

[David Barron]

The lighting effects can be very weird because before you get to the total eclipse, you, you have a progressive partial eclipse as the moon slowly covers the sun. And so over the course of an hour, an hour and a quarter, the sunlight will be very slowly dimming. And it's as if you're in a room in a house and someone is very slowly turning down the dimmer switch. And for most of that time, your eyes are adjusting and you don't notice it. But then there's a point at which the light's getting so dim that your eyes can't adjust and weird things happen. So the, your eyes are less able to see color. And so it's as if the landscape is losing its color.

[Regina Barber]

So that, you know, 2017 eclipse that we keep on talking about, that I missed the totality, but it was a partial eclipse. I was actually reading the Hobbit to my daughter in Bellingham, Washington, outside. And as I was reading the book, I started to notice things getting like, visibly darker. Like it was dusk and the colors started going away. It felt so strange. And eventually I couldn't read the Book's text anymore.

[Hannah Chin]

Yeah, I remember this. Kind of like gradual darkness too.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah.

[Hannah Chin]

Did you see the weird shadows?

[Regina Barber]

Yes. So there are these moon shaped shadows all over our driveway. It was surreal.

[David Barron]

If you look under a tree, the spaces between leaves or branches will act as pinhole projectors. So they will project onto the ground the shape of the sun. And so you'll see tiny little crescents everywhere.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

And as the eclipse approaches, those shadows and all shadows, they get crisper.

[David Barron]

And so if you have the sun behind you and you look at your shadow on the ground, you might see individual hairs on your head. It's just very odd. And sometimes you can't quite put your finger on what it is that you're seeing, but you know that it's wrong. And it just gets wronger and wronger as totality approaches.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. And then suddenly it's nighttime, it gets cold, like the bird stops singing. Then you take off your solar glasses and you can look at the sun. It's safe now. Yes.

[Hannah Chin]

This is my favorite part. It kind of feels like cheating being able to take off the eclipse glasses during totality. And then they're like, okay, you can look directly at the sun.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. And once you do, there's something really special to look at, something that you can't see with your naked eye any other time.

[David Barron]

And what you're actually looking at is the sun's outer atmosphere, which is called the solar corona.

[Regina Barber]

The solar corona looks like a ring around the sun and it's this brilliant circle of light, and it's the most

[David Barron]

dazzling sight in the heavens. It's this beautiful textured thing. It looks sort of like a wreath or a crown. And it's got. It's like it's made out of tinsel or strands of silk. It shimmers in space. It's different every time.

[Regina Barber]

It's a really beautiful experience. And tomorrow's eclipse will last up to a few minutes for those in the path of totality, and they'll be able to see that. And tomorrow's eclipse is also special because it's happening at a certain time of day. That's pretty rare for these events.

[Hannah Chin]

Oh, wait, what time?

[Regina Barber]

Sunset. And this is actually quite rare because in the summer, the sun is pretty high in the sky. So if it wasn't happening around this time, you know, everything would be fine. Now, if people don't already have a specific viewing spot in mind, it might be a little tricky to find a good place. But a quick tip is to get away from tall things like buildings or mountains. That could block the view because, you know, sunset, it's coming down. If you happen to be in Spain, a lot of eclipse chaser websites are listing the best locations in Spain to view it.

[Hannah Chin]

Got it. I mean, what about the weather? Like, I imagine if it's cloudy or rainy or whatever, the view might not be so good.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. This is a good question. And this is a big concern for me. In 2024, when I finally got to see a total solar eclipse, my family and I, we drove up to Buffalo, where my partner's from, and we were afraid that after all that effort, hours of driving, it might be too cloudy to see it. You know, it was April.

[Hannah Chin]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

And then we woke up that day, and thick layer of clouds in the sky. Typical Buffalo.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

And.

[Regina Barber]

And as the day went on, the clouds thinned a little, but we still couldn't see the sun. Totally. So then, like magic, as soon as totality happened, the clouds opened up around the sun, and we saw it. Everyone was so surprised. And then I told all my friends that I was a witch.

[Hannah Chin]

Iconic. Classic Gina. Yeah. Okay. But for me, you're a loyal producer who knows that you are not actually a witch, but an astrophysicist.

[Regina Barber]

Yes.

[Hannah Chin]

Can you explain why would the clouds move like that? Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

So I was looking this up, and there's some research that's been done around how solar eclipses, or really any reduction in sunlight, can affect weather. Especially when there's a change that quick. Remember, it gets, like, colder and stuff, too. David had some thoughts on this subject.

[David Barron]

Total eclipses change the weather. Under some conditions, they can cause clouds to clear up because all of a sudden, the sunlight and the sun's warmth are being cut off, and that changes the evaporation of moisture from the surface and convection.

[Hannah Chin]

So cool.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah.

[Hannah Chin]

Okay, so back to tomorrow's eclipse. We assume many of our listeners are probably not in Europe.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah.

[Hannah Chin]

So for anyone outside the path of totality tomorrow or in the US who maybe couldn't catch a flight.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Hannah Chin]

When is the next one that'll be viewable from here in the states?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. So the next total solar eclipse that'll be visible in the lower 48 states is coming on August 22, 2020, but that one will be mostly limited to, like, Montana and North Dakota. If that's not feasible for people, they. And we can take comfort in knowing that the next big one to stretch across the US coasts like the one we just had in 2024, will be just a year after that in 2045, August 12th. And fun fact, it's commonly referred to as the great American solar eclipse because it'll be visible coast to coast from California to Florida.

[Hannah Chin]

Okay, but that's still like almost 20 years from now.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, yeah, but solar eclipses happen all over the world every year and a half. Ish. So if you really want to see one sooner, you could travel to another country to see it. Some people do that. It's called eclipse tourism. There will be one in northern Africa swinging from Morocco to Egypt next year around this time. And another one in New Zealand and Australia the year after that.

[Hannah Chin]

Okay, well, either way. Regina Barber, thank you for enlightening me with this reporting.

[Regina Barber]

Hannah Chin, it was my pleasure.

[Hannah Chin]

This episode was produced by Juan Diego Ramirez. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Tyler Drone. Just check the facts.

[Regina Barber]

The audio engineer was an Li Wal. I'm Regina Barber.

[Hannah Chin]

And I'm Hannah Shin. Thank you so much for listening to Short Wave from npr.

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