How to watch the August 12 eclipse in Girona without damaging your eyes

On Wednesday 12 August 2026 a total solar eclipse will be visible from a band roughly 200 km wide, crossing the Iberian Peninsula from Galicia to the Balearic Islands. In Catalonia, the path of totality passes through the Terres de l’Ebre, the Camp de Tarragona and southern Lleida.

Girona lies outside that band. The August 12 eclipse in Girona will reach an obscuration of close to 99%.

And that remaining 1% changes everything.

What you will actually see from Girona

Approximate times for the city of Girona (local time, 24-hour clock):

• 19:34 — first contact: the Moon begins to bite into the solar disc.
• 20:28 — maximum eclipse: obscuration close to 99%, with the Sun just 4 degrees above the horizon.
• 20:53 — sunset. The eclipse continues afterwards, but will no longer be visible.

Two practical consequences of this:

You need a clear western horizon. With the Sun at 4 degrees, any building, hill or line of trees will block the peak of the event. Around Girona, look for high ground with an unobstructed view towards the west-northwest. Choosing a good spot matters as much as owning good glasses.

The light will change, but it will not go dark. At 99% obscuration the light turns strange and leaden, shadows become unusually sharp and the temperature drops noticeably. It is a spectacle. But it is not totality: you will not see the solar corona or the stars.

The one rule that admits no exception in Girona

In Girona, certified eclipse glasses never come off. Not for a second.

This is not excessive caution. It is the part of the message that gets misunderstood every single time there is an eclipse.

99% sounds like “almost no Sun left”. But the 1% of solar disc still showing emits more than enough light to cause solar retinopathy: a phototoxic burn of the fovea, the central part of the retina responsible for fine detail vision.

What makes it dangerous is the combination of two factors. First, with so little ambient light the pupil dilates, letting more radiation reach the retina. Second, the retina has no pain receptors: the injury happens without you feeling anything at all. You can look repeatedly, in complete comfort, while the damage accumulates.

Symptoms appear 2 to 6 hours later, typically as blurred vision or a fixed dark spot in the centre of the visual field (a scotoma) that does not move when you shift your gaze. It usually affects both eyes.

The prognosis is generally favourable and many cases recover within the first month, though some can take up to six months. But it needs saying plainly: there is no treatment of proven efficacy. Where the lesion is deep, the loss is permanent. Prevention is the only thing that works.

Which glasses work and which do not

Only eclipse glasses certified to ISO 12312-2 (or ISO 12312-2:2015) and carrying the CE mark are safe. They must show the manufacturer’s name, instructions for use and warnings.

These filters transmit between 0.00004% and 0.0032% of light. Ordinary sunglasses transmit 8% to 18%: a difference of thousands of times.

Before using them:

• Check that the filter is not scratched, punctured or creased. A damaged filter does not protect.
• Be wary of blurred labelling, a “CE” mark without a notified body number, or instructions only in non-European languages.
• If they predate 2015, replace them. They may have lost effectiveness.
• Buy from a reputable source. The optometrist is the professional who knows the product best.
• They can be worn over ordinary prescription glasses.

None of these work: sunglasses (not even stacked), X-ray film, photographic negatives, smoked glass, CDs, aluminium foil, polarising filters, or welding glass below shade 14.

Nor should you look through cameras, binoculars or telescopes without a certified solar filter fitted in front of the objective lens. A filter at the eyepiece does not protect: it concentrates heat and can crack during use.

One more point: with eclipse glasses on you see absolutely nothing except the Sun. Do not try to walk in them. The sensible approach is to observe seated and still, in short spells, and not to remove them until after you have looked away from the Sun.

Children are the critical point

The risk is higher in a child than in an adult, for an anatomical reason: the young crystalline lens is far more transparent and filters less radiation, so more energy reaches the retina.

To that add a purely practical problem. A child puts the glasses on, sees nothing, and their instinctive reaction is to peek over or under the filter to check what is happening. That two-second glance, straight at the Sun with a dilated pupil, is precisely the mechanism of injury.

Three rules for families:

1. Put the children’s glasses on first. Before your own. Fit them yourself, snugly, and only then put on your own.
2. One adult per child, watching. Not the phone screen, not the horizon: the child. Making sure they are not cheating by peering over the top or round the sides is the adult’s job for that hour.
3. Explain beforehand what will happen. That with the glasses on they will see nothing but an orange circle, and that this is normal. A child who understands how the filter works puts up less resistance to wearing it.

If you have young children and suspect you will not be able to keep them under control, there is a perfectly satisfying alternative: indirect observation. There is no need to look at the Sun at any point.

If you travel to the path of totality

If you head for the Terres de l’Ebre, the Camp de Tarragona or southern Lleida, one thing changes.

During totality, and only while the solar disc is completely covered, the glasses can come off. That is precisely when the solar corona becomes visible and, conditions permitting, a bright planet or two. Totality will last around a minute or slightly more depending on the exact location.

The moment any fraction of direct sunlight reappears at the Moon’s edge, the glasses must go back on immediately. That instant carries the highest risk of the entire eclipse, because the eye is dark-adapted and the pupil is fully dilated.

Bear in mind, too, that designated viewing points have been set up in some twenty municipalities and heavy attendance is expected. If you are travelling, plan for traffic and leave plenty of time.

If something looks wrong afterwards

Any visual disturbance following the eclipse — blurred vision, a fixed central spot, persistent eye discomfort — warrants assessment.

Remember that symptoms do not appear immediately, but 2 to 6 hours later, typically overnight on the 12th or on the morning of the 13th. Get in touch with us if you notice any symptoms.

A simple test you can do at home: cover one eye and look at a smooth, uniform surface such as a white wall. Repeat with the other. If a fixed spot appears in the centre that does not move when you shift your gaze, seek advice.

And a trick for the end: look down

This is the detail almost nobody knows about, and usually the loveliest memory of the day.

During the eclipse, find the shadow of a leafy tree on the ground.

The gaps between the leaves act as thousands of tiny pinhole cameras. Each gap projects an image of the Sun onto the ground. And since the Sun is no longer a circle but a crescent, the ground beneath the tree fills with hundreds of repeated crescents, all identical and all pointing the same way, shifting in shape as the eclipse progresses.

It is mesmerising, it works with any densely canopied tree, and it has one advantage that is far from minor: it is completely safe. You look down, not up. It is the best way for children to experience the eclipse at no risk whatsoever.

If there is no tree to hand, you can do the same by crossing the fingers of both hands into a lattice and projecting the shadow onto a sheet of white paper. Or with a piece of card pierced with a pin, standing with your back to the Sun and projecting onto paper.

A timing tip: do not wait for maximum to try it. Around 20:00-20:15 the Sun is still high enough and there is enough light for the crescents to come out sharply. By 20:28, with the Sun at 4 degrees and the light already very dim, the shadows lose definition.

Enjoy the eclipse. It is an exceptional event and it will look remarkable from Girona. It simply has to be done with proper protection: the retina does not get a second chance.

Further information

• Eclipsi Catalunya (eclipsicatalunya.cat) — official portal of the Catalan Government’s interdepartmental group: designated viewing points, maps and outreach activities.
• Instituto Geográfico Nacional (eclipses.ign.es) — local circumstances, interactive map and exact timings for any point in the country.
• Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades — official recommendations for safe observation of the eclipse.
• The ISO 12312-2 standard explained — how to identify genuinely certified eclipse glasses.

Sources

This article draws on the Recomanacions de la Societat Catalana d’Oftalmologia (SCOFT) per veure l’eclipsi del 12 d’agost de 2026 and on Recomanacions sanitàries de cara l’eclipsi de sol del 12 d’agost de l’any 2026 (Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, and Servei Català de la Salut, June 2026), produced jointly with the SEM, the Catalan Public Health Agency, SCOFT and the Catalan Association of Optometrists (COOOC).

References

Zahaf A, Ben Abderrazek A, Lajmi H, Hmaied W, Ben Achour B. Photic maculopathy: OCT-angiography features of eight eyes. Arch Soc Esp Oftalmol (Engl Ed). 2026;101(1):502432. doi:10.1016/j.oftale.2025.502432

Wu J, Seregard S, Algvere PV. Photochemical damage of the retina. Surv Ophthalmol. 2006;51(5):461-481. doi:10.1016/j.survophthal.2006.06.009

González Martín-Moro J, Hernández Verdejo JL, Zarallo Gallardo J. Photic maculopathy: a review of the literature (I). Arch Soc Esp Oftalmol. 2018;93(11):530-541. doi:10.1016/j.oftal.2018.06.010