Heavenly spectacle: Two evenings in one day: Solar eclipse in Europe

Millions of people will be fascinated by the sight in the evening as the moon moves in front of the sun. A solar eclipse will plunge large parts of Europe into an unusual twilight or even darkness. In fact, people will have to look more towards the horizon, as the moon will only move in front of the sun shortly before the end of the day, when it is already quite low.

In a strip across Spain, for example, it will be completely dark for a short time, and there will be two evenings in quick succession, so to speak. Choosing a suitable observation location is crucial. In Germany, the moon will not completely cover the sun's disk, but a partial solar eclipse is a celestial event that many people do not want to miss.

To experience a total solar eclipse, however, you have to be in Greenland, Iceland, or Spain. Wearing certified protective glasses is extremely important in any case, otherwise, permanent eye damage can occur. Largely cloud-free sky expected The weather is expected to be favorable both in Germany and in Spain. High "Ralf" is causing great stability in Germany, said Oliver Reuter from the German Weather Service.

Apart from a very low risk of showers in and around the Alps, there will be no precipitation nationwide. "Only in the north, a few high veil clouds will move in in the evening, which will rarely obscure the view." They may reach the north of Hesse and Thuringia, weakened.

The weather forecast for the evening in Spain looks similarly good. Only in parts of northern and eastern Spain are some clouds expected. In Spain, the moon's umbra will move from A Coruña in the northwest of the country over often only thinly populated rural regions towards the southeast to the Balearic Islands with Mallorca and Ibiza.

In this strip, which is approximately 300 kilometers wide and 960 kilometers long, day will turn into night for a short time - depending on the location for up to almost two minutes. In cities like Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia, and Palma, the sun will be completely covered by the moon.

Madrid and Barcelona are just outside the zone of totality; there, the solar eclipse will remain partial. Moon prices for the total solar eclipse Along this so-called zone of totality, a state of emergency prevails. Hotels have been booked out for months, and some reservations, for example, from Japan, are said to have been made years ago.

Prices are six times higher than usual. Private individuals are offering roof terraces or gardens with a free view of the evening sky. For particularly sought-after balconies, up to 700 euros are being demanded, according to media reports.

On Mallorca, luxury accommodations are booked out for 3,500 euros per night. For the really rich, there are package deals with private jets to Mallorca or Menorca, accommodations, chauffeur service, private yacht charters, balloon or helicopter flights, including dinner and tours to the most important sights of the islands for an estimated 200,000 euros, as reported by the newspaper "La Vanguardia".

According to calculations by the consulting company AFI, the astronomical event will bring hundreds of millions of euros in additional economic output.

Many remote regions also hope that the solar eclipse visitors will discover the beauty of rural Spain, away from the often overcrowded coastal regions, and will return in the future. Alarm red due to forest fire danger in Spain The authorities are, however, on high alert due to the extremely high forest fire danger in large parts of Spain.

If hundreds of thousands of people flock to regions with a lot of forest and scrubland, the risk of unintentionally triggering a forest fire increases extremely. Even the hot exhaust of a car parked on dry grass can trigger a catastrophe.

According to data from the European Commission's Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), more than 256,000 hectares have already been burned in 407 forest fires this year, an area roughly the size of the Saarland. Therefore, cities and municipalities have prepared hundreds of observation sites that can be viewed online with their exact location, visitor capacity, and number of parking spaces.

A national security plan for the solar eclipse has also been drawn up. It provides for the deployment of more than 33,600 officers from the National Police and the Guardia Civil, the nationwide police with military status.

First Sofi in Spain in over 120 years For astronomers in Spain, the solar eclipse is a century event. It will be the first total solar eclipse over the Spanish mainland since 1905 - and the start of an exceptional series, also referred to as the "Spanish trio": After 2026, there will be solar eclipses over the Iberian Peninsula or Spain in the two following years as well.

On August 2, 2027, another total solar eclipse will be visible from the south of the country. And on January 26, 2028, an annular solar eclipse will follow. Such a accumulation in one country is an extremely rare astronomical coincidence.