Getting ready for the eclipse?

The last total solar eclipse in Spain happened on August 30, 1905 (121 years ago!) and so, perhaps it is not surprising that the signs of this year eclipse (August 12, 2026) are everywhere. Would you like to try "Eclipse 2026" ice cream (photos 1-2)? Or perhaps, come to a roof-top at a hotel in Barcelona (photo 3). Eclipse creme brulee anyone (photo 4)? Photos 5-6 show eclipse signs for the public viewing event at the Ebro Observatory (Observatori de l’Ebre) in Tortosa, Catalonia.

 

GONG CT status update from 10 Aug. 2026

Local team at CTIO informed us that the UPS and workstation were on at GONG. NSO engineering team was able to access GONG station remotely. Data acquisition was started and verified. The PMFLAG has been turned off and all looks good.  The turret is still covered and the roll/pitch amplifiers remain off. The weather forecast for the next days is not good. Depending on the weather, the CTIO  team will return to the summit on Friday (8/14) or Monday (8/17). At that time, we could attempt restarting GONG observations.

Solar total eclipse is in one week

 We are 1 week from totality!

The Predictive Science Inc. was running their data-assimilative model in near real time and updating the prediction for over 15 days now.  Attached image shows the current prediction for a locations near Palencia, Spain. For more up-to-date predictions, see https://eclipse.predsci.com

 

GONG CTIO Status, 5 Aug. 2026

On 5 Aug., CTIO team stopped by GONG station and manually powered up GONG UPS. The UPS was restarted and most of the equipment started up. GONG no longer appears to be in a shutdown mode. This should enable the NSO team to remotely login to GONG. Attached are two photos of GONG from outside. There are no visible damages to the shelter or the instrument. For now, we will keep turret covered by the bag in case of bad weather.

 

Chile Storm Recovery Update: 3 August

Recovery efforts continue at NOIRLab's Chilean facilities following July’s historic winter storm. After fresh rain and snow paused recovery work late last week, crews returned to the mountains over the weekend. Today, teams are evaluating whether it is possible to reach the summit of Cerro Pachón.

Heavy equipment crews are actively clearing snow and repairing access roads. The primary bottleneck remains extensive road damage between the Control Puerta and the El Quisco junction, including a large drop-off at kilometer 14 requiring a temporary bypass. It currently takes a three-hour drive to reach the summits.

 

While commercial power has been restored to Cerro Tololo, the service is unreliable, and today the team switched back to generators. Cerro Pachón also relies on generators due to severe power infrastructure damage. To conserve fuel, generators will be turned off at the end of each day, until full-sized delivery trucks can reach the summit. Teams are currently bringing up small diesel loads in pickup trucks. The status of the Cerro Tololo water pump house and distribution system is still under investigation.

 

Workers at the Cerro Pachón hotel area following a winter storm in July 2026

Snow covers vehicles at the Cerro Pachón hotel area following a winter storm in July 2026.

The top of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is seen in the distance following a winter storm in July 2026. 

Damage on the road to Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo following a winter storm in July 2026.

 

Damage on the road to Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo following a winter storm in July 2026.

Sculpture of the Laocoön and solar eclipses

 The Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy),  one of the largest and best-known museums in the world, holds a collection of priceless works from the period of the Italian Renaissance. One of these is the Laocoön sculpture by Baccio Bandinelli (Florence 1493-1560). 

The sculpture depicts the Trojan priest and his sons crushed by sea serpent sent by Poseidon to stop him from revealing the deception of the Trojan horse devised by Odysseus to help the Greek army enter the city of Troy. One can find more about the history of this sculpture at the Uffizi web site. 

The stature rests on its original pedestal. Two sides of this pedestal show identical reliefs, which caught the eye of this astronomer. What the reliefs show is the geometry of total solar eclipse. Two half-spheres represent Sun (surrounded by spiky corona) and the Moon. Two lines connecting the edges of the Sun and Moon mark the outer boundary of umbra, the darkest part of shadow cast by Moon blocking the sunlight. Two other lines show angles at which the lunar disk would be seen from each side of umbra.

By the way, next solar total eclipse will take place on 12 August 2026. It starts in Greenland, passes over North Atlantic Ocean, parts of Iceland, Spain, and it ends in the Mediterranean Sea. In Florence, it will be a partial solar eclipse with maximum obscuration of 92.07%. Several teams of scientist from the US National Solar Observatory will travel to Spain to observe this total eclipse. We will post updates from these eclipse expeditions later. 

Solar Activity Report: July 20 -26, 2026

 Solar activity remained mostly at low levels during the past week.  The X‑ray intensity hovered between high B-class and low C-class. B-class is defined as the X-ray intensity (brightness) below 10^-6 W/m^2, and C-class starts at 10^-6 W/m^2 as measured in 1-8 Angstrom wavelength range. Most of the activity originated from active region 14493, which produced five M‑class flares. Three impulsive events, M2.5, M1.1, and M3.4, occurred on July 20. Two additional M-class flares, M1.9 and M3.6, were recorded on July 21 and July 22, respectively, with the M3.6 event being the strongest of the week. Another notable event was an M3.2 on July 26 from active region 14494. No Earth‑directed CMEs were observed during this period.

Helioseismic maps of the far hemisphere do not show any significant magnetic activity.