Could the Northern Lights Appear During the 2026 Solar Eclipse? Maybe.

On August 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse will cross parts of Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain. During a total solar eclipse, the moon completely blocks the sun, turning the daytime sky as dark as twilight. Some skywatchers are asking an exciting question: Could the northern lights also appear in the sky at the same time? Scientists say it is possible — but it would be very unlikely without help from an unusually powerful solar storm.

During a total solar eclipse, the sky does not get as dark as a normal night. Instead, it dims to about the brightness of civil twilight, which is the short period just after sunset when the sky is still faintly lit. Tom Kerss, an astronomer and aurora expert, says that auroras can sometimes appear during twilight. He even photographed the northern lights in Norway during twilight to prove it can be done.

Still, seeing auroras during the eclipse would be very hard. Kerss explained that the bright glow of the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, would likely outshine any auroras near it in the sky. However, parts of the sky farther away from the eclipse might still show aurora activity. Even so, the conditions would have to be just right for anyone to notice them.

For the northern lights to show up during the eclipse, Earth would need to be struck by a very strong geomagnetic storm. These storms happen when large bursts of energy from the sun, called coronal mass ejections or CMEs, crash into Earth's magnetic field. Kerss said observers would almost certainly need a G4 or G5 storm — the strongest categories — to overlap with the eclipse. Without that, the aurora would likely be too faint to see in the still-bright daytime sky.

Solar physicist Pål Brekke, who works at the Norwegian Space Agency, agrees that this would be extremely difficult. He tried to spot auroras during a total solar eclipse over Svalbard in 2015 and failed. 'The sky never got that dark — we could hardly see any planets and no stars,' he said. He explained that light reflecting off snow and mountains kept the sky too bright even during totality.

The timing of the 2026 eclipse also makes things harder. Totality will happen in the afternoon over Greenland and Iceland, when those places are on the daytime side of Earth. The daytime part of the aurora zone does not grow and brighten as much during storms as the nighttime part does. This makes it even harder to spot an aurora display, even when space weather is active.

There is one exciting scenario that could change everything, though. If the sun shoots out CMEs in the days before August 12, it could trigger a storm big enough to make auroras visible. Kerss also pointed out that the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the same date, meaning lucky skywatchers could potentially see three amazing sky events at once: a total solar eclipse, the northern lights, and a meteor shower.

The odds of all three happening together are slim, but not impossible. Even if the northern lights don't appear, a total solar eclipse is already one of the most stunning sights in nature. Scientists and eclipse chasers say that totality alone is worth the trip — and that the sun's glowing corona is a breathtaking sight all on its own.