Looking to see the solar eclipse from North America? Here's where and when to catch a sliver - AP News

Looking to see the solar eclipse from North America? Here’s where and when to catch a sliver

Millions of people crowded cloudless cities and towns in Spain on Wednesday in search of the best views of a total solar eclipse, when the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth briefly plunged parts of the planet into darkness. In Medinaceli, a Roman-era hilltop town in northeast Spain, sky watchers secured grassy viewing points hours early and crowded restaurants and bars.(AP video shot by: Iain Sullivan)

A total solar eclipse crosses over parts of Spain, Iceland and Greenland on Aug. 12. This animated map shows the path of totality. (AP animation: Panagiotis Mouzakis)

For the first time in more than a century, a total solar eclipse is coming to mainland Spain. Daytime darkness will descend Aug. 12 across the Iberian Peninsula close to sunset — plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland — as the sun, moon and Earth align perfectly in the sky. (AP video: Iain Sullivan; Production: Shelby Lum)

In this image provided by NASA the Artemis II crew, counterclockwise from top left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP, File)

The partial solar eclipse is framed by youngsters jumping on a trampoline in the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Oct. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Sorry, North America. After winning the cosmic lottery with a pair of coast-to-coast total solar eclipses, now it’s Europe’s turn.

But look skyward anyway Wednesday and, if you’re far enough north in the U.S. and Canada, you might savor a partial eclipse as the moon nibbles away at the sun.

Totality will begin near the North Pole, then streak southward across Greenland, Iceland, Spain and a patch of Portugal. Daytime darkness won’t last more than a couple minutes at best — shrimpy compared with North America’s epic 2024 eclipse — but it is continental Europe’s first encounter with totality since 1999. Spain gets a much longer shot at totality next August, along with North Africa and the Middle East.

For the U.S., the Great American Eclipse of 2017 kicked off the sun-vanishing mania with more than two minutes of totality from Oregon to South Carolina. The amount of totality almost doubled in 2024, racing diagonally from Mexico’s Pacific coast all the way past Newfoundland.

America’s next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse isn’t until 2045. So catch a partial now if you can, but don’t forget to protect your eyes with certified eclipse glasses.

Here’s a list of some U.S. and Canadian cities in position to see a partial solar eclipse on Wednesday if skies are clear, in alphabetical order, with local times and the amount of sun coverage provided by NASA:

—Anchorage, Alaska, with 28% coverage. Begins at 7:36 a.m. and ends at 9:09 a.m., peaking at 8:21 a.m.

—Bangor, Maine, with 24% coverage. Begins at 12:54 p.m. and ends at 2:49 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.

—Detroit with 3% coverage. Begins at 1:03 p.m. and ends at 2:08 p.m., peaking at 1:36 p.m.