Chasing solar eclipses is a great excuse to travel. In 2026, August 12th's eclipse presents a challenge: which beautiful destination offers the best view? The path of totality will be visible in both Spain and Iceland. Join Dean as he makes his decision, and pays tribute to a poignant song he's come to love.
You can learn more about how to view this eclipse from NASA Science's detailed guide.
Episode Transcript: Looking Up is transcribed using a combination of AI speech recognition and human editors. It may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
Dean Regas: Where were you on April 8, 2024? I certainly know where I was and exactly what I was doing and remember it for the rest of my life.
It was eclipse day, total solar eclipse day in the United States, in my home state of Ohio, in my astronaut idol's hometown no less. I was at the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, surrounded by 10,000 other eclipse chasers to behold the greatest show in the universe.
Beholding a total solar eclipse is pretty addictive. And I decided right there, right then, that I was going to chase totality around the world for the rest of my life. So, where should I go for the next one? On Aug. 12, 2026? Oh man, it's coming up fast. I totally have eclipse fever.
From the studios of Cincinnati Public Radio, I'm your host, Dean Regas, and this is Looking Up.
A show that takes you deep into the cosmos or just to the telescope in your backyard to learn more about what makes this amazing universe of ours so great.
My guest today is Dr. Gísli Sigurðsson, research professor at the Árni Magnússon Institute at the University of Iceland.
Unlike in 2024, this total solar eclipse on Aug. 12 will not be visible from the United States. Only the northeastern part of America will catch a teeny tiny sliver of a partial eclipse on that day. So, to witness totality on land, I have two choices. A small portion of western Iceland or a swath of territory running diagonally through the country of Spain.
I guess I could be on a boat in the North Atlantic or flying a supersonic jet, but, you know, I think I prefer solid ground. This total solar eclipse will be much shorter than the one in 2024. All right, no problem, no problem. Any totality is mind blowing. And the choices between Iceland, where weather is more iffy and Spain, where the chances of clear skies are higher.
But where the sun will be lower in the sky and possibly obscured by distant clouds, oh man, decisions, decisions.
In the end, know that eclipse chasing is really just an excuse to travel because what if it's cloudy on eclipse day? What if I can't even see the eclipse? I will be devastated. But my consolation prize will be, you know, to have a vacation and see a part of the world where I've never seen before. So, which will it be, Iceland or Spain?
My guest can help me decide.
Gísli Sigurðsson: Hi, my name is Gísli Sigurðsson. I'm a research professor at the Árni Magnússon Institute at the University of Iceland, where I work on oral traditions in the past and present debate as well. So, oral recordings from first and second and third generation Icelanders in North America and the mythology that we know as the Old Norse mythology.
Dean Regas: Well, thanks so much for joining me today. This is going to be a lot of fun because I know that Icelandic and Norse mythology is quite vast, but we're going to try to focus on astronomy or at least astronomical objects. So, who are the gods of planets like Jupiter and Venus and how are they depicted?
Gísli Sigurðsson: Yeah, we are lucky to have these mythological texts from the Middle Ages in Iceland that go back beyond Christianity.
And we also have it in the days of the week, the names we use for those. So, they are actually the names behind them are the Old Norse gods. We all understand the Sunday and the Monday being a moon day. So, it's the sun and the moon that we have there. And then Tuesday is the god Týr or Mars. And Wednesday is Odin's day or Woden's day. So, Wotan.
Also, some versions. So, the main God in the Norse pantheon. On Thursday is Thor's day. Thor as we would say it in Icelandic. And Friday there's a few versions of that, but we prefer Freyja. That is in the written source we have, but some suggest it might be Frigg, Odin's wife or even Freyr, Freyja's brother. And then...
We are stuck with Saturn. We don't know which Norse God was applied to him or his characteristics. The Hyades is called the wolf's mouth. So, one of the medieval texts informs us of that. And the Hyades, if you know where that is, it's just below the path of all the planets. So, if you see that as a gaping wolf in the sky, constantly threatening, you're removing planets.
Dean Regas: I actually could see that. I could see that part of the constellation we call Taurus the Bull is this V-shaped and it's kind of like gaping jaws with a bunch of stars in there, the Hyades star cluster. Oh, wow. This is good. I like that better actually.
Gísli Sigurðsson: But you see immediately when you start seeing it that way, you see the myths just unfolding in front of you.
Dean Regas: Well, and you mentioned the four days of the week that come from Norse mythology, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And Thor, we kind of think of Thor and Thor's day, that's Jupiter or Zeus in the Greek and Roman tradition. But Odin would be the chief god, correct? And so, Wednesday, Wednesday, out of all days of the week, get the chief god, huh?
Gísli Sigurðsson: Yeah. And what is the chief God as well? Our sources, they come from this textbook that is compiled by the author, Snorra Sturluson, who is compiling the mythological lingo for young poets. And Odin is a God of poets as well. So, he brought the poetic mead into our world from the other side. So, perhaps that plays a role in his status among the gods.
Dean Regas: Well, and Odin's day or Wednesday goes associated with the planet Mercury closest to the sun. And speaking of the sun, you're going to have a total solar eclipse coming to Iceland in August. Were there any myths associated with celestial events like this?
Gísli Sigurðsson: They don't spell it out. That's the problem. So, the text assumes that there is a teacher with you.
So, again, Snorra sets it up as a question and answer session between a teacher and the pupil. The pupil is an earthling, a king of Sweden who goes out into the open where the world is just as it is until it starts transforming through an illusion where divine figures appear to him and start explaining that what he sees is actually a mythological phenomena. So, the rainbow is...
Of course, what you call rainbow, you stupid Earthlings, but that is actually the bridge between heaven and earth that only we, the gods, can ride. And then they go on and tell him about a half-transparent tree trunk in the sky that is holding it up. And if you are in the hot tub in Reykjavik at Snorra Sturluson's residence hearing that story, there's only one half-white transparent tree trunk in the sky, which would be the Milky Way. And then he defines that the sun has its halls and the stars have their places. And perhaps we have there the terms for the sun signs and the star signs, the sun signs of the zodiac. Is there a solar eclipse somewhere? And a favorite interpretation has been...
The death of Baldr, the good God, the white God, dies and that is the beginning of the end of the world of the gods and our world as well. And some have been inclined to think, well, is this a mythological interpretation of a solar eclipse? So, it's an omen that now something bad is about to happen. It doesn't spell it out to us, so we don't know.
It's relatively recent that we have started to realize that all the direct references to the sky in the mythology could actually be to real celestial phenomena. So, we are still in the beginning phase of trying to understand what is behind these stories or in front of our eyes in these stories.
Dean Regas: Well, I think people all around the world were amazed by these events and it's so great to find these stories. I have to go back for a second. Did you say watching the stars from a hot tub? Did I hear that correctly? Because in the Midwest, people do most of stargazing from a hot tub also. That's when I get people saying, “I saw something in the sky when I was watching in my hot tub.” So, is that in the myths or is that just something that you added?
Gísli Sigurðsson: No, no, no. At Snorra Sturluson's residence, the guy who was responsible for writing down this prose work called the Prose Edda or Snorra Edda, there is a hot tub that he actually had made just outside the immediate yard around his farm. So, he had a tunnel leading out to the hot tub so he didn't have to strip stark naked in the open.
Dean Regas: Well, I think we could all learn a lesson from Icelanders when it comes to hot tubs, saunas, baths, that kind of thing. But let's get back to astronomy and the eclipse too, because I'm curious about Iceland, it’s going to be one of the places where people can see the total solar eclipse. Do you have a feeling for, you know, how the country is preparing? Is the public aware, indifferent, maybe uneasy about all the tourists coming? What's kind of the feeling about the eclipse coming up?
Gísli Sigurðsson: People are getting excited about it. The last time we had a partial eclipse a few years back that already stirred up some excitement. We have a fairly popular character on radio and TV regularly making us excited about celestial events. There is generally awareness, and in particular in the tourist industry.
People have been telling us now for quite some time that they are all fully booked. So, what do you do? So, every farmer and every owner of any possible house has now turned it into an Airbnb possibility.
Dean Regas: Well, and one of the locations where the total eclipse will go is over this peninsula that kind of gets featured in a Jules Verne novel. And I'm going to try to pronounce it and you'll probably have to correct me. I did go to visit, and did the tour to the journey to the center of the earth at Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Did I say that anywhere close?
Gísli Sigurðsson: Very, very close. Snæfellsnes, yes, Snæfellsnes. So, that's a volcano that hasn't erupted since after the ice age. So, we don't count it as active, but you never know.
And that was what fascinated Jules Verne in thinking that this would be the entrance into the Earth.
Dean Regas: Well, it's an exciting time and we wish you clear skies in August and hopefully we'll have nice views of the eclipse there.
Gísli Sigurðsson: Yeah, we are confident that the weather will be good.
Dean Regas: Well, thanks so much for joining me. This has been a lot of fun.
Gísli Sigurðsson: Thank you for having me and start thinking about the myths when you look up next time.
Dean Regas: In every eclipse season, for me, one song rules the airwaves. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Welsh singer-songwriter Bonnie Tyler. It seems like every time I turn on the radio, that song is playing. Which is really cool. I truly believe that DJs are actively listening to the Looking Up podcast and through my efforts at popularizing astronomy, play that song. Yeah, sure, Dean. But I'll be honest.
I used to not like that song. I don't know, maybe it was because everyone assumed I liked it, maybe because it was astronomically inaccurate, maybe because I was an unromantic scientist. But after April 8, 2024, and that eclipse where the Armstrong Air and Space Museum played "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on the loudspeakers to the crowd right before the actual total eclipse, let's just say, that song is now a trigger for me, a good trigger.
And my mind goes right back to that day and moment and emotions. It just comes flooding back in. I know it's sad. No, it's not cute. It is not cute. But the heart wants what the heart wants. I've heard a Spanish version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which is somehow even more emotional than the original version. But was there an Icelandic version?
[Cast of Niflungahringurinn Allur]: My name is Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdóttir. My name is Eiríkur Stephensen. My name is Hjörleifur Hjartarson.
Dean Regas: Can you tell me how I would say total eclipse of the heart in Icelandic?
[Cast of Niflungahringurinn Allur]: Algjör sólmyrkvi hjartans.
Dean Regas: Oh my gosh, I don't even think I can even pronounce one syllable of that. Because I was hoping I was going to be able to sing with you, but I don't think that's going to be possible.
Gísli Sigurðsson: No, probably not.
[Cast of Niflungahringurinn Allur sings Icelandic rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”]
Dean Regas: So, where am I going to see the eclipse on August 12th? Iceland or Spain? For balance, we tried in vain to interview Spanish astronomers and singers for this piece. We even tried to get actor Javier Bardem.
[Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men]: What business is it of yours where I’m from?
As a total planner and an eclipse chaser, I'll be honest, I've known for a long time where I'm going to be that day. You'll just have to tune in after I see it to find out all the details. And don't worry, I'll take plenty of audio from Eclipse Day.
Looking up with Dean Regas is a production of Cincinnati Public Radio. Kevin Reynolds and I created the podcast in 2017. Ella Rowen and Carlos Lopez Cornu produce and edit our show and have, so far, failed to book me passage on a supersonic jet going between Iceland and Spain during the eclipse. Keep trying, keep trying.
Jenell Walton is our Vice President of Content, and Ronny Salerno is our digital platforms manager. Our theme song is, “Possible Light” by Ziv Moran. Our social media coordinator is Hannah McFarland, and our cover art is by Nicole Tiffany. I'm Dean Regas, keep looking up!
