Solar Eclipse August 12, 2026: Times, Degree, All 12 Signs
The total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 falls at 20°02' Leo, greatest at 17:46 UT. Exact times, its 18-year Saros rerun, and all 12 signs.
The total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 reaches greatest eclipse at 17:45:59 UT, with the Sun at 20 degrees 02 minutes of Leo and the Moon at 20 degrees 07 minutes. Maximum totality runs 2 minutes 18 seconds. Every figure here is computed rather than recalled.
The numbers
| Date | August 12, 2026 |
| Greatest eclipse | 17:45:59 UT |
| Sun | 20°02’ Leo |
| Moon | 20°07’ Leo |
| Magnitude | 1.0395 |
| Maximum totality | 2 min 18 sec |
| Saros series | 126 (member 48) |
| Greatest eclipse point | 65°09’ N, 25°06’ W |
Partial phases run globally from 15:34 UT to 19:58 UT, so the whole event occupies a little over four hours from first contact to last.
In your clock time
| Zone | Greatest eclipse |
|---|---|
| UT / GMT | 17:46 |
| British Summer Time | 18:46 |
| Central European Summer Time | 19:46 |
| US Eastern (EDT) | 1:46 PM |
| US Central (CDT) | 12:46 PM |
| US Pacific (PDT) | 10:46 AM |
Where it is visible
Greatest eclipse falls at 65°09’ north, 25°06’ west, which puts it in the North Atlantic just west of Iceland. That is the point where the Moon’s shadow passes closest to the centre of the Earth, and it is the figure the ephemeris gives directly.
The full track of totality across the map, and the local contact times for a specific town, are a geography question rather than an astrology one. For those, use a dedicated eclipse-path map. What follows is the part we compute: where this eclipse falls in the zodiac, and what that means for a birth chart.
What an eclipse actually is
A solar eclipse is a new moon with the alignment tightened. At every new moon the Moon passes between Earth and Sun. Most months it passes above or below, because its orbit is tilted about five degrees against the Earth’s. When a new moon happens close enough to one of the two points where those planes cross, the Moon covers the Sun and you get an eclipse.
That is the whole mechanism, and it is why eclipses arrive in seasons roughly six months apart rather than monthly.
Astrologically the consequence is simple: an eclipse is read as a new moon with the volume turned up. New moons are read as beginnings. An eclipse is read as a beginning that carries further, anchored to the exact degree it falls on.
The 18-year rerun
Every eclipse belongs to a Saros series, a family of eclipses separated by about 18 years and 11 days. This one is Saros 126, member 48. Its two immediate predecessors were:
- August 1, 2008 — total solar, 10:21 UT
- July 22, 1990 — total solar, 03:02 UT
That is the detail worth sitting with. If you were alive in 2008, this eclipse’s older sibling already crossed your chart, at a degree close to this one. Whatever part of your life sits near 20 degrees of Leo has had this visit before, roughly eighteen years ago, and again eighteen years before that.
The tradition does not read that as the same events repeating. It reads it as the same area being revisited at a different stage of your life. Looking back at what was beginning or ending for you in August 2008 is the most concrete way to use a Saros series, and it costs nothing but memory.
The rest of the sky that day
An eclipse never arrives alone. At greatest eclipse the sky reads:
| Body | Position |
|---|---|
| Sun | 20°02’ Leo |
| Moon | 20°07’ Leo |
| Jupiter | 9°33’ Leo |
| Mercury | 5°07’ Leo |
| Venus | 5°53’ Libra |
| Mars | 0°55’ Cancer |
| Saturn | 14°30’ Aries (retrograde) |
| Uranus | 5°20’ Gemini |
| Neptune | 4°04’ Aries |
| Pluto | 3°54’ Aquarius |
Two things stand out and both are checkable. Jupiter is in Leo alongside the eclipse, which puts the traditional planet of expansion in the same sign as the Sun and Moon. And Saturn sits at 14°30’ Aries, retrograde, inside the band it retraces all season. That means the eclipse lands while Saturn retrograde 2026 is already running, and charts with placements in early Aries have both patterns touching them at once.
The August 2026 eclipse for all twelve signs
The eclipse falls at roughly 20 degrees of Leo. Whichever house of your chart holds that degree is the area it lands in.
Read from your rising sign if you know it, because the rising sign sets your houses. If you only know your sun sign, read from there instead: that is the solar-house convention horoscope columns use, and a reasonable stand-in when a birth time is missing.
Each entry names the life area under the eclipse. None of them describes an outcome.
Leo — the 1st house
The eclipse lands on your house of self, and close to your rising sign if you were born with Leo climbing. Traditionally read as a reset of how you present and what you lead with. The most personal placement of the twelve.
Virgo — the 12th house
The house of rest, solitude, and what runs below conscious notice. Read as an interior beginning: something concluding quietly before it becomes visible to anyone else.
Libra — the 11th house
Friendships, groups, networks, and long-range hopes. Read as a shift in the circles you move through, or in the future you are working toward.
Scorpio — the 10th house
Career and public standing, the most visible corner of the chart. Read as a beginning in professional direction or in how you are seen at work.
Sagittarius — the 9th house
Study, travel, belief, publishing. Read as a widening of the frame: an education, a journey, or a change in what you take to be true.
Capricorn — the 8th house
Shared resources, debt, intimacy, and the subjects people avoid at dinner. Read as a beginning in something jointly held rather than individually owned.
Aquarius — the 7th house
Partnership, one to one, sitting opposite your own sign. Read as a beginning in a close relationship, business or personal, or in the terms of an existing one.
Pisces — the 6th house
Work routine, daily habits, health practice. The least glamorous house and often the most useful. Read as a reset of the systems you run every day.
Aries — the 5th house
Creativity, romance, children, play. Read as a beginning in what you make or who you enjoy. Note that with Saturn in your sign and retrograde, you have two patterns running at once this season.
Taurus — the 4th house
Home, family, roots, the base of the chart. Read as a beginning in your living situation or family structure.
Gemini — the 3rd house
Communication, learning, siblings, the local everyday. Read as a beginning in how you say things, or in something you have been meaning to learn.
Cancer — the 2nd house
Money, possessions, and values. Read as a beginning in what you earn or in what you have decided is worth your time.
The 15 to 25 degree band
The sign table above assumes each sign fills exactly one house, which is a simplification. The sharper check takes one minute.
An eclipse is read most strongly where it makes an exact contact. Anything in your chart sitting between roughly 15 and 25 degrees of any sign is inside range: at 20 degrees of Leo the eclipse conjoins placements in Leo, opposes placements in Aquarius, and squares placements in Taurus and Scorpio. Fixed signs carry this one.
So the question is not really which sign you are. It is whether you have a planet, an Ascendant, or a Midheaven in that band. If you do, note which one and how close, because the closer the degree the more exact the contact, and the more the tradition would have you watch it.
If nothing of yours sits there, the eclipse still moves through one of your houses. It just does so without an exact hit, generally read as a quieter version of the same season.
How to find yours
Three facts and one lookup:
- Cast your chart from your birth date, exact birth time, and birth place. Without the time you get planets but not houses, and the house is the answer here. The calculation is straightforward once you have the three inputs.
- Find which house holds 20 degrees of Leo. That is the area this eclipse lands in, and it is more precise than the sign table.
- Scan for anything between 15 and 25 degrees of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio. Those are the exact contacts.
In MysticAlmanac, your chart is cast from your exact birth details with every placement given to the degree, so checking a band like this takes seconds rather than an evening with a printout.
One eclipse, two minutes and eighteen seconds of totality, and one degree of Leo doing the work. Find that degree in your own chart and the rest of the commentary becomes optional.
Common questions
What time is the solar eclipse on August 12, 2026?
Greatest eclipse falls at 17:45:59 UT. That is 1:46 PM Eastern, 10:46 AM Pacific, and 6:46 PM British Summer Time. The partial phases run globally from 15:34 UT to 19:58 UT.
What degree is the August 2026 solar eclipse?
The Sun sits at 20 degrees 02 minutes of Leo and the Moon at 20 degrees 07 minutes, so the eclipse is exact at roughly 20 degrees of Leo. Maximum totality lasts 2 minutes 18 seconds.
Which signs are affected by the August 2026 solar eclipse?
All twelve, because an eclipse happens in one sky. What differs is the house it lands in. For Leo rising it falls in the 1st house, Virgo rising the 12th, Libra rising the 11th, and so on backward around the wheel. Anything in your chart between roughly 15 and 25 degrees of any sign is worth checking.
Has this eclipse happened before?
This one belongs to Saros series 126, member 48. The two previous members were the total solar eclipses of August 1, 2008 and July 22, 1990. Saros members repeat at intervals of about 18 years and 11 days.
Does a solar eclipse mean something bad is coming?
No. Astrology reads eclipses as accelerated versions of the new moon they already are, marking beginnings and endings around the degree they fall on. It is a frame for reflection rather than a prediction of events.
Find where this eclipse lands in your chart
20 degrees of Leo sits in one specific house of your chart, and possibly right on top of a planet. Cast your chart and see exactly which, and whether anything of yours sits inside the 15 to 25 degree band. Seven days free at full Premium.
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