Partial Solar Eclipse in New York City – August 12, 2026

Maximum partial solar eclipse visible from New York City – August 12, 2026. About 9% of the Sun was covered by the Moon.

On August 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse crossed parts of Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and a small part of Portugal. New York City was far outside the path of totality, but we still had a chance to see a partial solar eclipse, with about 9% of the Sun covered by the Moon at maximum eclipse.

I photographed the eclipse from New York City using a Canon EOS Ra with a Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens and Canon Extender EF 2x III, giving an effective focal length of 400mm. A Thousand Oaks 72-T threaded solar filter was used for all photographs.

For all photographs I kept the aperture fixed at f/8 for consistent sharpness, while varying the shutter speed and ISO to find the best exposure for showing the solar surface and sunspots. Because of these different exposure settings, the apparent color of the solar disk varies slightly between the images, from a deeper reddish-orange to a lighter, almost white appearance. In the darker, more reddish exposures, the contrast of the sunspots is generally stronger and they are easier to see.

The image above shows the maximum partial eclipse visible from New York City. The photographs below show the eclipse in chronological order, beginning when the Moon first started moving across the edge of the Sun.

Several groups of sunspots are also visible in the photographs. I identified three of them as AR4508, AR4507, and AR4503 using the solar images and active-region labels published by SpaceWeather.com. The active region AR4506 was also present on the Sun but was not clearly visible in my photographs.

Beginning of the Solar Eclipse

Canon EOS Ra, Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM + Canon Extender EF 2x III (400mm), f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO 3200

This photograph was taken just a few minutes after the partial eclipse began at about 1:07 p.m. EDT. The Moon had just started moving onto the solar disk. Sunspot groups AR4508, AR4507, and AR4503 are visible across the Sun.

Partial Solar Eclipse over New York City

Canon EOS Ra, 400mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 320

The Moon moves farther across the edge of the Sun while the three sunspot groups remain clearly visible.

Solar Eclipse Progression

Canon EOS Ra, 400mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 400.

As the eclipse progresses, the curved dark edge of the Moon becomes more pronounced against the bright solar disk.

Partial Solar Eclipse Near Maximum

Canon EOS Ra, 400mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 200.

This photograph was taken later in the eclipse, when the Moon had moved farther across the solar disk and the eclipse was getting close to its maximum as seen from New York City.

Maximum Partial Solar Eclipse in NYC

The first image at the top of this post shows the maximum eclipse visible from New York City. Maximum eclipse occurred at about 1:54 p.m. EDT, when approximately 9% of the Sun was covered by the Moon. The photograph was taken with a Canon EOS Ra at 400mm, f/8, 1/160 sec and ISO 500.

Although this was very different from the spectacular total solar eclipse seen along the path of totality in Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, it was still an amazing astronomical event to observe and photograph from New York City.

The combination of the Moon's silhouette and several groups of sunspots made this relatively small partial eclipse especially interesting through a 400mm telephoto lens.

What a Simple Eclipse Photo Can Show

Looking more carefully at the photographs led to another interesting question. The visible sunspot groups provide reference points on the solar disk and allow us to roughly reconstruct the orientation of the Sun's equatorial region and rotation axis. The curved limb of the Moon then gives another direction in the same image.

Geometry of the August 12, 2026 partial solar eclipse from New York City. The annotation shows the approximate solar equator and rotation axis, the orientation of the Moon's limb, and visible sunspot groups AR4508, AR4507 and AR4503. The lines are approximate and intended to illustrate how eclipse photography can reveal the geometry of the Sun-Earth-Moon system.

At first this looks like simple geometry, but it quickly leads to much deeper astronomy. The orientation of the Moon during an eclipse depends on the tilt of the Sun's rotation axis, the inclination of the Moon's orbit, the geometry of the Earth-Moon-Sun system, and our position on the rotating Earth. Topocentric parallax also matters: it is not only the apparent displacement of the nearby Moon, but the way that displacement changes as the observer moves with Earth's rotation that modifies the Moon's apparent path across the Sun.

The annotated image below shows the approximate solar equator, solar rotation axis, visible sunspot groups, and orientation of the lunar limb. These lines should be considered an illustration rather than a precision measurement, but they show how much information can be hidden in a seemingly simple eclipse photograph.

This is one of the things I enjoy most about astrophotography. A photograph can begin simply as a record of what was visible in the sky, but looking at it more closely can lead to questions about the Sun's rotation, the Moon's orbit, parallax, Earth's rotation, and the three-dimensional geometry of a solar eclipse. Sometimes a simple photograph is only the starting point for going much deeper into astronomy.

Related Solar Eclipse Astrophotography Posts

• Baily's Beads - Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024
• The Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024 During Totality, Seen from Westport, New York
• A Celestial Surprise: Capturing Comet SOHO-5008 During the Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024
• The Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: An HDR Revelation of the Sun's Corona from Westport, New York
• Total Solar Eclipse - April 8, 2024 | Westport, New York
• Annular Solar Eclipse - October 14, 2023 | Odessa, Texas
• New York City Solar Eclipse - June 10, 2021 - Astrophotography
• Tennessee Astrophotography - Great American Eclipse - Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017
• Solar Eclipse from New York November 3, 2013 - Astrophotography
• Solar Eclipse New York - 11/3/2013
• NYC Solar Eclipse

Tennessee Astrophotography - Great American Eclipse - Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017

"The Sun was eclipsed; it was all gone. 

It was like ink and without light. 

The stars were visible in the daytime."

-- Hyaku Rensho. (Total solar eclipse of August AD 975)

There are photos from our families expedition to T-Lea Farm, Tellico Plains, Tennessee for Great American Total Eclipse August 21, 2017. In the Shadow of the Moon - 2 min 37 sec.

Solar Corona - Tellico Plains, Tennessee - Total Solar Eclipse 2017, New York City Expedition, photo by Igor Kuskovsky

Total Solar Eclipse 2017 August 21 Canon 60D  Tellico Plains, Tennessee, New York City Expedition, photo by Igor Kuskovsky

Diamond Ring Total Solar Eclipse 2017 Celestron Nexstar 4SE Astrophotography

Solar Corona Great USA Eclipse 2017 Celestron Nexstar 4SE Astrophotography

Solar Eclipse 2017 Aug 21 Dimond Ring and Solar Corona

Solar activity was pretty active (compare other days when no sunspots was visible). Three bright solar flares and couple of sunspot areas (Wolf Number about 66).

The Beginning of Total Solar Eclipse 2017, Aug 21 - Coronado SolarMax II 60 Telescope, Celestron Nexstar 4SE Tripod, Canon 60Da Camera, Tennessee Astrophotography

Total Solar Eclipse 2017 - Celestron Nexstar 4SE Telescope, Canon 60Da Camera, Solar Filter Spectrum Telescope ST525G, Tellico Plains, Tennessee Astrophotography

Telescope Nexstar 4SE Camera Canon 60Da Total Solar Eclipse 2017 Tennessee  Astrophotography

Temperature dropped about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (or 5 degrees Celsius) during the Totality. It was cold! Even small clouds disappeared around the sun, probably because of such temperature inside moon shadow.

Total Solar Eclipse 2017 Black and White T-Lea Farm Tellico Plains Tennessee Astrophotography

Tennessee Astrophotography - Great Total Solar Eclipse 2017, T-Lea Farm, Tellico Plains

Great American Eclipse August 21 2017 Celestron 4SE

Tennessee Astrophotography - At night before the Solar Eclipse - Milky Way - T-Lea Farm, Tellico Plains

Testing for Solar Eclipse 2017, August 21 - Tellico Plains, Tennessee

"Whenever we want to watch an eclipse of the Sun 

we set out basins filled with oil or pitch, 

because the heavy liquid is not easily disturbed 

and so preserves the images it receives."

-- Seneca (Roman, 1st century AD)

There are some some photos which I did before solar eclipse, just for testing,  Canon 60Da,  Celestron Nexstar 4SE, Coronado SolarMax II 60.

Waiting Total Solar Eclipse 2017 - Celestron Nexstar 4SE Canon 60Da

Cloudy Sun - Celestron Nexstar 4SE Canon 60Da - Testing for Solar Eclipse 2017

H Alpha Sun - Coronado SolarMax II 60 Canon 60Da - Testing for Solar Eclipse 2017

Single Sunspot Astrophotography - Celestron 4SE Canon 60Da - Testing for Solar Eclipse 2017

Perfect Sun without Sunspots - Coronado SolarMax II 60 Canon 60Da - Testing for Solar Eclipse 2017 

Coronado SolarMax II 60 NexImage5

Sun 2013-10-26
Coronado SolarMax II 60,
NexImage 5 ccd,
Nexstar 4SE mount,
Two Barlows 2x each (Total x4),
Registax, Photoshop
Two Colors

NexImage 5, Coronado SolarMax II 60, Nexstar 4SE

Coronado SolarMax II 60 NexImage Registax Panoramic

Creating a full-disk solar panorama is not always straightforward when using a dedicated solar telescope and a CCD camera. With the Coronado SolarMax II 60 and NexImage CCD, the apparent solar disk can be too large to fit into a single frame at native resolution.

Instead of reducing magnification or sacrificing detail, I decided to apply a classical astrophotography solution: build a panoramic mosaic of the Sun.

The idea is simple in principle but requires careful planning in practice:

• Record multiple overlapping solar segments (in this case – three videos).
• Keep identical exposure, gain, and duration settings for each capture.
• Process all videos using the same stacking parameters in RegiStax.
• Export uniformly sharpened frames.
• Merge them using Photoshop → File → Automate → Photomerge.

Consistency is critical. If video duration, histogram levels, or wavelet sharpening differ between segments, the final mosaic will show visible seams. Proper overlap between frames is also essential to allow accurate alignment of solar features such as filaments and prominences.

This workflow is very similar to techniques used in:

• Nightscape panoramas (for example, multi-frame Milky Way images)
• Large-field “Rainbow Milky Way” mosaics
• Deep-sky mosaics when a single frame cannot capture the entire object

Solar mosaics require the same discipline — but with an additional challenge: the Sun evolves quickly. Prominences and surface detail can subtly change during capture, so recording segments efficiently is important.

The final result below demonstrates how three stacked segments were combined into a seamless panoramic solar image.

Coronado SolarMax II 60 NexImage, Registax, Final Panoramic 3 images, Astrophotography

This example shows that even with a compact solar setup, it is possible to produce high-resolution full-disk results by applying classical astrophotography mosaic techniques.

Related Astrophotography Posts

• NexImage 5 + Coronado SolarMax II 60
  High-resolution H-alpha solar imaging using Coronado SolarMax II 60 with NexImage 5 and RegiStax processing.
• Solar Prominences — Coronado SolarMax II 60 + Canon 40D
  H-alpha solar prominences captured with Coronado SolarMax II 60 and DSLR — comparison of imaging approaches.
• Celestron NexStar 4SE + Canon 40D — Live View Solar Astrophotography
  Solar photography using a compact 4-inch SCT setup and DSLR — demonstrating accessible daytime astrophotography.
• Saturn — Celestron NexStar 4SE + NexImage
  Planetary imaging workflow with small telescope and CCD camera — similar stacking and processing technique.
• Milky Way Casting Shadows — Atacama, Chile (Bortle Class 1)
  Example of panoramic astrophotography applied to extreme dark-sky nightscapes.

Coronado SolarMax II 60 Telescope Sun Photo

Why didn't the sun go to college?
(Because it already had a thousand degrees!)

This was my first serious attempt at solar astrophotography using the Coronado SolarMax II 60 hydrogen-alpha solar telescope. Unlike regular telescopes that require external solar filters, this specialized instrument is designed specifically for safe observation of the Sun and reveals incredible surface details invisible in white-light viewing.

Solar observation was actually how I first started learning astronomy. My parents bought me a small telescope when I was in middle school, and I used it almost every day to record solar activity and Wolf numbers. Later, I compared my observations with data from other observers using different telescopes. Observing the Sun is much easier in a big city with light pollution because it can be done safely during daytime.

Many years later, I decided to invest in a dedicated solar telescope — the Coronado SolarMax II 60. It already includes an H-alpha filter system, allowing me to safely show solar activity to my kids without attaching external filters like those required for regular scopes such as the Celestron NexStar 4SE.

These images were captured with a NexImage planetary camera using approximately one minute of video (~600 frames). Stacking and sharpening were performed in RegiStax, followed by final color adjustments and Smart Sharpen in Photoshop (June 15, 2013).

Coronado SolarMax II 60 Sun Photo NexImage

Coronado SolarMax Photo

Solar filaments and plages Coronado H-alpha image

Coronado SolarMax II 60 sunspots in H-alpha filter

In these photographs you can clearly see solar prominences, filaments, plages, and active regions near sunspots — all visible thanks to the hydrogen-alpha wavelength that highlights the Sun’s chromosphere.

Solar astrophotography is both educational and safe when using proper equipment. It allows observation of real-time solar dynamics, something that constantly changes from hour to hour.

Related Posts – Coronado SolarMax II 60

• Coronado SolarMax II 60 Telescope - First view
• Solar Prominences – Coronado SolarMax II 60 (Canon 40D)
• NexImage 5 + Coronado SolarMax II 60
• Coronado SolarMax II 60 + NexImage + RegiStax Panoramic
• Coronado SolarMax II 60 + NexImage5 - Color comparison

Celestron NexStar 4SE Canon 40D Live View Sun astrophotography

This video demonstrates how Live View on the Canon EOS 40D can be used for basic solar astrophotography when connected to the Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope. It was recorded on October 2, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York.

The main goal of this experiment was to show how Live View helps with focusing, framing, and exposure control when photographing the Sun. At the time, Live View was still relatively new on DSLR cameras, and this setup made solar imaging much easier than using only the optical viewfinder.

IMPORTANT: The Sun was photographed only with a proper full-aperture solar filter. Never point a telescope or camera at the Sun without a certified solar filter. Permanent eye and equipment damage can occur instantly.

The video includes images and footage from the following assembly series, showing different ways to connect a Canon EOS camera to the Celestron NexStar 4SE. The links below lead to the original photo posts for reference.

• Part 1 – Components Only
• Part 2 – First Assembled Configuration (Rear Port, T-Adapter-C90)
• Part 3 – Second Assembled Configuration (Top Port, Barlow T-Adapter)
• Part 4 – Third Assembled Configuration (Rear Port, Erect Image Diagonal + Barlow)

After the mechanical setup, the video shows the Canon Live View feed on a computer using Canon’s software, allowing real-time monitoring of what the camera sensor sees. This makes it much easier to achieve accurate focus and capture surface detail.

Celestron Solar Filter for NexStar 4 SE and Celestron 4SE, Brooklyn NYC Astronomy

The image above shows the solar filter mounted on the NexStar 4SE. This is the most critical component for solar imaging and must always be installed before pointing the telescope toward the Sun.

Astrophotography NYC - Celestron 4SE and Canon 40D

This photo shows the full imaging setup with the Canon 40D attached to the NexStar 4SE. Live View allows precise focusing without touching the telescope, minimizing vibration.

Sunspot - Solar Activity - Celestron 4SE -Brooklyn Astrophotography

The final image shows a close-up of the Sun with sunspot group 1109. Only a portion of the solar disk is visible — this framing was intentional to better reveal sunspot structure and surrounding bright regions.