Eclipse August 12, 2026 · Aragón / Soria, Spain
Will mountains block your eclipse view from Moncayo?
Moncayo (2,314 m) rises alone from the Ebro valley — the highest peak of the Iberian System. With the sun at just 6.8° during totality, the massif casts a long local shadow: towns on its east side can lose the sun behind the summit cone minutes before totality.
The August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse over Moncayo happens at very low sun altitude — under 10° in many places. At that altitude, even modest hills or ridges in your western horizon can block the sun completely. Every vantage point below has been pre-checked: we ray-cast the real terrain horizon from its exact coordinate and report whether the eclipsed sun clears the ridge line, with a link to the live 3D simulation to verify your own spot.
Each verdict is computed by ray-casting 360° from the exact coordinate over Mapbox Terrain-RGB elevation data (30 km range) — the same engine as the live 3D sky view. Margins under ~1° are flagged marginal: elevation pixels are ~75 m wide and can miss sharp ridge lines, and trees or buildings are not included.
Key viewpoints
Tarazona Clear view at totality
41.904°N, -1.725°W
The sun clears the terrain by 1.5° at the critical moment. Terrain hides the sun at 20:41 — before the partial phase ends at 21:21.
Check terrain in 3D →Ágreda Clear view at totality
41.853°N, -1.921°W
The sun clears the terrain by 3.2° at the critical moment. Terrain hides the sun at 20:54 — before the partial phase ends at 21:21.
Check terrain in 3D →San Martín de la Virgen de Moncayo Clear view at totality
41.838°N, -1.795°W
The sun clears the terrain by 2.9° at the critical moment. Terrain hides the sun at 20:49 — before the partial phase ends at 21:21.
Check terrain in 3D →Borja Clear view at totality
41.833°N, -1.534°W
The sun clears the terrain by 3.8° at the critical moment. Terrain hides the sun at 20:52 — before the partial phase ends at 21:21.
Check terrain in 3D →Drop a pin anywhere — Heliora computes the terrain horizon from that exact point and shows whether the eclipsed sun is visible above it.
Why does terrain matter so much?
- How low will the sun be during the eclipse?
- Across most of Spain the sun will be between 4° and 12° above the horizon at maximum eclipse. At 4°, a 100 m ridge half a kilometre away blocks the sun. At 8°, the same ridge needs to be 1.4 km away to clear it.
- How does Heliora know the actual horizon from my spot?
- Heliora downloads Mapbox Terrain-RGB elevation tiles around your pin and ray-casts 360° outward, sampling elevation every degree of azimuth and computing the apparent angle of the highest point. The result is the real local horizon from your exact GPS coordinate, not the flat-earth horizon.
- Does this work for buildings too?
- Yes — toggle the "buildings" layer in the sky view. Heliora pulls Mapbox 3D building data for the closest 2 km and renders them as occluders. This is critical in cities like Bilbao, Santander, or Madrid where city blocks can hide a low sun.
- Why did you build this?
- Generic eclipse tools tell you the sun's altitude but not whether your real horizon clears it. For a low-altitude eclipse like 2026-08-12 in Spain, that distinction is the difference between seeing totality and seeing nothing at all from a mountain valley.