Children play football during the solar partial eclipse in the landscape park Halde Hoheward in Herten, western Germany, on August 12, 2026. Millions of people turn their gaze towards the heavens on August 12, 2026 to witness one of nature's greatest spectacles -- a rare total solar eclipse -- as it sweeps over mainland Europe to briefly turn day into night. In Germany, the sun will be between 84 and 90 percent obscured from shortly after 7:00 p.m. until just before 9:00 p.m. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)