In the absence of less than a year for the first total eclipse that will cross the Iberian Peninsula since 1905, the Government has gathered for the first time at the Royal Astronomical Observatory of Madrid. The working group will have as its main objective “to ensure that observation is developed safely and orderly.” And it is that on August 12, 2026 Spain to which another will follow on August 2, 2027 and one annular on January 26, 2028.
The first official estimates encrypt several million people for the extra influx of tourists that will arrive next year to contemplate one of the few total eclipses that will pass through Europe throughout the 21st century. In addition, he has led to the Ministry of Science, headed
The Interministerial Working Group is chaired by Juan Cruz Cigudosa, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, “will mobilize a lot of people to areas with better visibility, which will also coincide with empty Spain, with field spaces, meadows, forest limits … in a period in which, as we are seeing these days, the risk of fire is very important.” Identify the recommended observation places and estimate the influx and the number of displacements – which are planned massive – will be, according to Cigudosa, some of the first challenges of the Commission, whose vice presidency has José Antonio Santano, Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
In addition to the Ministries of Science and Transportation, which coordinate the action of the Government in this matter, at the meeting this Thursday, high positions of the Defense Ministries have been present; Tax authorities; Inside; Education, professional training and sports; Industry and tourism; Territorial policy and democratic memory; Ecological transition and demographic challenge; Culture; Economy, Commerce and Business; Health and Social Rights, and also of consumption and 2030 Agenda and at their first meeting, experts from the National Astronomical Observatory, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia have also intervened.
The organizational challenges, in the scarce year that remains, are multiple. In recent decades, interest in total eclipses has been triggered, which causes monumental traffic jams and multiplies the price of accommodation in some suitable locations for observation, hotel reserves have already been exhausted. In the last eclipses in the US, that saturation and that speculation with the accommodations – and with the protection glasses – have been accompanied not only by an increase in the risk of fire due to massive outdoor concentrations, but also by an increase in mortal traffic accidents.
In addition to “a first analysis of the needs to prepare, organize and coordinate the safe observation of this extraordinary astronomical phenomenon” and avoid civil protection problems, in this first cygudous meeting has emphasized the opportunities of scientific dissemination, education, scientific tourism that represents the trio of eclipses: “We must anticipate and prevent risks, to ensure that eclipses are a phenomenon that puts our country Global of scientific dissemination and also of the promotion of astrotourism ”.
Experts have been claiming an action plan for the central government for a while, which must optimize coordination with the 13 Autonomous Communities through which the total eclipse of August 12, 2026 will travel. The Ministry of Science has already initiated contacts informally, and several autonomies such as Aragon, Asturias and Catalonia are already implementing their own interdepartmental action plans. The next government’s step will be to “immediately contact all affected autonomous communities to elaborate”, in the words of Cigudosa.
