Total Solar Eclipse to be visible from Greenland and Spain.

 A total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from parts of Greenland and Spain, as well as intervening parts of the Atlantic Ocean, on Wednesday 12 August 2026, with a partial eclipse visible from the rest of western Europe, Canada, eastern parts of the United States, and parts of North and West Africa. The event will occur between 4.35 pm and 8.57 pm GMT, although local start and end times will vary within this window.

The Moon's shadow projected onto the Earth as the eclipse proceeds. The hemisphere of the Earth facing the Sun is shown. Contours show where various fractions of the Sun's disk is covered. In-The-Sky.

Eclipses are a product of the way the Earth, Moon and Sun move about one-another. The Moon orbits the Earth every 28 days, while the Earth orbits the Sun every 365 days, and because the two Sun and Moon appear roughly the same size when seen from Earth, it is quite possible for the Moon to block out the light of the Sun. At first sight this would seem likely to happen every month at the New Moon, when the Moon is on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, and therefore invisible (the Moon produced no light of its own, when we see the Moon, we are seeing reflected sunlight, but this can only happen when we can see parts of the Moon illuminated by the Sun).

The relative positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth during a Solar eclipse. Starry Night.

However, the Moon does not orbit in quite the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun, so the Eclipses only occur when the two orbital planes cross one-another; this typically happens two or three times a year, and always at the New Moon. During Total Eclipses the Moon entirely blocks the light of the Sun, however most Eclipses are Partial, the Moon only partially blocks the light of the Sun.

How the differing inclinations of the Earth and Moon's orbits prevent us having an eclipse every 28 days. Starry Skies.

Although the light of the Sun is reduced during an Eclipse, it is still extremely dangerous to look directly at the Sun, and viewing eclipses should not be undertaken without appropriate equipment.

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Archaeologists uncover Bronze Age kitchen in western Azerbaijan.

A group of Italian and Azerbaijani archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Bronze Age ceremonial kitchen at a site called Tava Tepe in western Azerbaijan, according to a press release issued by the University of Catania on 3 August 2026. The site, which was discovered in 2024 and which sits on top of an artificial earthen terrace, has since been excavated by archaeologists from the University of Catania, the Baku Academy of Sciences, and La Sapienza University in Rome, providing unique insights into life in the Caucasus during the late Bronze Age.

The location of the Tava Tepe archaeological site. Google Maps.

The site is thought to have been occupied between about 1300 and 1000 BC, and comprises a series of layers that suggest the site was rebuilt several times, whilst retaining its function and layout. At the centre of the site is a large circular brazier, which appears to have served as a location for a main cooking fire. Over time this appears to have been enhanced by the addition of a series of ovens, and spaces for food preparation. Many bowls and dishes, as well as remains of food, were found at the site, some of them stacked within the ovens. The whole are appears to have been covered by a roof of wooden branches, which would have made the location visible from a great distance.

The central brazier at the Tave Tepe site and associated pottery. University of Catania.

Surrounding this central area are traces of what have been interpreted as a series of wooden huts with beaten limestone floors, which appear to have been dedicated to the preparation of foods. Notable finds within these include a series of terracotta moulds, and items interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread.

A series of terracotta objects interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread, from the Tave Tepe site. University of Catania.

Examination of food remains from the site has revealed the nature of at least one meal eaten there, a dish of beef accompanied by a sort of polenta made from Millet, to which honey had been added. Professor Nicola Laneri of the University of Catania, the lead archaeologist at the site, believes that communities living along the Kura River in the late Bronze Age may have periodically met up at the Tave Tepe site for ceremonial meals, meetings which would also have helped to cement social cohesion among these groups.

An aerial view of the Tava Tepe site. University of Catania.

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Sixteen Elephants dead in series of poisoning incidents in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Sixteen Elephants have been found dead with apparent cyanide poisoning in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya since 24 June 2026. This has raised concerns about a potential new wave of Human-wildlife conflict in the park, where Elephants were once almost wiped out by poaching, but which is now home to a population of 36 000. All of the Elephants died outside of the Amboseli National Park itself, but within the greater Amoseli ecosystem, in the area around Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Ranch, community-run wildlife projects linking Amboseli National Park to the Tsavo National Park to the east.

The body of an Elephant found close to the Amboseli National Park in Kenya earlier this year. BBC.

Initially, park authorities were concerned that the Elephants may have been poisoned by a cyanide-based insecticide sprayed on crops on one of the farms surrounding the park, as several of the dead Elephants had stomachs filled with tomatoes. Elephant raids on croplands close to Amboseli are a known problem, and while cyanide-based insecticides are illegal in Kenya (which maintains strict rules on the use of agricultural chemicals in order to gain access to lucrative European markets), they are legal in neighbouring Tanzania, with occasional incidents of smuggling and illegal use in Kenya being reported. 

Elephants in the Amboseli National Park. Kenya Wildlife Service.

However, local farmer's representatives have strongly denied this, claiming that despite the problems of crop raiding, most farmers love the region's Elephants and would not voluntarily harm them. Furthermore, they note that that it would take a considerable amount of cyanide to kill an Elephant, and farms are also impacted by crop raiding by other large Mammals, none of which seem to have been affected.

Farmers spraying pesticides on a farm close to the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Peter Njoroge/BBC.

Another possibility is that the cyanide could have been used in an illegal gold mining operation either within, or close to the Amboseli National Park (while gold is not generally soluble, it can be dissolved in solutions of sodium cyanide, a method which can be used to leach gold from ore rock), although the Kenya Wildlife Service are confident that no such activities are taking place. This makes deliberate poisoning of the Elephants the most probable cause, and while the reason for this is unknown, the most likely explanation would be that it relates to the extensive farmland now surrounding Amboseli and the other parks of the region, which supply vegetables to cities such as Nairobi as well as overseas markets. While many Animals occasionally raid such farms, Elephants are uniquely destructive, with individual Elephants able to consume over a tonne of vegetables within a short period of time.

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At least 34 dead following Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake beneath Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded a Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake at a depth of about 10 km, beneath Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyūshū Island, slightly before 4.30 pm Japan Standard Time (slightly before 7.30 am GMT) on Tuesday 28 July 2026. At least 34 people have died following this event, and many more are still missing, most of them within a shopping centre which collapsed during the Earthquake, and where an explosion occurred about an hour later, probably due to a broken gas main. The Earthquake was felt across western Japan, and more than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the original event.

The approximate location of the 28 July 2026 Kumamoto Prefectiure Earthquake. USGS.

Around 30 000 households lost power following the event, and around 80 000 have lost water supplies. More than 1000 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters, while civil engineers make safe their residences. Managing this evacuation is proving to be particularly difficult, as many evacuation centres have also lost electricity and water suppliers. The area is currently also suffering from a heatwave, with temperatures reaching as high as 39°C, and around 30% of those evacuated have been described as elderly and vulnerable to the heat.

A collapsed building in the city of Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture following the 28 July 2026 Earthquake. Hiro Komae/AP.

Japan has a complex tectonic environment with four plates underlying parts of the Islands; in addition to the Pacific in the east and the Othorsk in the North, there are the Philipine Plate to the south and the Eurasian Plate to the West. Kyūshū Island lies at the northeast end of the Ryukyu Island Arc, which sits on top of the boundary between the Eurasian and Philippine Plates. The Philippine Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, in the Ryukyo Trench, to the Southeast of the Islands. This is not a smooth process, with the two plates continuously sticking together then breaking apart as the pressure builds up, leading to frequent Earthquakes in the region.

The movement of the Pacific and Philippine Plates beneath eastern Honshū. Laurent Jolivet/Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans/Sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement.

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