The Ministry of Universities, Science, Innovation and Culture, through the Canary Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI), supports the development of the international project “Total Eclipses in Spain and the NATE Experiment (North African Telescopic Eclipse)”, led by the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC), an initiative that will allow "consolidating the islands' position as one of the world's leading centers in astronomy and astrophysics".
The action includes the deployment of a network of synchronized telescopes for the observation and analysis of the total solar eclipse of August 2, 2027, an exceptional astronomical phenomenon whose trajectory will cross southern Spain and North Africa and will offer optimal conditions for scientific research. The program also includes a preparatory phase linked to the total eclipse of August 12, 2026, in the Iberian Peninsula.
The Minister of Universities, Science, Innovation and Culture, Migdalia Machín, pointed out that this initiative “highlights the scientific and technological capacity that the Canary Islands have in the field of astronomy and astrophysics, as well as the work that the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics has been developing for decades”.
Machín also highlighted that “these types of actions allow us to continue advancing in research, promote the training of young people linked to science and strengthen international collaboration in a strategic area for the Canary Islands”.
An eclipse of more than six minutes
The total eclipse of 2027 presents exceptional characteristics that make it one of the most relevant of the 21st century. It will have a magnitude of 1.079 and a totality phase of more than six minutes, a circumstance that will allow advanced observations of the solar corona and its magnetic structures.
The initiative incorporates the NATE (North African Telescopic Eclipse) experiment, whose objective is to capture high-resolution images of the inner solar corona using a network of telescopes operated by scientific personnel, university students, and faculty from the Canary Islands and Morocco. The device includes the installation of around ten telescopic stations along the totality path of the eclipse and will be developed in collaboration with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
Among the program's goals are also the specialized training of university students from the Canary Islands and Morocco in astronomical instrumentation and scientific data analysis, as well as the development of outreach activities and public broadcasts of the eclipse that can be followed from the islands.
During 2026, the preparatory and technical validation phase will be developed, with the acquisition of equipment, the training of participating teams, and the carrying out of tests during the total eclipse that will be visible in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the program will have the collaboration of astronomers from the National Observatory of the United States, who participated in previous international eclipse observation experiences.
The main phase will take place in 2027, when the coordinated observation of the solar corona will be carried out using a distributed network of telescopes that will allow reconstructing the temporal evolution of the phenomenon with unprecedented depth. Subsequently, analysis work, scientific publications, and outreach activities aimed at educational centers and citizens will be carried out.
With this initiative, the regional Executive continues to consolidate the Canary Islands as a reference territory for astrophysical science and research, an area in which the islands have cutting-edge infrastructure, exceptionally high-quality skies, and an internationally recognized scientific community.
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