solar

In Almería they thought they had seen a drug boat. It turned out to be the solar yacht of a Finn who has traveled 6,000 km without refueling

by

The bathers who tried to suffocate the high temperatures of the latest heat waves swimming around Cabo de Gata last sundaythey watched in astonishment the passage of a very unusual boat. It sailed close to the shore, with a lower hull than usual and an extremely quiet engine. It had no mast or visible bridge. Some thought it was a drug boat. Others, directly, in a submarine. It was nothing like that. According to collected Hybrids and Electricswhat was crossing Las Salinas was the Helios 11. When a Civil Guard patrol boat, equally surprised by the appearance of the boat, came to closely inspect that boat on El Zapillo beach, it only found solar panels and batteries. The dream of a Finn who wanted to sail cheap The person that the Civil Guard found on board the boat is Lukas Sjöman, Finnish adventurer, designer and builder of the most sustainable yacht that the Andalusian coasts will see this summer. He built it alone, without a shipyard, in a shed at his house and its price has not exceeded that of a modest car. As Sjöman himself tells in the videos from his YouTube channel, it took about 200 days to have the hull ready, made with a structure of marine plywood and fiberglass. The result is a yacht 11 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, weighing close to 1.5 tons. Inside there is space for some amenities including an electric stove, a light refrigerator and a bathroom with cisternjust enough to live on board, but without the luxuries that millionaires’ yachts usually equip. However, Sjöman’s obsession is not sailing through the most exclusive ports of the Mediterranean. emulating Koru of Jeff Bezos or the superyachts of Arab sheikhs. Their goal was to create a boat that was as sustainable as possible. To achieve this he only had to do one thing: look at the sky. The entire roof of the Helios 11 is covered with solar panels, and as it says on your channelreaches a power close to 6 kW and an expansion to 40 kW is already planned. The system runs on 48 volts and charges the batteries while the boat is underway. The electric motor supported by solar panels allows almost infinite navigation since it does not need to stop to refuel like alternatives with diesel or hybrid engines. Sjöman assures that the boat consumes less while sailing than a domestic blender. On a normal day it travels about 145 miles, about 270 kilometers. In bad weather, the decrease in the charging capacity of its batteries and the greater demand for power during navigation to overcome storms, the figure can drop to 40 miles (about 70 km per day). Helios 11 sailing near the coast A 6,000 kilometer trip to put it to the test And what’s the best way to test that a boat really works? Effectively taking to the sea. Sjöman began a journey of thousands of kilometers to demonstrate that the Helios 11 is a viable alternative to build cheap yachts and with propulsion systems that do not depend on fossil fuels. The Helios 11 route started in Finland and went down rivers and canals, crossing several European countries until reaching the Mediterranean. Sjöman arrived in Ibiza after going through some 5,700 kilometers without refueling. From there he continued his particular Mediterranean cruise approaching the Andalusian coast: Mazarrón, Cabo de Gata and now Almería. Helios 11 anchored in Ibiza The trip has not been perfect. According to collected Supercarblondiewhen he was anchored on the coast of San Carles de la Rápita (Tarragona) his auxiliary boat was stolen. So he had to build another one to continue because the Helios 11 cannot anchor on shallow beaches or in small docks to resupply with supplies, so without the boat the Finn was left “incommunicado” on board. Solar energy solves fuel. It does not solve the logistics or unforeseen events of sailing alone. A clean alternative to the most polluting yachts Current superyachts take more into account comfort and nautical luxury than the emissions from their engines. The few hybrid alternatives that alternate electric and diesel engines are aimed at obtaining quieter navigation and anchoring, not to reduce emissions. According to the report ‘Carbon emissions inequality kills Elaborated by Oxfam International, the yachts of the richest billionaires generated in a single year a carbon footprint which is equivalent to 860 years of emissions from the average person. The problem with these boats is that, as the seized superyachts to the Russian millionaires for the war in Ukraine, they must keep their engines running to feed the air conditioning that prevents the noble materials inside from deteriorating, generating fuel consumption of several thousand dollars a day. In Xataka | If the question is why only the rich can afford to buy a yacht, the answer is more than obvious: the 10% rule Image | TRUE NORTH

There are already airlines planning flights to see the solar eclipse from the air: is it worth it?

by

The solar eclipse on August 12, 2026 will not be seen in Belgium in full totalitybut they are going to express the bias in a very curious way: planning a flight to see it from the air. It will be carried out by the Brussels Airlines companyin collaboration with the Urania Public Observatory, the University of Antwerp and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). In Spain, at the moment, there are companies using the solar eclipse only as a teaser. This is the case of Lufthansa, which is sending emails to its customers encouraging them to fly with them during the eclipse. However, for now they have not planned any specific flights, as the Belgian company has done. Better without clouds. The advantage of viewing a solar eclipse from the air is that commercial flights usually travel above the clouds, usually at altitudes between 9,000 and 13,000 meters. This allows you to see the solar eclipse without the obstruction of clouds, but also without other atmospheric distortions. In the case of the eclipse that will be seen in Spain this August 12, 2026, totality will take place around sunset. With the Sun so low on the horizon, it will be very important that the skies are sufficiently clear and clean to enjoy it in all its splendor. In Belgium the Moon will cover, in the best of cases, 91% of the Sun. It will also happen around sunset, so for Brussels Airlines, its proposal may be a good way to see it in this very particular situation. The details. The flight will leave Brussels for France at 7:20 p.m. and will arrive back in Belgian territory at 9:20 p.m. The maximum occultation of the Sun will take place at 8:21 p.m., in the middle of the trip. The 100 people who have purchased the flights will have plenty of space to observe the solar eclipse, since aisle seats will not be sold, in order to have greater visibility. The experience will be accompanied at all times by the comments of an expert from the Urania observatory and, of course, with protection, since the company will distribute approved glasses to all passengers. All for the modest? price of 299 euros. There are already testimonies. In reality, this will not be a pioneering trip. During the solar eclipse of 2024, for example, many American airlines planned flights specifically for observation. Furthermore, there are eclipse chasers who, after seeing many of these phenomena from the ground, wanted to try the experience in small planes. This is, for example, the case of Glenn Schneider, who in 2017 told in statements to Space that the image is very different from what is seen from the ground. With the air cleaner and the eclipse below, rather than above, it is easier to see the solar corona and specific details such as Baily’s pearls. In Spain what? Spain has already organized a multitude of parties and activities around the solar eclipse on August 12. At the moment, it does not seem that it has organized any flights, like the one that will be organized in Belgium. In this country they have wanted to hurry up, ensuring that there will not be another similar opportunity until September 2090. In Spain, luckily, there will be another solar eclipse within a single year. Perhaps this is the time for companies to get on the organized travel bandwagon. Image | Magnific/Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | Puertomingalvo, the Teruel town of 130 inhabitants that has been without free beds for the eclipse for more than a year

Volkswagen led an army of sheep to graze under 31,000 solar panels. It turns out that the way of producing energy began to change

by

For years, the industry has assumed that each new problem required an increasingly sophisticated solution. Volkswagen just demonstrated which is not always like that. After deploying thousands of solar panels to power one of its factories, it has discovered that the best possible maintenance is not done by a robot or a specialized machine, but by a flock of sheep. The problem was not the plates, but what was underneath. Photovoltaic parks share a challenge that is as simple as it is constant: vegetation doesn’t stop growing. In industrial facilities with tens of thousands of panels, keeping the ground clear involves introducing machinery between metal supports, wiring and electrical equipment, with the consequent economic, energy and maintenance costs. In the Volkswagen plant in Poznań, Poland, where a solar park of 31,000 panels can cover the entire energy demand of the factory during the days of greatest radiation and provides about 25% of its annual consumption, that challenge had become part of daily operations. An ancient solution. Instead of looking for a more efficient machine, Volkswagen turned to a much older technology: a hundred sheep. The animals replace lawnmowers, eliminating the need for mechanical clearing as they calmly cover the terrain under the plates. The curious thing is that the solution is not only effective in maintaining the grass at baybut it avoids the constant passage of vehicles between the infrastructure, reduces emissions and simplifies the maintenance of a state-of-the-art energy installation. The plus that sheep give. The project is part of a known model like agrivoltaicswhich seeks to combine electricity production with agricultural activity on the same surface. Under the supervision of researchers from the Poznań University of Sciences, the flock has been turned into a real open-air laboratory. The scientists analyze how it influences grazing on biodiversity, soil quality, vegetation, microclimate and animal well-being, while studying the extent to which the shade projected by the panels reduces the thermal stress of livestock during the hottest months. Nature also optimizes. The first results show an adaptation surprisingly fast. The sheep have been distributed naturally throughout the facility, forming small groups that take advantage of the shaded areas generated by the solar panels. This behavior, in addition to indicating that the animals feel safe, helps maintain a uniform plant coverage and encourages the appearance of insects and other species, transforming a simple photovoltaic plant into a much richer ecosystem than conventionally mowed land. Agrivoltaics is no longer rare. Although the case of Volkswagen is especially striking because it is a large industrial facility, the use of sheep in solar parks takes vyears extending in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. The idea it’s simple: obtain two different yields from the same plot. While the plates generate electricity, the agricultural or livestock activity keeps the land productive, reduces operating costs and improves the environmental performance of the facility without competing for the use of the land. Innovation is not always more technology. The paradox of the project is evident. A factory that is committed to electrification, solar energy and decarbonization has ended up finding one of its most effective solutions in a livestock practice with thousands of years of history. At a time when innovation is often associated with artificial intelligence, automation or robotics, Volkswagen has discovered that, sometimes, the greatest advance consists of simply letting innovation. nature do a job that no machine can do with the same efficiency. Image | Rafal Pijanski In Xataka | Australia compared 1,700 sheep and discovered something unexpected: those that graze among solar panels give better quality wool In Xataka | Texas installed millions of solar panels on rural land. To maintain it they have had to hire 3,000 sheep

Switzerland thought that putting 5,000 solar panels at 2,500 meters above sea level was crazy. He had an unexpected ally: the snow

by

The logic of the solar sector tells us that the panels should go down, where it is hot and the roads reach without problem. It shouldn’t be a good idea to put them on top of a mountain, but a project in the Swiss Alps it has surprised us with extraordinary performance. The curious thing is that what drives his performance is exactly what many assumed would make him fail. A solar farm in an unexpected place. The installation is called AlpinSolar and is located on the dam of Lake Muttsee, in the Swiss canton of Glarus, one hour from Zurich. This construction is located at 2,500 meters above sea level and is the highest dam in Europe, as well as the longest in Switzerland. Panels everywhere. Some 5,000 bifacial solar panels, manufactured by the Swiss company Megasol, cover more than a kilometer of the dam wall, facing south to capture sun from morning to night. Being an inclined surface, the snow slides alone without the need for manual cleaning. A complex installation. The dam is inaccessible by land, so every panel, every piece and every tool had to be transport by helicopter. For example, the crane that helped install the panels, and whose components were moved there to then be assembled and ready to operate. Megavarious out of nowhere. The plant, operational from 2022, has an installed power of 2.2 MW and generates about 3.3 million kWh per year, enough to supply between 700 and 750 homes according to various sources. damn fog. The Alpine country generates plenty of electricity in summer, but the same does not happen in winter, which is exactly when it needs it most. That deficit could worsen significantly if Switzerland starts to close its nuclear power plants, and alternatives such as wind energy, have had difficulties developing there. Traditional solar doesn’t help much either: a panel in the valley only generates a quarter of its normal output in winter, in part because fog can sit in low-lying areas for weeks. Better up than down. The curious thing is that the idea of ​​installing the solar farm at high altitude turned the situation around. The plant is above the fog line, and the thin, clean air lets in more sunlight. The cold, far from reducing performance, helps: solar panels work more efficiently when they are not overheated. And the snow acts like a giant mirror, reflecting additional light onto the panels from below (albedo effect), which can boost production. Surprise. AlpinSolar generates about half of its entire annual production during the winter, exactly the season in which the country needed it most. In fact, it produces up to three times more than a similar plant in low altitude areas during the months of February and March. That was enough argument for the Denner supermarket chain to sign an agreement 20-year energy purchase agreement with the project in an alliance with Axpo and IWB, builders and developers of the project. To copy the project. The result has also ended up convincing the Swiss government, which approved a fast-track law dubbed “Solar Express” to facilitate the development of new projects that effectively leave AlpinSolar behind. Among them stands out an alpine park near Sedrun in which up to 4,200 solar projects are planned to be built in lowland and mountain areas of the country. Austria, Italy and other countries are following the experiment closely. That and othersby the way. Image | Axpo In Xataka | The wind industry has been dreaming for years of a turbine that can be assembled without concrete or machinery. France has said ‘hold my tank’“

This is how nature reacts to a solar eclipse

by

Humans are not the only animals that we are guided by circadian cycles. Many other animals, and even some plants, undergo ordered physiological changes in 24-hour cycles. Here, light is of great importance. There are animals that increase their activity in the dark, while others do the opposite. There are also plants that close their flowers and fold their leaves at night, while others, especially in drought conditions, prefer darkness to open in all their splendor. Therefore, it is actually not strange that one of the most curious effects of a solar eclipse are, precisely, the behavioral changes in animals and plants. Although the solar eclipse this August 12, 2026 It will be the first time in which it is studied how it affects the circadian rhythms of people, in the case of animals and plants there are already many records and published studies. In all of them, as well as in the testimonies of those who have witnessed the eclipses, there are some very interesting data. Nervous, lazy and confused animals due to the solar eclipse One of the first people to study how a solar eclipse affects nature was the New England entomologist William Wheeler. In 1932, he called on citizens to record all changes in the behavior of animals and plants that caught their attention during one of these phenomena. received more than 500 testimonies about birds, mammals, insects and plants. Among them, for example, the cases of bees that returned to their hives or owls that began to hoot in broad daylight stood out. The case of bees has been recorded on many more occasions. In fact, during an eclipse in Idaho in 2017 it caught the attention of many people that the bumblebees stopped buzzing. That same year, at a South Carolina zoothe animals’ caretakers were fascinated by their behaviors. They reported that 75% of them had some strange behavior. In some cases it was nervousness and in others it was a change in routines. That is, the nocturnal animals began their activity, while the diurnal animals stopped it. The remaining 25% were quite lazy. They remained as if nothing had happened. Regarding those who got nervous, The case of giraffes stands out, who began to run in terror. This has been reported in other zoos and, although it is not so easy to measure in nature, the same thing possibly happens, basically because at night they must hide from predators. Seeing that the sun disappears, they realize that they are already too late to flee. Among the behavioral changes they detected at the zoo, one of the most curious is that of the turtles that began to mateeven without being necessarily nocturnal animals for this type of habits. The darkness of the eclipse must have seemed magical for sex. Another curious fact is that, during eclipses, crickets usually start singing and? the cattle move to the stables. But, without a doubt, the most curious behavior is that of the birds. In 2018, scientists verified the global change in their behavior with a curious study. Instead of analyzing bird by bird, they measured the total amount of biological matter in the air during the eclipse. This is done using a signal that a radar emits and measures its return, more or less like sonar. That value, called reflectivity, is different for a bird or bat than for something inorganic, like a storm cloud. Therefore, global behavioral changes could be measured in all flying animals. On a normal day, this value reaches its maximum at dusk, as this is when most birds begin their nocturnal migrations. However, when they measured it during an eclipse, it plummeted. The birds that were flying They stopped dead and went down to the ground or the branches, possibly to take shelter, as if a storm were coming. What happens to the plants? There are also many testimonies of changes in plants and, of course, it has been analyzed by scientists. For example, in 2017 a study was carried out with four plants that normally show measurable changes with changes in light. These were, first of all, mimosa and oxalis, They normally close their leaves at night. The other two were corn and soybeans stressed by drought, since in these conditions they do the opposite: they fold their leaves during the day and open them at night. During the eclipse, it was seen that there are plants that are “deceived” by this phenomenon and others that do not change their behavior when darkness and temperature changes occur for such a short time. Among the unstressed plants, the mimosa did experience changes and “confused” the eclipse with the night, but the oxalis did not. Of the stressed ones, the corn continued its normal behavior, but the soybeans did open their leaves as if it were dusk. In short, it seems that all living beings are driven a little crazy by eclipses. But, almost always, crazy in the good sense of the word. That is why there is so much expectation with the Iberian trio that we will be able to enjoy from this very month of August. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | A third of Spain will be completely dark for a minute or two. The astronomical event of the century is approaching

the proposal of science against solar superstorms

by

Our civilization is addicted to electricity and satellites, and this dependence has given us unprecedented technological progress, but it has also left us exposed to a silent and colossal enemy such as the Sun itself. Now, a team of scientists has put on the table a plan worthy of science fiction to protect us from a global blackout that focuses on deploying an immense “airbag” of plasma in Earth’s orbit to cushion the impact of solar storms. The proposal baptized like StormWallis not the script of a Hollywood movie, but has just been published in the prestigious magazine Space Weather. Our problem. To understand why we need a space airbag, we must first understand the threat, because when the Sun experiences coronal mass ejections, spews billions of tons of magnetized plasma into space. If that cloud points towards us, it collides with the Earth’s magnetic field, causing geomagnetic storms. This is where our magnetosphere comes in, which is nothing more than an excellent natural shield, but it has a limit. For example, when we have had extreme solar storms like the famous Carrington event of 1859 or the Quebec blackout of 1989, solar particles can overload power grids, destroy transformers, fry entire satellite constellations, and disrupt global communications. The StormWall project. The physics behind StormWall is based on altering what astrophysicists call magnetic reconnection, which is nothing more than the process by which energy from the solar wind is transferred to the Earth’s magnetic field. The plan proposed by Walsh and Welling consists of placing a fleet of six satellites in orbit geostationary. With all this, when early warning systems detect that a lethal coronal mass ejection is heading towards Earth, for which we have a couple of hours of margin, these satellites would go into action. How would it be done? The maneuver would consist of releasing around 400 tons of ionizable gases directly into space. And the good thing is that the candidate elements for this space dust are lithium, barium, sodium or, in an even cheaper alternative, simply salt water. Upon release, this material would be rapidly ionized by solar radiation, creating a dense cloud of artificial cold plasma as if it were an orbital “airbag.” According to the authors’ computational simulations, this plasma injection would modify the dynamics of magnetic reconnection, reducing the intensity of a severe geomagnetic storm by more than 60%. It would be the difference between a technological extinction event and a simple anecdote with beautiful northern lights. For researchers It is not technical madness and neither is it for the scientific community. Here independent experts who have not participated in the study view the viability of the project favorably. For example, Allison Jaynes, a space physicist at the University of Iowa, and Gurudas Ganguli of the US Naval Research Laboratory, have described the idea as “highly innovative and feasible in the near term.” But also, it is not the first time this has been experimented with. In early 2026, the US Naval Research Laboratory itself carried out experiments injecting barium with sounding rockets into the upper layers of the atmosphere to study radiation cleanup. Images | freepik In Xataka | China has a spaceship of which there are barely any photos. Another unidentified object has just been released into orbit

The most powerful solar installation in the world is in the Pyrenees, it reaches 3,500 °C and is not a power plant

by

In the middle of summer and with the heat wave upon us, frying an egg on the hood of a car parked in the sun is a reality that gives us an idea of ​​the thermal potential of the sun. But that sensation falls far short of what happens in the heart of the French Pyrenees: there, a building embedded in the side of a mountain concentrates sunlight until it becomes a source of artificial heat so intense that it would be capable of melting steel. The great solar oven. It is the Odeillo solar oven, in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, and it is one of the two largest and most powerful installations of this type in the world along with that of Parkent, in Uzbekistan. The most striking thing about the installation is the colossal curved mirror measuring 54 meters and 48 meters wide that is integrated, composed of 9,000 facets. This design has a reason for being: it concentrates sunlight up to 10,000 times its natural intensitywhich allows you reach temperatures of between 3,300 and 3500°Caccording to data from the facility’s operating laboratoryPROMES-CNRS. The system combines two optical elements: a field of 63 motorized flat mirrors that follow the path of the sun and constantly return its light to a large fixed parabolic reflector with a surface area of ​​1,830 square meters. All that light converges on a focal tower, that point barely 40 centimeters in diameter where it develops a thermal power of one megawatt. The Odeillo installation. Philipendula via Wikimedia Context. The origin of the Odeillo solar oven dates back to the 1940s, when the chemist Félix Trombe, who at that time He was director of the Meudon rare earth laboratorymanages to concentrate sunlight with a reused anti-aircraft defense mirror. In 1949 the first prototype is built in the citadel of Mont-Louis, just over 10 kilometers from Odeillo. After several increasingly powerful attempts, between 1962 and 1968 is built the current oven. Its location was chosen with complete intention: the French Cerdanya offers a high number of sunny days per year and an atmosphere of great optical purity at altitude, ideal conditions to minimize radiation losses. In figures. Throughout the article we have broken down some of the most impressive numerical data of this solar oven, which we condense here: Main reflector height: 54 meters Parabolic mirror area: 1,925 square meters Rated thermal power: 1 megawatt Maximum temperature: 3,500 °C Solar concentration factor: 10,000 times normal solar radiation Why is it important. Because this oven has been in operation since 1969 and constitutes the first serious attempt towards the large-scale exploitation of solar energy for industrial purposes, long before the today so common solar plants existed. Although pioneering, its function is more research than energy. Thus, it paved the way for one of the first solar tower plants on the planet, that of Thémis in the early 1980s. Today it has essentially two applications: the study and manufacture of materials resistant to extreme conditions with applications such as the aeronautical industry and the development of solar fuels. A recent example: Sunfuela research project that uses heat from the solar furnace to produce alternative fuels by heating metal oxides to generate gases that are then converted into clean fuels. Yes, but. Taking into account its figures and the fact that it is 50 years old, the Odeillo solar oven is a true engineering prodigy and the precursor of the solar energy boom that we are experiencing. Of course, it is worth remembering that it is not an electricity generation plant: it does not produce electricity significantly nor is it part of the current renewable mix. As for its comparison with Parkent, both are the only two theoretical 1,000 kW solar ovens in the world, with similar focus temperatures. Of course, Odeillo wins in real power: although the Uzbek park has a slightly larger mirror (1,840 square meters compared to 1,830), its lower altitude (1,050 m compared to 1,600 m) reduces the available solar intensity, limiting its useful power to 700 kW compared to Odeillo’s 1,000 kW, according to SolarPACES. In Xataka | Macron believes that Spain has “a problem” with renewables. What it really means is that they are “competition” In Xataka | The wind industry has been dreaming for years of a turbine that can be assembled without concrete or machinery. France has said ‘hold my cubata’ Cover | Rabatakeu

If you don’t have glasses for the solar eclipse, this homemade box made with cardboard and aluminum foil works just as well.

by

If you plan to see the solar eclipse on August 12, you will surely have already been researching methods to see it safely. To look directly at the Sun, x-rays, photographic negatives or any of the tricks that were recommended in the past are not useful. We can hurt our eyes a lot. Only approved glasses are valid. However, if you do not have or do not want to buy them, you can always resort to indirect methods, such as pinhole camera. It is an ideal method to use with children, since you can see the solar eclipse without risk And, what’s more, they have a good time making the box. Of course, it is a perfect plan to do as a family. We tell you everything you need to do it. Materials The materials to make the pinhole camera are very simple. First of all, you need a cardboard box. It may be worth an empty cereal container or shoe box. You also need a white piece of paper, a piece of aluminum foil, tape, a pencil, scissors and a thumbtack. How is the pinhole camera made? To make the pinhole camera, first we need to draw one of the shortest sides of the cardboard box on the sheet of paper. For example, the base of the cereal box. We place it on the sheet of paper, draw the outline and then cut it out. We must glue the resulting piece of paper inside, on the bottom of the box. Next, at the opposite end of the box, two square-shaped holes should be made. If we have a cereal box, which has that side open, we would have to glue a piece of cardboard in the middle, so that the two square openings on the sides can be seen. In this NASA publication there is a video that shows how it should look.. Then, cover one of the openings with aluminum foil secured with adhesive tape. Also, make a small hole in the center of the aluminum foil with a thumbtack. With this the pinhole camera would be ready. How to use it to view the solar eclipse? To use the pinhole camera we must position ourselves with our backs to the sun and look through the hole that doesn’t have aluminum foil. The sun’s rays enter through the small hole in the aluminum foil, which acts as if it were the lens of a camera, so that the image behind it is projected on the blank paper that we place at the bottom of the box. It should be noted that, logically, this device only works during partial solar eclipse. When totality is reached and the Moon completely covers the Sun, there is hardly any light that can enter through the hole, so there will be no projections to look at. The good thing is that, only during that totality, you can look at the sun directly, without glasses. Of course, you have to be very clear when the totality begins and when it ends, since with very little light we can damage our retinas. In short, this is a good way to indirectly see the partial solar eclipse without the need for approved glasses. If you are in one of the places within the band of totality, once it begins, you can look at the Sun directly, but be careful not to go too far. Unless you are in a town like Lerín, where The bells will ring to warn when totality begins and endsget away from the slightest ray that appears. Image | POT In Xataka | The trio of eclipses that await Spain on the horizon: an unprecedented and historic chain between 2026 and 2028

We know exactly where and when the longest solar eclipse in history will occur: our great-great-grandchildren will see it

by

On July 16, 2186, the Moon will align perfectly between the Earth and the Sun, creating an eclipse without historical precedent. Unless he eccentric millionaire determined to rejuvenate succeed, none of us will be here to see it. But our descendants will want to spend that day somewhere in Colombia, Venezuela or Guyana. 7 minutes and 29 seconds. The longest total solar eclipse in history will exceed by almost two seconds the duration of the one that held the record until now: the eclipse of June 15, 743 BC, which reached a totality of 7 minutes and 27 seconds over the Indian Ocean, near present-day Kenya and Somalia. No eclipse will have lasted as long from before 4000 BCand none will do so until after 8000 AD, so we can be sure that it will be a truly unique astronomical event. The longest total solar eclipse in an interval of 12,000 years. The Moon will darken South America. The historic solar eclipse of 7 minutes and 29 seconds will not occur on land: the strip of totality will reach its longest duration over the Atlantic Ocean. However, northern South America will also enjoy extraordinarily long totalities. Especially in Colombia (from Cali to Puerto Ayacucho), Venezuela (from the Orinoco to Imataca) and Guyana (in the entire northern half of the country, including Georgetown). The show will not be limited to that narrow strip. Virtually all of South America, including the entire Brazilian territory, will be able to observe a partial eclipse of great magnitude. The eclipse will also be partially visible from Mexico to Paraguay, and west of Africa. In Spain it will barely touch the Canary Islands at sunset. Why will it last so long? The reason for this extreme duration is a “perfect storm” in the positions of the three bodies. The Earth will be at its furthest point from the Sun (its aphelion), which will make the solar disk appear slightly smaller. The Moon, for its part, will be at its closest point to the Earth (its perigee), so its apparent disk will be larger. And finally, the path of the eclipse will pass very close to the Earth’s equator. This combination maximizes the time it takes for the Moon’s shadow to sweep across the Earth’s surface. How are we so sure? Eclipse prediction is one of the most successful feats of computational astronomy. Scientists feed their supercomputers the current positions and velocities of the Earth and Moon, and then use Newton’s laws of motion to figure out what will happen several centuries or even millennia from now. These algorithms are actually models that integrate gravitational equations to project their positions into the future. And they do it with astonishing precision, usually within a margin of error of less than a minute over hundreds of years. First cousin of the great eclipse of 2024. The total solar eclipse of 2186 belongs to the same “lineage” as the Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024, the Saros cycle 139. A Saros cycle is a period of approximately 18 years, 11 days and 8 hours, after which the Sun-Earth-Moon geometry is repeated in an almost identical way, producing a very similar eclipse but displaced about 120 degrees to the west. Discussions among eclipse enthusiasts are already fantasizing about what the hunt for this event will be like in 2186. There is talk of fleets of cruise ships positioned in the Atlantic and flights in hypersonic planes to chase the shadow and further extend the experience of totality. Although we will not see the millennium eclipse, there is no need to wait that long to experience a totality: on August 12, 2026, Spain will chain the first of three Iberian eclipses. They are not the “wonders of the cosmos”, but we cannot complain. A version of this article was published in July 2025 Image | THAT In Xataka | Two European spacecraft synchronized in space to create an artificial eclipse. It is a before and after in solar science

The giant Jinko Power is preparing a solar complex of almost 400 MW in Huelva

by

The energy transition that Spain is experiencing towards much cleaner energy continues to attract international interest, and the south of the peninsula is consolidating itself as one of the great European epicenters for photovoltaic deployment. The last thing we have heard is that the Asian company Jinko Power is strongly expanding its footprint in Andalusia, advancing simultaneously with two energy macroprojects that will add hundreds of megawatts to the national grid. The case of Huelva. The most recent movement in the offices has the province of Huelva as the protagonist, since Jinko Power has obtained prior administrative authorization for the installation of the new PV La Puebla 3. A movement that is vital for the project to go from paper to reality. We are talking about a plant that will inject 150.08 MW of power, although this park will not be alone, since, as specialized publications detail, the facility is the centerpiece of a huge complex grouped under the name “La Puebla” and that will be located between the Huelva municipalities of Alosno and El Cerro de Andévalo. They are going to go much further. In this way, the Chinese company’s master plan in Huelva includes up to four interconnected photovoltaic projects with powers of 100 MW, 80 MW, 150 MW and 59 MW that, together, will reach close to 400 MW of total capacity. Although for now they have to continue with the bureaucracy, since this authorization allows them to continue with the processing that still presents different filters at a technical and environmental level, although we already see that the previous experience that this company has indicates that the project in the south of the peninsula will be a reality. The Malaga case. This advance in Huelva clarifies Jinko Power’s roadmap in Andalusia, separating this new file from its other big bet in the region, which is already much more advanced. We are referring to the Antequera macroplant, in Malaga. And to put into perspective the financial and technical muscle that is being deployed by the company, the Malaga project has an investment of 135 million euros with an installed power of 175 Mwp ​​and an area of ​​329 hectares. Here the objective is to reach almost 65,000 homes annually. Images | American Public Power Association In Xataka | Three times as powerful as the Three Gorges: this is the hydroelectric colossus with which China “is trying to tame nature”

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.