Tay-Koh family chases solar eclipse across globe

A total solar eclipse will sweep across northern Spain on August 12, darkening skies over cities like Bilbao and Zaragoza in one of Europe’s most anticipated astronomical events of the decade.

For Singaporean family Janet Tay, Koh Joo Beng, and their 12-year-old son Jared, it will be the latest stop in a decade-long journey that has taken them from the icy coasts of Antarctica to the volcanic peaks of Chile. They join a global community of eclipse chasers—amateur astronomers, scientists, and travelers—who treat totality, the moment when the moon completely covers the sun, as a rare and sacred event worth crossing continents to witness.

Eclipse chasing has grown into a subculture over the past 30 years, fueled by better travel access, social media, and the increasing rarity of total solar eclipses in any one location. According to NASA, a total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth roughly every 18 months, but it’s visible from the same spot only once every 375 years on average. The August 12 event is the first total eclipse over continental Europe since 1999, and the next won’t happen there until 2026. That scarcity drives enthusiasts like the Tay-Koh family to plan years in advance, tracking paths and weather forecasts with the precision of military strategists.

Their itinerary reads like a travelogue of celestial devotion: a 2012 eclipse in Australia, another in the Faroe Islands in 2015, totality in Oregon in 2017, and then on to Chile in 2019 and 2020. For the Spain eclipse, they’ve scouted locations near Zaragoza, where clear August skies offer a 70% chance of visibility. The family films each event, collects temperature and light-level data, and shares their observations on a blog that has quietly amassed hundreds of followers. Janet, a high school science teacher, calls it “a moving classroom.” For Jared, it’s adventure—he once skipped a day of school in Oregon to stand in the moon’s shadow. The August eclipse may be short—just two minutes of totality—but for them, it’s part of a larger story: the human drive to chase wonder in a predictable universe.