Skygazers catch glimpse of partial solar eclipse
The eclipse was visible across the UK between around 10am and noon.
Skygazers have gathered across the UK to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse.
The phenomenon occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. The three are not completely aligned, so only part of the Sun is obscured.
The eclipse peaked in London at around 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of the country from between around 10am and noon.
Speaking from the town of Lewes, Sussex, at around 11am, Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: “There’s a really nice crowd of people, everybody’s really excited, there’s people wearing eclipse glasses, looking through the telescopes we’ve got set up.
“We’re loving it and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great public atmosphere, it’s a really nice event. There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm about it.
“As expected, the Moon started moving in front of the Sun about an hour ago; it’s got a bit under an hour to go and it’s blocking out some of the Sun.”
He added: “It’s not like the landscape or the light looks different if you’re not looking at the eclipse, but if you’re looking through a telescope then you see this really obvious bite.
“One of my colleagues here has a colander and through that, you can see little pinholes of the sun with the bite out of it as well.
“I think you could guess it’s running into the tens of thousands watching with events like this, there’s local astronomy groups across the UK who are doing it.”
Astronomer Imo Bell, at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said at 11.15am: “There’s been nothing unexpected, but that’s the cool thing, we’ve known this has been coming for a very long time.
“We have the technology and the understanding of space now to predict these things almost to the second.
“I, along with thousands of people, are watching. I’m in Oxford right now, we reached a bit more than 30% obscurity of the Sun.
“I’ve heard a lot of people in the UK where they have higher obscurity have bad cloud coverage, though. If you’ve got good weather, you’re pretty lucky.”
Everyday household items came in handy for many people watching the eclipse, with experts warning not to look at the Sun directly to avoid eye damage.
Elliott Richmond, from the village of Bishop’s Cleeve in Gloucestershire, used a tripod, a piece of cardboard and a white sheet of paper to view the spectacle.
The 52-year-old web developer said: “It’s just completely makeshift. It’s things I’ve used around my house so it’s very Blue Peter, effectively.”
Mr Richmond, who has been fascinated with stars since he was a child, said stargazing can be achieved on a budget using “bits of stuff around the house, so it doesn’t have to be expensive”.
“My kids think I’m mad, and my wife calls me a ‘neek’ which is a cross between a nerd and geek,” he said.
“I haven’t actually seen a total eclipse, which is something that is on my bucket list, for sure.”
Meanwhile, Mike Merrifield, 60, from Nottingham, used a colander to view the partial eclipse because the holes in the utensil helped to take “a picture of the sun”.
The emeritus professor of astronomy at the University of Nottingham said: “Colanders just happen to have a convenient number of holes in them.
“You’re basically looking at the shadow of the colander, and each of the little holes acts like a little pinhole camera so each of those little holes is effectively taking a picture of the sun.”
Mr Merrifield also has a specialist telescope named Dwarf II which safely captures photos of the sun and said he was surprised to see the eclipse during the day with favourable weather.
“Most of my astronomy is nighttime astronomy, so you have to stay up to two or three in the morning to do what you’re doing.
“The nice thing about this is I can have a cup of coffee with my elevenses watching the eclipse, so it’s a civilised time of day to be doing astronomy.”
The Met Office said earlier on Saturday that southern and eastern areas of the UK would have the best viewing conditions, with cloudier skies in the north and west.
The next partial solar eclipse visible in the UK will be in August 2026, which is expected to reach 90% obscurity.
