Crowds see celestial spectacular

Skywatchers in Scarborough were treated on Saturday to a spectacular partial eclipse of the Sun.

The Sun and Moon were low on the horizon

Just after dawn, people standing along the East Coast saw the Moon slip inside the Sun's disc to produce a partial eclipse.

For the early morning spectators the sunrise appeared as a pair of horns when the moon obscured 90% of the sun in what is known as an occulted eclipse.

BBC Look North Weatherman Paul Hudson said: "It was enthralling to see the crowd totally entranced by what must have been the best partial eclipse of the sun that we are ever likely to witness."

But further north the low position on the horizon for the event meant many people had their view obstructed by mist and cloud.

The BBC's science correspondent Pallab Ghosh, standing on a beach at Unst in the Shetland Islands, had his big moment ruined by the British weather.

"When the Sun started rising, there was great hope because there was a break in the cloud and looking through eclipse viewers we saw the Moon take a huge chunk out of the Sun.

"It was spectacular, the light had a rosy glow and we were hoping to see the ring of fire - but just at the crucial moment, the Sun and Moon passed up into the biggest bank of cloud you could imagine."

Dark shadow

Because the Moon is currently more than 400,000 kilometres from Earth in its orbit, its apparent size in the sky is insufficient to completely cover the Sun's disc - as happens in a total solar eclipse.

ZONE OF ANNULARITY

Darkest (antumbral) shadow swept east to west from Scotland

Most of Europe, Middle East, and Asia got to see a partial eclipse

Next total solar eclipse in November is viewable only Antarctica

The sky does not go completely black; a ring or annulus of sunlight is still visible.

The effect is to throw an "antumbra" or "negative shadow" on the Earth's surface as the Moon moves across the face of the Sun. It is the track of this antumbra that is referred to as the path of annularity.

On Saturday, this path touched down first on the Grampian Mountains of the Scottish highlands at about 0345 GMT (0445 BST).

It then moved in a northwestern trajectory, which stretched across Loch Ness, the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides), Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.

Partial show

The track of the shadow took it through the Faeroe Islands at 0351 GMT, and the southeastern coast of Iceland at 0359 GMT

From Iceland, the shadow then raced across the Denmark Strait and bisected Greenland, lifting off into space from the Davis Strait at 0431 GMT.

From start to finish, the antumbra's sweep across the planet lasted just 47 minutes.

Eclipse off Scottish coast

Those viewing outside the favoured zone were treated to a partial eclipse, in which the Moon just took a bite out of the side of the Sun's disc.

This was visible across a very much broader region, taking in most of Europe (except Spain and Portugal), the Middle East, as well as central and northern Asia.

There is a total solar eclipse this year on 23 November but it will only be visible from Antarctica. A partial eclipse will be visible though from parts of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Have you witnessed the eclipse? Send us your comments using the form below. If you have any pictures please send them in jpg form to [e-mail].

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