Partial solar eclipse over Britain and eastward

On Tuesday Oct. 25, the Moon as it passes through its new position will be fairly close north of the Sun, so that the southern part of its shadow – nearly half of it – will fall across a northern part of the Earth: Europe, Asia, and part of Africa, as shown in this detail from an illustration in Astronomical Calendar 2022.

See the end note about enlarging illustrations.

A dark brown needle represents the Moon’s umbra or total shadow; dashed lines are the sides of its continuation, the antumbra, from within which a ring eclipse would be seen, but which just misses Earth; clusters of lines are the sides of the far broader penumbra or partial shadow; and curves on the Earth’s surface are the boundaries of the penumbra’s footprints at the Universal Times marked.

Britain will see, from shortly after 9 AM to shortly before 11, a bite that is taken out of the northern side of the Sun and grows large in the middle of this time. It is the Moon, which looks like part of the blue sky; the sky will darken somewhat, but not become night-like as in a total eclipse.

 

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2 thoughts on “Partial solar eclipse over Britain and eastward”

  1. Skies were reasonable for (appropriately) part of the partial solar eclipse here in NE England today, starting out (of course!) partly clear with some hazy cirrus by first light. About half an hour before the eclipse was due to start (which was to be 09:04 UT for my location), I made a first solar projection, to check the telescope screen was OK and adjust the focus, and was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of small sunspots were visible, one each towards the receding and approaching limb of the Sun.

    Unfortunately, a cloud bank spread over the Sun shortly after this, which cleared enough for another look only around 09:30, by when the eclipse was well underway. However, the sky stayed free from heavier clouds, with only some variable hazy cirrus across the Sun, for nearly an hour after that, which was conveniently right across the time of maximum eclipse, approaching 25% of the disc, at 09:57 UT.

    As the eclipse progressed, it was clear the approaching limb sunspot was itself going to be eclipsed, and sure enough it disappeared from view behind the Moon around 10:10. Since heavy clouds came-up again over the Sun soon after 10:20 though, it wasn’t possible to see the spot’s re-emergence, given the Sun didn’t reappear until almost 12:30, by when the eclipse was over. However, an entertaining event in all, with the relatively deepest part of the whole event seen very nicely.

    Hope others elsewhere had at least similar, or better, good fortune!

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