UK to witness partial eclipse of sun by the moon
About 25% of the sun will be blocked out on Tuesday as the moon passes between it and the Earth.
Skygazers across the UK will be able to see the phenomenon, with those in northern Scotland expected to enjoy good views.
Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said the eclipse would cause the moon to block the view of “some or all of the bright solar surface”, and that the sun would “appear to have a bite taken out of it”.
Observers in western Siberia, Russia, will get the best view of the eclipse, where the moon will obscure a maximum of 85% of the sun, Massey added.
In London, the eclipse will begin at 10:08am on 25 October, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 10.59am, when the moon will obscure close to 15% of the sun.
Lerwick in Shetland is expected to have a better view, with 28% of the sun obscured at mid-eclipse.
Jake Foster, an astronomer at Royal Observatory in Greenwich, said: “The eclipse will be visible across the whole of the UK, as well as large parts of Europe and central and south Asia. The amount of obscuration you’ll see will depend on where you are on the Earth.”
He added: “Even though a portion of the sun’s light will be blocked, it will not get noticeably darker in the UK during the eclipse.”
The partial eclipse will end at 11.51am in London.
Massey said looking directly at the sun can cause serious damage to the eyes, even when a large fraction of it is blocked out. It is also not wise not to look at the sun through binoculars, telescopes or a telephoto lens on an SLR camera.
He added: “The simplest way to watch an eclipse is to use a pinhole in a piece of card. An image of the sun can then be projected on to another piece of card behind it (experiment with the distance between the two, but it will need to be at least 30cm).
“Under no circumstances should you look through the pinhole.”
Massey said another popular method used to view an eclipse is the mirror projection method. He said: “You need a small, flat mirror and a means of placing it in the sun so that it reflects the sunlight into a room where you can view it on a wall or some sort of a flat screen.
“You may also have eclipse glasses with a certified safety mark, and these are available from specialist astronomy suppliers. Provided these are not damaged in any way, you can then view the sun through them.”
Binoculars or telescopes can also be used to project the image of the sun. Massey said: “Mount them on a tripod, and fit one piece of card with a hole in it over the eyepiece, and place another between 50cm and a metre behind it.
“Point the telescope or binoculars towards the sun and you should see its bright image on the separate card.”
For those keen to follow the event, the Royal Observatory Greenwich will livestream the eclipse on its website and YouTube channel.