A partial solar eclipse was seen across the UK on Tuesday morning, making it look like the sun had been ‘bitten’. The event was visible across the UK, with those in northern Scotland getting the best 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 the Sun to “appear bitten”.
Observers in Western Siberia, Russia, will get the best view of the eclipse, where the moon will cover up to 85 percent of the sun, Massey added.
Unfortunately, however, most of us in the UK won’t be alive to witness the next total solar eclipse at home, as the rare event won’t happen for another 68 years.
What happened on Tuesday?
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth at the right moment.
In London, the phenomenon began at 10.08am, and the maximum eclipse occurred at 11.13am, when the moon will cover almost 15 percent of the sun.
The view from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands was reported to be good, with 28 percent of the sun blocked during the middle of the eclipse.
What is a total eclipse?
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon and sun overlap.
The Moon is able to cover the Sun’s disk because the Sun is about 400 times larger than the Moon, and also about 400 times further away, meaning they appear the same size in our sky.
If you are in the right position on the surface of the Earth at the right time, you will see that they overlap exactly.
This creates a zone scientists call totality, a line where the moon completely blocks the sun, plunging everyone in its path into darkness.
The path of total blackness across the U.S. on Tuesday is about 70 miles wide and stretches from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina.
A solar eclipse swept across the United States
Why are they so rare?
According to the site Time and date, solar eclipses can only occur around the new moon due to the alignment of the Earth, Moon, and Sun during this period. But that doesn’t mean solar eclipses happen every time there’s a new moon.
Both celestial bodies must also be near the lunar node, which occurs about six months apart and lasts about 34.5 days on average.
The lunar nodes are the two points where the plane of the Moon’s orbital path around the Earth meets the plane of the Earth’s orbital path around the Sun. This is called the ecliptic. Orbital paths are rare because the plane of the Moon’s path around the Earth is inclined at an angle of about 5° to the ecliptic. Because of all these elements, it takes approximately 375 years for a total solar eclipse to occur again in the same location.
Most people have a chance to see one of these events once in their lifetime. However, if a person was willing to travel to other countries, a total solar eclipse can be seen more than once.
A “snow moon” visible around the world
When is the next total eclipse in the UK?
Only eight total solar eclipses have been visible from the UK in the last 500 years.
The last total eclipse in the UK was in August 1999.
You’ll be waiting a while to see the next one, though: it’s not expected until September 23, 2090.
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/full-solar-eclipse-visible-in-uk-2090-partial-eclipse-uk-us-sun-moon-a3616561.html
