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How To See The Solar Eclipse In The UK This Morning

How To See The Solar Eclipse In The UK This Morning

Use these tricks to view the solar eclipse safely...

Laura Sanders

Laura Sanders

The solar eclipse is just minutes away in the UK, so here's how to spot the celestial phenomenon.

We've been treated to a few lunar displays of beauty this year. In May, we saw both the super blood orange moon and the pink supermoon.

Solar eclipse UK time today

The solar eclipse occurs at 10:07 BST on Thursday 10th June.

It will be the most visible at 11:14am, and concludes at 12:26pm.

According to the Society for Popular Astronomy, here are the starting times for the partial solar eclipse across the UK:

Lerwick: 10.15am
Inverness: 10.09am
Glasgow: 10.07am
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: 10.09am
Belfast: 10.03am
Manchester: 10.07am
Birmingham: 10.06am
Norwich: 10.12am
London: 10.09am
Cardiff: 10.04am
Dover: 10.11am
Penzance: 9.59am

Is it a total eclipse?

This will be a partial solar eclipse, which means when the moon passes between the sun and earth, it won't be at its closest point to earth (lunar perigee).

This means the darkening of the skies will be less obvious

A partial solar eclipse (
PA)

How to see the solar eclipse safely

Despite the popular belief that the skies go dark completely black during an eclipse, you should never look directly at it.

Even when the sun is partially covered, it can still damage your eyes - and your camera for that matter.

"It's particulary important not to look directly at this eclipse in the UK, with it happening in the late morning," explained Dr Darren Baskill to the BBC's Science Focus magazine. "At this time the Sun is high in the sky - with less atmosphere it is brighter and could do more damage."

Make a pinhole box

Here's how to view the solar eclipse safely by making a pinhole box:

  1. Poke a small hole in a cardboard box and attach a piece of white paper in the side opposite the hole.
  2. Put your head inside it, facing the white paper and point the hole towards the sun (so your back will be facing the sun).
  3. Keep adjusting your position until you can see a projection of the moon's shadow on the white paper.

Make a pinhole camera to view the solar eclipse

Alternatively, you could grab a colander from your kitchen and use that to view the eclipse. You don't place this on your head like you do the cardboard box. Instead, you hold the colander over a white piece of paper on the ground, and what you will see is pretty cool: each hole in the colander's shadow will be shaped like the crescent moon on the piece of paper. This is what's known as a makeshift pinhole camera.

If you're feeling really extra, you can even use special solar eclipse glasses, which will protect your eyes when looking up at the eclipse.

Solr Eclipse glasses (
Unsplash/Jason Howell)

When was the last total eclipse of the sun in the UK?

The last time we saw a total eclipse in UK skies was on 11th August 1999, according to Science Focus.

However you decide to view today's solar eclipse, do it safely and enjoy!

Featured Image Credit: Unsplash/Jongsun Lee