On the 12th of August, there will be a partial Solar eclipse in the UK. This will happen shortly after 6.00pm reaching peak coverage between 7.05pm and 7.16pm.
This is where our Moon is at the perfect distance away to block the Suns light out by covering its disc either partially or completely.
In the UK, the Sun will be 90% to 96% covered by the Moon. Most being in the South West of the country.
The weather for Wednesday the 12th is predicted to be very warm. It will still be light by then too, so great conditions for watching this amazing event.
There won’t be a total solar eclipse until 2090. There are partial solar eclipses before then with varying degrees in the UK.
3 September 2081, where up to 99% of the Sun will be obscured.
2030 – 50%
2053 – 40%
2066 – 60%
2075 – 70%
2082 – 70%
2088 – 40%
There is also a handful of more minor eclipses taking place.
Solar and Lunar eclipses come in pairs, with a Lunar eclipse always coming two weeks before or after a Solar eclipse.
A Lunar eclipse occurs when Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon falls in Earth’s shadow.
Also interestingly. A 90% partial Lunar eclipse will be visible from the UK on 28 August at around 3.33am.
The Moon will move further into Earth’s shadow until the maximum of the eclipse at 5.12am, when approximately 90% of the Moon will be in Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of its shadow. The moon will appear reddish because it’s being illuminated by the Sun and the atmospheres light is being refracted.
Please PROTECT your eyes and DON’T look directly at the Sun whilst it is in the stages of being eclipsed by our Moon.
You can however use certified eclipse glasses that comply with ISO 12312-2:2015(E). Please make sure they are safe and certified, as many won’t be and this can ruin and effect your vision permanantly.
Your retina can be damaged irreversibly.
And take it from me. It isn’t nice.
Never look directly at the Sun or use cameras, telescopes, or binoculars without the proper Solar filters.
Following the 1999 total Solar eclipse. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists reported around 70 cases of people experiencing vision problems after watching the eclipse. Around 40% had looked at it for less than a minute.
Just because there’s no pain, doesn’t mean it’s not causing irreplaceable damage.
Ordinary sunglasses won’t be strong enough to filter out the harmful rays either. However dark lensed or polarised they are.
You can also view it using safe projection methods.
By making a pinhole camera or using the paper method and viewing it by watching the eclipse on white sheets of paper. I’ll do another post about these methods.
PLEASE remember. When totality has been reached. The Sun is covered to some extent. In this case only partially covered for those in the UK. You can look at a TOTAL eclipse with CAUTION. But this isn’t total.
This isn’t just stationary. It looks it. But we (Earth), the moon and sun are still moving around space.
When it has finished. Something called the Diamond Ring appears. Ending the eclipse.
Extremely bright blinding light will stream out and catch a lot of people off guard.
Please don’t risk your precious eyesight without taking precautions.
One Vision Blog 