Eclipse 1 Friday March 20th 2015

Still a bit far ahead for detailed forecasts but worth ordering your eclipse glasses now for the UK partial solar eclipse view.

Blog by Jo Farrow
Issued: 10th March 2015 12:33
Updated: 12th March 2015 09:47

10 days to go

Friday 20^th March 2015 will see a total solar eclipse across the North Atlantic. The total solar eclipse is when the moon passes in front of the sun and blocks it completely, this will be visible from Svalbard in the Arctic Circle and the Faeroe Islands between Scotland and Iceland. A partial solar eclipse will be visible for much of Europe with the UK being in quite a good spot. How much of the sun will be blocked out varies north to south but all above 82%. The Western and Northern Isles can look forward to 98% of the sun being obscured and I’m in the 93% zone over SE Scotland, CLOUD ALLOWING! So I’ve ordered my solar eclipse glasses, they are not here yet, 10 days to go. I’ve been reading up about pin hole projection just in case.

Previous UK Eclipse
The last eclipse fever was in 1999 when a total eclipse did move over Cornwall. I was down in the SW but the cloud was really annoying, so I’m hoping for a clearer view this time even if I won’t be seeing a total eclipse. The time of greatest eclipse is at 0946, so there will be changes occurring from about 8:30 til 10:30am across the UK. It is a gradual change with an eerie twilight effect falling and often a quiet as birds become subdued. We are not going to be “plunged into darkness” as I’ve read in some papers. We can cope if a thunderstorm comes along, the skies can go pretty dark for an hour and we all want to turn the lights on.

all of UK will see more than 83% obsured

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Looking at the sun
The main problem could be discouraging children from looking at the sun on their way to school. And no-one should look at the sun with their naked eye. Eclipse blindness can occur. It can be temporary or permanent, and it is particularly dangerous because the damage to the eyes happens without any pain and does not appear until several hours after the damage has occurred. The only time you can look at the sun in an eclipse is within the few minutes of totality which isn’t going to visible for anyone in the UK. To see a partial eclipse you need to wear the special glasses and make sure they are intact and put them on looking away from the sun. You should not look through telescopes or cameras with these glasses on a as they need stronger and larger filters on to protect you from the magnified sun. A telescope can project the image onto the ground. Previous eclipses have thrown up natural projections on the ground beneath leafy trees, with numerous sun crescents patterning the floor. Broad leaves are a bit lacking at this time of year but you can get a similar effect by criss crossing your fingers above your head with your back to the sun and looking at the pattern on the floor. Do not use sunglasses.

And then there is the weather forecast. I’m not a fan of looking too far ahead, still happy with 5 days but we can have a peek, (but not at the sun remember)

The all important Weather
Charts out to 10 days show a high pressure away to the south and a frontal boundary between Scotland and Iceland, so anyone heading to the Faeroes should look away. The flow is from the Atlantic for W.Scotland and N.Ireland, which could bring more cloud in from the west but it’s a long way off. If the high is nearby then there is the hope of breaks in the cloud. A front will bring rain and could obliterate any view on Friday morning, unless it is moving enough. Netweather updates will appear through this week and next.