Solar eclipse this Tuesday morning

[Whitters]

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BAA electronic bulletin           
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BAA e-bulletin, 2011 Jan. 02
SUNRISE ECLIPSE THIS TUESDAY MORNING

As the Sun rises, shortly after 08:00 UT this Tuesday morning, on 4 January,
a partial eclipse of the Sun will be visible right across the British Isles,
weather permitting of course. This eclipse will also be observable across
much of Europe, North Africa and central Asia.

The eclipse magnitude (the percentage of the Sun's diameter that will be
obscured) from European cities such as Madrid (58 per cent), Paris (73 per
cent), London (75 per cent), and Copenhagen (83 per cent) will give early
morning risers on 4 January a great chance to view a sunrise eclipse with
interesting scenery in the foreground. The greatest magnitude will be
observed from northern Sweden at 08:51 UT where the dark disk of the Moon
will cut across 86 per cent of the solar diameter at sunrise.

In the British Isles, from locations north and west of an imaginary line
stretching roughly from the mouth of the Humber estuary down to Bournemouth,
maximum eclipse will occur with the Sun still below the horizon, so that at
sunrise the amount of the Sun which is obscured will already be decreasing.
From locations south and east of this imaginary line, including East Anglia,
London, and the South-East of England, greatest eclipse will be visible with
the Sun just above the south-eastern horizon. From eastern and south-eastern
England the eclipse magnitude (the percentage of the solar diameter
obscured) will vary between 77 per cent along the north Norfolk coast to 74
per cent at Dungeness.

From places such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester,
Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol and Plymouth, for example, observers
will miss greatest eclipse, but will still be able to witness a substantial
partial eclipse at sunrise, with a magnitude ranging from 59 per cent in
Edinburgh (sunrise 08:43 UT) to 69 per cent in Liverpool (sunrise 08:27m UT)
and Plymouth (sunrise 08:16 UT).

Observers should go out a short time before sunrise and, if they have a
clear, unobstructed  south-eastern horizon, they will see the Sun rise
partially eclipsed.  It will look like "a broad yellow smile".  From much of
the British Isles, maximum eclipse occurs before sunrise, so the amount of
the Sun which is obscured will decrease steadily from sunrise until the
partial eclipse ends at around 09:30 UT.

From London, sunrise is at 08:05 UT with maximum eclipse occurring just
seven minutes later at 08:12 UT, when 75 per cent of the solar diameter will
be obscured.  The table below lists the times of sunrise and the
circumstances of the partial eclipse for several locations in the UK:

Location                Sunrise (UT)  Max. Eclipse (UT)  Eclipse Ends
(UT)

Brighton                       08:03               08:10           09:30
London                        08:05               08:12           09:31
Portsmouth                   08:06              08:10           09:28
Bristol                          08:15                  -              09:27
Cardiff                         08:18                  -               09:27
Birmingham                  08:18                  -               09:30
Leeds                           08:23                 -                09:32
Liverpool                      08:27                 -                09:30
Newcastle-upon-Tyne  08:30                  -               09:34
Edinburgh                     08:43                  -               09:34
Glasgow                       08:47                  -               09:33

(Note that apart from the first three locations listed, maximum eclipse
occurs before sunrise.)

Clearly with the Sun very low over the south-eastern horizon, even from
locations near London and along the coasts of East Anglia and the
South-East, it will be a difficult but interesting event to observe. One can
only hope that the clouds keep away that winter morning!


WARNING: Viewing the Sun at any time requires adequate eye protection such
as that provided by special filters made for safe solar viewing, or by
indirect viewing methods such as pinhole projection, but DO supervise
children closely at all times.


Further information on this Tuesday morning's solar eclipse may be found at:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2011.html#SE2011Jan04P

There will be four partial solar eclipses in 2011: on 4 January, 1 June, 1
July and 25 November, but only the first of these is visible from the
British Isles.


The BAA Solar Section will be pleased to receive observations of the partial
solar eclipse.  See the Section's webpage at
http://www.britastro.org/~solar/index.php?style=new for more details.


John Mason
BAA Press and Publicity Officer

[MarkS]

Did anyone manage to see it?

It's cloudy here at Canary Wharf  

[Tony G]

The cloud broke up here in Hertfordshire at about 8.30am and I could see it visually .
(I must remember to listen to public warnings before looking directly at the sun  )

It was under 50% by that time.

Tony G

[Whitters]

Took the day off to get rained on 

[MarkS]

What a pain!  I bet your observatory was raring to go.

[Whitters]

It has been for the past four months, I'm going to get into meteorology, it's a cloud magnet.

[RobertM]

So it's all your fault then Paul  

[MarkS]

It's definitely been unusually cloudy all Autumn and so far this Winter.  I just hope it lifts soon - my imaging has ground to a complete halt.

Mark