Skygazers across broad swath of Northern Hemisphere see partial solar eclipse
People in much of Europe and North America — though not Israel — get to watch a bite taken out of the sun as the moon crosses its path
PARIS, France (AFP) — Skygazers across a broad swathe of the Northern Hemisphere watched on Saturday as the Moon took a bite out of the Sun as a partial solar eclipse swept from eastern Canada to Siberia.
The partial eclipse, which was the first of the year and the 17th this century, lasted around four hours from 0850 GMT to 1243 GMT.
Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth all line up. When they perfectly align for a total solar eclipse, the Moon fully blots out the Sun’s disc, creating an eerie twilight here on Earth.
But that did not happen during Saturday’s partial eclipse, which instead turned the Sun into a crescent.
“The alignment is not perfect enough for the cone of shadow to touch the Earth’s surface,” Paris Observatory astronomer Florent Deleflie told AFP.
Because that shadow will “remain in space, there will not be a total eclipse anywhere” on Earth, he said.
At most, the Moon covered around 90 percent of the Sun’s disc. The best view was from northeastern Canada and Greenland at the peak time of 1047 GMT.
Beware eye damage
The eclipse was less spectacular in other areas. In France, for example, between 10 to 30% of the Sun’s disc was obscured, depending on the region.
Ireland saw around 40%, according to Sophie Murray of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. These smaller percentages of eclipse were not visible to the naked eye.
The eclipse was not visible from Israel.
Across the northern hemisphere, skygazers were able to watch the eclipse through special viewers — as long as they took precautions.
Looking straight at the Sun — during an eclipse or otherwise — can lead to irreversible vision loss.
Skygazers were advised to buy eclipse-viewing glasses and ensure they are in good condition.
Even a slight defect or “microscopic hole” can cause eye damage, Deleflie warned.
Or, people could watch the eclipse at a local astronomy observation center where “you can safely verify the precision of celestial mechanics and marvel at interesting details on the Sun’s surface, such as sunspots,” Deleflie said.
Murray offered another option.
“You can make a simple pinhole projector by poking a small hole in a piece of paper or cardboard and letting sunlight pass through it onto the ground or another surface, where you’ll see a small, inverted image of the eclipsed Sun,” she said.
The partial eclipse will not turn up on a smartphone camera without a suitable filter, Deleflie added.
The latest celestial show came two weeks after skygazers across much of the world marveled at a rare total lunar eclipse, dubbed a “Blood Moon.”
These events often happen after each other because the Moon has “completed a half-circle around the Earth in the meantime, reversing the configuration,” Deleflie explained.
A greater spectacle is expected on August 12, 2026, when a total solar eclipse will be visible in Iceland, northern Spain and parts of Portugal.
More than 90% of the Sun will also be obscured in areas of Europe including Britain, France and Italy.
It will be the first total solar eclipse since one swept across North America in April 2024.
The Times of Israel Community.