First published on Thu 10 Jun 2021 04.47 EDT
A celestial phenomenon is underway, with observers in the UK able to see a crescent sun while viewers in the Arctic enjoy an annular solar eclipse.
An annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line with the Earth, but the apparent size of the moon appears slightly smaller than the sun. This causes the sun to appear as a very bright ring, or annulus, in a phenomenon known as the “ring of fire”. The full phenomenon will be visible on Thursday to those watching in locations such as Canada, Greenland, and northern Russia.
What causes the annular eclipse? An annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line with the earth, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun. This causes the sun to appear as a very bright ring, or annulus, in a phenomenon dubbed as the “ring of fire”.
Partial solar eclipse this morning - image by Echo Camera Club Dorset member Sharon Wheeler. Observers in the UK and Ireland only saw a crescent sun instead of a ring, as this will be a partial eclipse. Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told the PA news agency: “This ‘ring of fire’ will be seen from Russia, Greenland and northern Canada.
A BASINGSTOKE resident has captured the 2021 solar eclipse in skies over Basingstoke this morning (June 10). Paul Richardson from Brookvale caught on camera the moment the moon covered approximately 20 per cent of the sun. He told the Gazette: This was taken with some careful exposure control, and perfect cloud coverage to be taken using only an iPhone! There was only a few moment during the eclipse that you could see through the clouds. A partial solar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the is Sun blocked by the Moon, exactly how much will depend on your location. The partial solar eclipse was be visible across the skies over Britain this morning as the moon passes between the earth and the sun.