Technology
How to watch the solar eclipse in the UK and US?
A SOLAR eclipse is happening today and it should be visible from the UK and parts of the US.
You must never use your naked eyes to look at the Sun directly but there are lots of other ways to catch the eclipse in action.
How to watch the solar eclipse safely
The best way to watch the eclipse is probably over a livestream.
The website timeanddate.com will also be streaming the event.
If you want to look with your own eyes you’ll need “solar-viewing glasses” or “eclipse glasses”, which you can order online.
You must never look directly at the Sun without adequate protection as this could damage your eyesight for life.
The eclipse starts in the UK just after 10am[/caption]
A simple way to view an eclipse is using a colander.
You may have one in your kitchen.
Go outside into the sunshine and put your back to the Sun.
Hold the colander in one hand and a piece of white paper just behind it.
You should see that the shadow of the colander falls onto the paper and it’s circular holes are visible.
The circles will change shape when the eclipse is happening.
Try the colander trick to see how the eclipse changes how much of the Sun is visible[/caption]
Experts have warned skygazers not to look directly at the eclipse.
Dr Drabek-Maunder told Sky News: “Never look at the Sun directly or use standard sunglasses, it can cause serious harm to your eyes.”
She suggested using a pinhole projector, special solar eclipse viewing glasses – which can be bought online – or using solar filters on a telescope to best view the eclipse.
Dr Drabek-Maunder said: “You can make a projector by poking a small hole into a piece of card.
“Hold the card up to the Sun so that light shines through the hole and on to a piece of paper behind the card.
“You will be able to see the shape of the Sun projected on to the piece of paper and watch its shape change as the moon passes in front of the Sun.”
What time is the solar eclipse in the UK?
In the UK, the partial solar eclipse will begin at 10.08am on Thursday, June 10, 2021, Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told Sky News.
The maximum eclipse is expected to happen at 11.13am – when the Moon will cover nearly one-third of the sun.
The partial eclipse is expected to end at 12.22pm in the UK.
How to watch the solar eclipse from the US
From New York City, the partial eclipse will begin at 4.38am EDT, according to Nasa.
The sun will rise already in an eclipse, and the moment of most coverage will be at 5.32am EDT.
The partial eclipse is expected to end by 6.30am EDT.
How to watch the solar eclipse online
The solar eclipse can be viewed on The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s YouTube channel, where it will be live-streamed.
It is unclear if the partial eclipse will be televised, however news bulletins are expected to run clips of it during their broadcasts.
The Sun – all the facts you need to know
What is it, why does it exist, and why is it so ruddy hot all the time?
- The Sun is a huge star that lives at the centre of our solar system
- It’s a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, and provides most of the energy for life on Earth
- It measures a staggering 865,000 miles across – making it 109 times bigger than Earth
- But its weight is 330,000 times that of Earth, and accounts for almost all of the mass in the Solar System
- The Sun is mostly made up of hydrogen (73%), helium (25%) and then a number of other elements like oyxgen, carbon and iron
- Its surface temperature is around 5,505C
- Scientists describe the Sun as being “middle-aged”
- The Sun formed 4.6billion years ago, and tt’s been in its current state for around four billion years
- It’s expected that it will remain stable for another five billion years
- It doesn’t have enough mass to explode as a supernova
- Instead, we expect it to turn a hulking red giant
- During this phase, it will be so big that it will engulf Mercury, Venus and Earth
- Eventually it will turn into an incredibly hot white dwarf, and will stay that way for trillions of years
Most read in Science
In other space news, billionaire Jeff Bezos has announced he’ll launch himself into space next month.
Acids may have destroyed any evidence of ancient life on Mars, according to a new study.
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