THE FIRST partial solar eclipse of 2011 was already under way by the time the sun rose over Ireland yesterday and only people in a small number of locations were able to see it through gaps in the clouds.
While the overcast sky prevented people in most parts of the country from seeing the moon block up to 90 per cent of the rising sun, people in certain places enjoyed the spectacle.
The eclipse occurred in the skies over Ireland from 8.30am and lasted for up to an hour.
“It was fantastic. There was 99 per cent cloud cover and the 1 per cent that was clear happened to be just the point at which the sun passed,” said David Moore, chairman of Astronomy Ireland, who watched the eclipse in Howth, Co Dublin, with a group of fellow amateur astronomers.
“There was only a 44-minute window in Dublin to view it and we got to see it through the gap for about 10 minutes,” he said.
He added that since it will be March 2015 before the next partial solar eclipse, he was “doubly glad” he was lucky enough to see this one.
Other parts of the country were not so fortunate.
In Waterford, a heavy fog over the city denied early morning workers from catching a glimpse of the eclipse there, although some did fare a little better in surrounding rural areas.
Galway Astronomy Club reported similar problems saying that while they gathered in hope yesterday morning, their optimism did not pay dividends as they were unable to catch any of the solar eclipse. In Limerick, amateur astronomer Dave Lillis admitted that it was “nothing short of a miracle” that he even managed to see 20 seconds of the eclipse as most of the people in the area were unable to see through the clouds.
“I have a house elevated and could look out at the southeast horizon. There was a tiny sliver of a gap in the clouds and I got about 15 to 20 seconds. If I had blinked I would have missed it. People around here saw nothing. What I saw was a fluke,” he said.
Seanie Morris, secretary of the Midlands Astronomy Club was also left lamenting the dour Irish weather.
“I don’t think anyone around here saw it. I’ve heard of no one. I was hoping that I would get a glimpse because where I live has a good view but I couldn’t see,” he said.
It was a similar story north of the Border as John McFarland of the Armagh Observatory reported that due to the extensive cloud cover, they were also unable to enjoy the rare solar eclipse.
Not everywhere had as tough a time as Ireland, however. In Sweden, about 85 per cent of the sun was blocked off by the moon while Romania and Israel also enjoyed clear skies yesterday morning as the eclipse passed over them.