WATCH: Amazing solar eclipse seen across the North East
Dan Pye, Director of Astronomy, Kielder Observatory
This morning people across the North East could see a rare sight: at 10:07am a partial solar eclipse began across the UK as the moon passed between the Earth and the sun.
In the region, it could be seen from 10:09am until 12:31pm, peaking at 11:18am when about 28% of the Sun was covered by the moon.
This type of solar eclipse, known as an annular eclipse, creates a spectacle called the "Ring of Fire" or annulus - where a bright ring appears as the moon covers the sun. Sadly, this phenomenon couldn't be spotted in the UK and was best visible in the Arctic. In parts of Scotland though up to 40% of the sun was eclipsed.
It's thought the next full eclipse in the UK won't be until 2090 - and these events only appear in the same place on our planet every 400 years!
Partial eclipses are much more common with the last one in the UK appearing in 2017.
Dan Pye is the Director of Astronomy at Kielder Observatory, “In the North East we’d have been able to see just a little chunk taken out of the sun, so it almost looked like someone had taken a bite out of the sun."
What is the difference between an annular and total eclipse?
The thing that separates the events is the "Ring of Fire".
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. In a total eclipse, the moon is closer and appears large enough to fully block the sun. That comes 15 days after the year's only total lunar eclipse, which some called the super flower blood moon.
Total eclipses are very rare - the last time the UK saw a total eclipse was in 1999.