Overview
- The eclipse on Wednesday, August 12 produced a very deep partial view across the UK with about 90% coverage in London and up to roughly 95% in parts of Cornwall, peaking in most places between about 19:05 and 19:16 BST.
- Health agencies warned that looking at the Sun during the partial phases can cause severe, often painless and permanent retinal injury, and they say ordinary sunglasses are inadequate and damaged or counterfeit eclipse glasses must not be used.
- Observers without certified viewers were advised to use indirect methods such as pinhole projectors or colanders and to never view the Sun through unfiltered cameras, binoculars or telescopes because optics can concentrate sunlight and burn the eye.
- Major space agencies and observatories ran live streams and coordinated science campaigns on Wednesday, including NASA and ESA broadcasts and airborne and high-altitude balloon experiments to study the corona and to give people cloud‑insured access.
- Practical impacts included high demand and local sell-outs of certified glasses, advice to pick westward, unobstructed viewing sites at sunset, and a reminder that the next total solar eclipse visible from the UK will not occur until 2090.