THE first solar eclipse to pass over the UK since 1999 will appear over Oxfordshire on Friday morning - and here are eclipse facts and figures to help you see it safely. And remember: be safe. Do not look directly at the eclipse as it could cause permanent damage to your eye-sight.

1. The eclipse will be start for Oxfordshire at 8.25am and be at its maximum - 85 per cent of the sun blocked by the moon - at 9.30am. The show should be all over by 10.40am.

Oxford Mail:

  • Graphic, amended to show Oxfordshire's times, courtesy of the Met Office

2. The weather forecast, though, is not especially encouraging for Oxford. The morning will start off overcast and remain cloudy throughout the eclipse.

3. Elsewhere in the county, today's earlier more optimistic forecasts for clearing skies in the north and the west have been replaced by warnings it will also be cloudy. The south still remains similarly gloomy in terms of predictions to have a clear sky.

4. A solar eclipse takes place when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned and the Moon's shadow touches the Earth's surface.

5. You should never look directly at the sun as this can lead to retinal burns and may cause significant and sometimes permanent loss of sight. Given the time it starts - 8.25am - parents should be aware about ensuring children do not take a sneeky peak during the walk or drive to school.

6. Sunglasses are useless and even things like food packing and bin liners that look as if they're made of dense material can let through infrared light and burn your retina.

7. The eclipse can be seen by projecting an image from a telescope or binoculars on to a piece of white card, using a mirror to cast the image on to a wall, or making a pin-hole viewer from pieces of card or a cereal box that acts like a lens. An ordinary colander can also be used to produce multiple eclipse images on a piece of paper.

  • How different stages of the eclipse will look:

Oxford Mail:

8. During the sky-high show, scientists from Oxford University will set up telescopes outside the Said Business School for passers-by to look through.

9. Examples of what people can spot during the eclipse included sun spots and the sun’s aura of plasma, called the corona, astrophysicist Dr Brooke Simmons said. She added: “In Oxfordshire it will get close to a total eclipse, but not quite there. If you do have the right equipment you can observe some pretty spectacular things.”

10. The sky is expected to eerily dim during this time, but views of the eclipse are threatened by cloudy weather across southern England and Wales, with clearer skies forecast further north.

11. On the evening before the eclipse, the Earth and the Moon are at the closest distance they can be to each other, making for the appearance of a ‘Supermoon’ in the sky. This makes the Spring Equinox eclipse a ‘Supermoon’ eclipse, which means the ‘Supermoon’, equinox, and eclipse, will all fall on the same day.

12. In London, the eclipse begins at 8.24am, reaches its maximum extent at 9.31am, and ends at 10.41am. For observers in Edinburgh, the eclipse starts at 8.30am and peaks at 9.35 am.

13. Around the UK the proportion of the Sun covered by the Moon will increase towards the north, ranging from 84% in London to 89% in Manchester, 93% in Edinburgh, and 97% in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. Cardiff should see 86%.

 

14. Another "deep" partial eclipse visible in the UK will not occur until August 12 2026 and the next total eclipse not until September 2090.

15. The last solar eclipse of such significance occurred on August 11 1999, and was "total" - with 100% of the Sun covered - when seen from Cornwall.

16. Friday's eclipse will produce a "totality" shadow path that crosses the North Atlantic and covers only two land masses, the Faroe Islands between Scotland and Iceland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

17. Total solar eclipses can be seen somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, but are considered rare events that recur at any given location just once every 360 to 410 years.

We'd love to see any pictures of what you're doing for the eclipse or weird shapes and shoadows created by it - again as long as you've taken them safely. Either email them to us at picturedesk@nqo.com or Tweet us via @TheOxfordMail. We'll be live blogging from early.