Suburban Astronomer Gets an Ecliptic Delight.

17th August 202617th August 2026 The Havering Daily 0 Comments Celsius, Earth, Ecliptic Delight, Google Pixel Pro, Havering, Ibiza, Iceland, London, Moon, North Africa, Oviedo, Palma, Romford, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Southern Europe, Spain, Sun, Sun's, Tower Bridge, Yemen min read

Charlie Keeble writes in the Havering Daily.

The last time I saw an eclipse was on Tower Bridge in August 1999 and it was a wonderful sight. This moment was a very powerful spectacle in my hobby in astronomy. I didn’t have the equipment to photograph it then but it was a first time that I can never forget. Then came along another solar eclipse in August 2026 and this time I was ready with a camera. In preparation for the eclipse I had to make an observation of the position of the Sun in the sky at the eclipse. The eclipse was going to occur at around 7.12 pm on 2^nd August 2026. By which time the Sun would be low on the horizon. So I had to be in a place where there was not going to be any trees or buildings obstructing the view of the eclipse. Fortunately I was able to do this in Romford from my own neighbourhood in a suburban area.

This picture that I took of the eclipse occurred around totality, which is the precise moment of the eclipse. Totality is the technical term in astronomy for when the eclipse is at it’s peak and the Moon is throwing its biggest shadow onto the Earth. However to see the totality at 100% you need to be in the exact spot of the path that it occurs. Looking at the map from the guidebook the point of the greatest eclipse is off the western coast of Iceland, but the biggest land area you can observe it from skims across northeastern Spain from Oviedo to Palma and Ibiza.

Here in London where Havering is based we got 93% of the eclipse magnitude, hence why the Sun appears to be peaking out of the top of the picture. It looks like a luminous arc over the Moon. Stargazers in Spain however would be able to see “the diamond ring effect”. This is where the eclipse resembles an engagement ring. But I was fortunate enough to be in the umbra or dark shadow with its narrow path. Looking at these pictures I could see that there was some perception of a feathery halo or a scattering of the Sun’s rays. I was able to do this by zooming in on the Sun using my phone. I didn’t have a telescope but my Google Pixel Pro 9 XL had a very effective telephoto lens. I got several pictures and I observed it for the full duration from 6.17 pm to 8.06 pm. Totality lasted just 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

In accordance with the viewing safety measures I used solar filters to block out the Sun’s glare to avoid damage to my eyes. I had two filters, one to wear on my face as glasses and the other which was a film screen that I covered over my phone lens to take these pictures.

You can see from the pictures there is an ocular effect of the Sun as it is changing from a yellow colour to an orange. That is the result of where the light bends into the red part of the spectrum as the Sun dips below the horizon.

On the ground the atmosphere was very subdued by the darkening of the sky. In an eclipse the air temperature usually drops by about 5 degrees Celsius. I noticed this myself and from the timing of the eclipse it felt like a prolonged sunset with a partial dimming going on. I took another photo of the exact spot and time when the eclipse occurred and compared the two pictures. The solar dimming is apparent here with the size of the Sun reduced by the black orb as the Moon passed in front of it.

If you want to see another solar eclipse, there will be another one occurring next year on 2^nd August. This will one be visible across Southern Europe, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. But from Havering in February 2027 there will be a lunar eclipse appearing at 11.12 pm. I had better start shopping for a new telescope or binoculars. The last one I saw was in October 2015 as a partial eclipse, as you can see from this picture.