Science

Images: The moon obscures the sun during the first partial solar eclipse in 2025

Ananya Kumar
By Ananya Kumar
4 Min Read

On Saturday, portions of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa were able to witness a partial solar eclipse. A unique double sunrise and a crescent sun were produced by the occurrence. Around the world, enthusiasts gathered, and live streaming of the phenomena was provided by observatories.

The moon passed between the Earth and the sun on Saturday, creating a partial solar eclipse that was visible in portions of the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia, and Africa. Instead of producing a complete eclipse, the first of the year’s event produced a crescent sun.

In the Northeastern United States, which offered the greatest view in the nation, the eclipse had already started as morning broke. The cosmic event was visible in the late morning and early afternoon in northern and western Europe as well as along the northwest coast of Africa. According to a report by PA Media, the eclipse peaked in London at approximately 11 a.m. local time and was visible throughout the United Kingdom between 10 a.m. and noon.

“There is a really good crowd of people, everybody’s extremely delighted,” said Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society. “There are people looking through the telescopes we have set up, wearing eclipse glasses. It is a lot of fun, and we adore it. It is a truly pleasant event with a wonderful public mood.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said, “The further northwest you are in the UK the more of an eclipse you are likely to have, whereas towards the southeast it’s a little bit less – but still 30%, and still a large chunk taken out of the sun.”

“There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm about it. As expected, the moon started moving in front of the sun about an hour ago; it’s got a bit under an hour to go and it’s blocking out some of the sun,” he added.

Astronomer Imo Bell, at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said, “There’s been nothing unexpected, but that’s the cool thing, we’ve known this has been coming for a very long time. We have the technology and the understanding of space now to predict these things almost to the second.”

This partial solar eclipse also created a double sunrise, a rare effect where the sun appears to rise, dim, and then rise again as the moon moves away. This phenomenon is most visible when the eclipse occurs at sunrise, and weather conditions such as cloud cover or light refraction can enhance the illusion.

For those unable to witness it in person, NASA, the SLOOH Observatory and possibly ISRO provided live streams on their social media pages and YouTube channels. The next partial solar eclipse is expected in September, with the best viewing location in Australia.

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