Solar Eclipse 2015 in Northern Ireland

Today was the day of the Solar Eclipse 2015 – and we awoke to grey cloudy skies, so I didn’t hold out much hope of seeing the eclipse, despite the fact that we were due to have 85% coverage of sun by the moon here in Northern Ireland.

However, hurrah, the clouds broke JUST enough to be able to see the eclipse – either with my DSLR, or through a pinhole on a white canvas.

Solar Eclipse with DSLR camera

I promise I didn’t look directly at the sun – I had the focus and shutter speed set, zoomed to the max and aimed in the direction of the sun, only looking at the LCD screen after I had taken a pic, and with a bit of luck I managed to capture these images on my DSLR

These images are not edited/enhanced apart from a slight bit of cropping – promise!

 

Solar Eclipse through pin hole

I also had a go with a pin hole through a piece of card, and held it in front of a blank white canvas, and managed to capture this …..

Not quite as impressive as the other images, but still amazing to see.

All those physics lessons in Ballymena Academy must have paid off!

I remember the last solar eclipse, in 1999. I was working in the bank, and we all headed outside for 5 minutes and it did get darker, but the weirdest part was the silence, and then as it passed, the birds were soon back out and at full volume.

This time I noticed the birdsong stopping too, it definitely got chillier, and the light was unusual – at sunrise/sunset the light is warm, but this time if was a cooler darkness (if that makes sense – probably not!)

Did you experience the solar eclipse? Do let me know.