Surya Grahan 2025 LIVE: Skygazers gather across UK to watch solar eclipse

Skygazers have gathered across the UK to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse. The eclipse peaked in London at around 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of the country from between around 10am and noon, PA Media reported.

Met Office cloud cover maps show clear skies across south-east England at the time that the eclipse starts, with partial cloud above Manchester and north-west England, and cloud above most of Scotland. The areas expected to have some of the best eclipse coverage are also likely to see cloud and rain at the time.

Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth all line up. When they perfectly align for a total solar eclipse, the Moon fully blots out the Sun’s disc, creating an eerie twilight here on Earth.

But that will not happen during Saturday’s partial eclipse, which will instead turn the Sun into a crescent.

Some parts of the UK will see more of the eclipse than others. North-west Scotland is expected to see the most coverage with 47.9% in Gallan Head, PA Media reported. Dover in south-west England is set to see the least coverage of the eclipse with only 28.1% of the Sun blocked by the Moon, while Manchester is expected to have 36.1% of coverage.

Important precautions needed to be taken while viewing Solar eclipse include-

• Checking your eclipse glasses before use, If they are scratched, torn, or damaged, throw them away.
• Children should be supervised and it must be made sure that they use eclipse glasses properly.
• Do not use eclipse glasses with telescopes, binoculars, or cameras. The intense sunlight can burn through the filter and damage your eyes.

One must use safe solar viewing glasses, also known as eclipse glasses, to view the partial solar eclipse. A handheld solar viewer can also be used to witness the eclipse, says NASA. However, just sun glasses are not safe to view the eclipse, no matter how dark they are. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard.

In case you don’t have eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer, the eclipse can be viewed using indirect viewing method. One way is to use a pinhole projector, which has a small opening and projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface. With the Sun at your back, you can then safely view the projected image.

Google has marked this rare celestial event of the partial Solar eclipse with a special effect. The Alphabet Inc.’s platform shows a special animation when you search for ‘solar eclipse’ or ‘surya grahan’. An animation of how a solar eclipse looks like, the Moon’s shadow blocking the Sun’s path, pops up upon hitting the search button on Google.

It is not safe and advisable to look at the Sun during the solar eclipse directly as it can cause harm to your eyes. According to NASA, one must use certified eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer at all times while looking at the Sun. Regular sunglasses won’t work—no matter how dark they are.

The partial solar eclipse will be witnessed across the world during different timezones. While some areas will see the solar eclipse with sunrise, others will witness it during afternoon.

According to NASA, in much of the Americas, including the northeastern United States, the partial solar eclipse will already be in progress during sunrise. In western Europe and northwestern Africa, the eclipse will begin in the mid- to late morning. In eastern Europe and northern Asia, most or all of the eclipse will occur in the afternoon or early evening.

The partial solar eclipse on Saturday will be visible in several parts of the world, including parts of North and South America, Europe, Africa, northern Asia, most of Greenland and Iceland. Major parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans will also witness the celestial event.

However, the eclipse won’t be visible in India.

The Solar eclipse will lead to a phenomenon called the double sunrise, which is a rare sight where the Sun appears to rise twice. Several parts of the USA and Canada will wake up to witness the solar eclipse during the sunrise, a rare phenomenon in itself.

However, some places may catch the glimpse of a “double sunrise” as the moon’s silhouette causes the rising sun to appear to have two distinct “horns” sticking out from the horizon.

Solar Eclipse 2025 Live: In Indian Standard Time (IST), the solar eclipse will begin at 2:20 pm, peak at 4:17 pm and will end at 6:13 pm, lasting for about four hours.