A moment to moment video of this morning’s total eclipse of the sun, from Faroe, which lasted about 2 minutes. The video’s long, so if you haven’t the time to watch all of it, go to about 1:10 and watch till 2:22 to see the approach of the eclipse through to the point it begins to pass. This is a spectacular recording of an historical moment. March 20 is the 2015 March equinox and the moon turns new only 14 hours after reaching lunar perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit – and this means this moon is a supermoon and will have a larger-than-average effect on Earth’s oceans. This new supermoon swings right in front of the equinox sun so that its shadow falls on parts of Earth.

The eclipse covered 97% of the sun (over Faroe). Over London (near me) 84%. It was overcast here anyway, but still the sky darkened a little. Birds landed on trees and stayed there until after the event. The atmosphere was eery. I felt a bit headachey, sick and dizzy.

Make a note in your diary: the closest (to the earth) full supermoon will be in September, 2015. This next supermoon will be a new moon, and it’ll again cause a total eclipse of the sun.

Sources:  Nasa, Earthsky, You Tube

http://earthsky.org

Some images (below) of the eclipse, grabbed off my telly.
The day has been dominated by coronae, aureoles, and roundishishnesses in general. It will feed my art.

Total Eclipse of the Sun 20 March 2015. Taken from an aeroplane, from above the Faroe Islands.

Approaching Eclipse – the ‘Diamond Ring’ moment

Post Eclipse (Diamond on Other Side of Ring)