Altrincham is in for its best solar eclipse in more than a decade tonight, with more than 91 per cent of the sun set to be swallowed by the moon as it sinks towards the western horizon.
The partial eclipse will begin across Greater Manchester at 6.13pm, reach maximum at 7.10pm and finish at 8.03pm. At its peak, 91.4 per cent of the sun's disc will be covered.
It is the deepest partial eclipse seen from this part of the country since March 2015, and the last one of comparable size for decades to come.
Will we actually be able to see it?
Yes. The Met Office is forecasting a hot, dry day across Manchester with clear skies for most of the afternoon and evening, and cloud only starting to build after 8pm, by which point the show will be all but over.
Where to watch it in and around Altrincham
The single most important thing tonight is not how clear the sky is overhead - it is how clear your western horizon is.
The sun will be low, sitting only around 12 degrees above the west-north-west horizon at maximum. It does not set until 8.43pm, so you are not racing the sunset, but a line of trees, a row of houses or a distant bank of cloud on the horizon could easily hide the whole thing from a low-lying spot.
Open, elevated or wide-open ground facing west is what you want. Options worth considering locally:
- The Devisdale, Bowdon
- Stamford Park and John Leigh Park
- The Bridgewater Canal towpath towards Dunham and Little Bollington
If you can, go and stand in your chosen spot at around 7pm and check you can genuinely see the low sun. If you can't, move.
Do not look at it without proper protection
As Altrincham is nowhere near the path of totality, the sun is never fully covered - even at maximum, a bright crescent remains, and it is more than bright enough to cause permanent eye damage.
- Use only eclipse glasses certified to the ISO 12312-2 standard, and keep them on for the entire event.
- Ordinary sunglasses are not safe. Neither are several pairs stacked together, smoked glass, exposed film or a welding mask below shade 14.
- Never look through binoculars, a camera viewfinder or a telescope without a purpose-made solar filter fitted to the front. Doing so through eclipse glasses will not protect you.
- Check your glasses for scratches, holes or creases before use, and supervise children throughout.
What it will actually look like
Don't expect darkness. With around nine per cent of the sun still shining, the sky will stay bright, the corona will not appear and there will be no stars.
What you should notice is a distinct drop in temperature, a strange, flat quality to the light, and shadows that turn unusually sharp. The moon will cross the sun from right to left, meaning that at maximum the remaining sliver forms a downturned, frown-shaped crescent.
Then it's over - and the next total solar eclipse visible from the UK isn't until 2090.
