March 2025 will be an interesting month for observers, as both a partial lunar eclipse and partial solar eclipse will be visible from UK shores.

Lunar eclipse, 14th March 2025

The full moon this month will occur on the 14th, and with it will come a lunar eclipse. It will be visible in the morning hours, just as the Moon sets. Unfortunately however, the Moon will set for much of the UK just before the total phase begins (though Ireland and the far west of Britain may see it for a short time), resulting in a large partial eclipse visible.

The penumbral phase will begin at approximately 03:57, followed by the partial phase at 05:09. For those lucky enough to see totality, this will begin at 06:25.


Solar eclipse, 29th March 2025

Two weeks later at the new moon, we will then be treated to a decent partial solar eclipse visible on the morning of 29th. It will range from approximately 40% coverage in the south east, to over 50% coverage in the north west of Scotland.

Times for this are as followed: first contact will occur at approximately 10:05, with the point of largest eclipse visible around 11:05, before last contact at 12:04. The exact times will vary by a few minutes depending on exactly where you are in the country.



Let's hope the weather is kind to us this month!

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Looks like a mixed forecast for Friday morning so far, with some clear spells, but also a few banks of cloud hanging around. This was always a concern with an easterly component to the wind in early spring. It could we just be a case of nowcasting at the time.

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I've lost a day!🤣🤣🤣 Better zap my earlier post and go back to bed.

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It doesn't look like anything is going to materialise around here, as thick cloud seems as though it will get in the way.

We've had some really bad luck with lunar eclipses in recent years.

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Cloud will spoil the show here.

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Great photos! I'm glad someone got a view. I've seen absolutely nothing here, unfortunately.

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Thanks Bolty. Was a tad chilly in the frost earlier but all good now. I missed the so called 'blood moon' because of cloud in the west.
Not sure if would even have been visible here in any case.

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In pictures: Stargazers marvel at 'blood moon' amid lunar eclipse
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr42k4qpr7go 

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Here I marvelled at the lovely clear sky at 3:30 (just like yesterday), then marvelled at how the net curtain had fallen down and was now resting on the radiator.

By the time 5 AM rolled around (i.e. when the eclipse really started to get going) it was mostly overcast, the only bits of clear sky being unhelpfully to the south and overhead. It stayed that way through the rest of the eclipse and, of course, once it got to around 7 AM the skies cleared again - it's been a lovely morning!

Hopefully the weather will be better for the solar eclipse. They're better IMO than the lunar ones, not least because you get to see little crescent suns in the dappled shade beneath the trees...

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For the first time in almost 60 years, a lunar lander has photographed an eclipse from the surface of the Moon.
https://spaceweather.com/ 

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=221042 

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Remarkable and interesting! If you hadn't told me, I'd have thought that was a solar eclipse from Earth. I expected one on the surface of the Moon to have appeared as a black disc with the atmosphere rim glowing red.

You can even see hints of the Sun's corona too, despite the fact that the Earth appears much larger than the Sun in the sky from the Moon.

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Of course tonight would be completely cloudless! That always seems to be the biggest kick in the nads with these astronomical events. The nights themselves are cloudy, but the ones preceding and following it are usually clear. It's like some kind of joke 😂

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That's an amazing image of the earth eclipsing the sum taken from the moon

The sum and the moon are about the same size in the sky relative to their respective distances from earth so when we see a solar eclipse the moon almost exactly covers the sun. The earth appears 3-4 times as big as either of them viewed from the moon so I was surprised by that picture. It must be covering much more than the whole sun and yet it still appears very similar to a solar eclipse viewed from earth. I guess it is just a fact that the flares still manage to appear outside of the rim giving a sort of optical illusion

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Err, the Earth is bigger than the Moon (and by some margin) shouldn't it be 'bigger' than the sun and by some margin? So more than just covering the Sun?

The biggest kick in the teeth is when you have clear skies around but not in the key spot at the key time. That happened during the pre Christmas December 2010 eclipse. Clear skies to the east, to north, south and overhead but to the west? No! That would have been fantastic shot with a totally eclipsed Moon close to moonset and snow on the ground. 

  The Saros cycle was discovered by the ancients and used to predict eclipses when they became aware that eclipses repeat at certain intervals.  Every eclipse belongs to a specific Saros cycle.  
The last UK total solar eclipse on the 11th August 1999 was from the Saros cycle 145 and this  cycle gave  other total solar eclipse visible from British soil during the 20th century on the 29th June 1927.
The partial solar eclipse on 29th March is part of Saros cycle 149. The significance of this cycle for the UK is that it will produce two total solar eclipses visible from our shores 
3rd June 2133  and June 14th 2151 

Wish I was alive in 2151, that could be viewed from my back garden!

Reminder from Sky & Telescope.
SATURDAY, MARCH 29
A partial eclipse of the Sun happens for northeastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, and most of Europe. For most the northeastern US and the Canadian Maritimes, the eclipse will already be under way at sunrise. Use Xavier Jubier's interactive map to find your own exact times, the maximum obscuration and magnitude of the eclipse at your location, the Sun's altitude, and other circumstances. Times are given in Universal Time.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-march-21-30/ 

Also see Fred Espenak's webpage:
https://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2025Mar29Pprime.html 

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People in the UK could see a partial solar eclipse this Saturday 29 March, with the Moon set to cover up to 40% of the Sun at its peak.
Here at the Royal Observatory Greenwich we’ll be live streaming the eclipse using one of our modern telescopes, giving you a chance to see the special moment safely - weather permitting of course!

Partial solar eclipse LIVE - Saturday 29 March 2025 | Live coverage from 10am
https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/online/solar-eclipse-march-2025-uk-live-stream 

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I have eclipse-viewing glasses and a solarscope. However, the most delightful view of a solar eclipse is in woodland under the trees. Dappled spots of sunlight are produced by gaps between leaves acting like pinhole cameras, turning into crescents as the eclipse progresses.
https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/opod-leafy-pinhole-cameras/ 
Don't forget to view the eclipse safely!
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/solar-eclipse-guide.html 

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For once, it looks like tomorrow's front will actually arrive after the eclipse has finished (shocker). The only question will be, for more western areas especially; how quickly the cloud thickens ahead of it? I'm actually feeling fairly optimistic about this one.

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I'm less optimistic now, more cloud around now around our neck of the woods than what the Met Office was suggesting at this time of the day. (6am) Looks superb for SE England and East Anglia. 

Today is where you hope the Met Office would make a good fist of cloud predictions today as there is a solar eclipse occurring this morning.

This is the 8am screenshot from their latest video uploaded on YouTube.

Look how clear England and Wales is on those graphics.  That is way out. The cloud has moved far further east than those graphics are suggesting. 

That is really poor from the Met Office, to be that out less than 24 hours considering there is an event that depends on clear skies.

What's more is they released this video this morning, people knowing there is a solar eclipse will check this video on prospects, see little or no clouds over say Manchester then look out the window see the contrary. Their own satellite imagery would show that this forecast is out for a good part of the UK.

Just in case.... working link
Partial Solar Eclipse LIVE | 29 March 2025
https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/online/solar-eclipse-march-2025-uk-live-stream 

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Light cloud... Solarscope up and focused. Working OK. Eclipse glasses to hand. Now, is it too early for a beer? 🥃

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