An update from our Assistant Curator of Natural Sciences, Stuart Ogilvy.

On Friday 20 March, a singular astronomical event occurred – there was a partial eclipse of the sun in York.

This is a rare event; the last time there was a major eclipse of the sun in York was in 1999. That one was total. This one was still good, about 91%. Despite a good weather forecast for the day, it had not been very promising during the week but we still decided to open the York Observatory for the eclipse.

We were lucky!

The weather started to clear at about 8.30am and, as the eclipse began at 8.45am, the weather cleared almost completely.

We hadn’t publicised the opening of the Observatory widely because of the poor weather forecast so we didn’t really know how many people we would get – we hoped to pick up a few people on their way to work.

We were completely wrong – we got loads of visitors! As well as people passing by, word of mouth sprang into action and individuals started to arrive from local businesses.

Altogether we had nearly 300 visitors. There was almost a carnival atmosphere as people began to gather on the lawn and queued to get in to the Observatory.

In the Observatory, we were projecting the sun down the telescope and onto a white board so the public could see the eclipse.

A bonus was the appearance of a sunspot as well. Outside we had several pinhole cameras made from cereal boxes by the industrious Rob Wake (Collections Facilitator at York Museums Trust).

I think we were all amazed by how effectively this worked. The bizarre sight of people peering into cereal boxes added to the party atmosphere.

Several intrepid arrivals had come with their own low tech apparatus, including a few colanders and even a welding mask!

Eventually the sun disappeared down to a thin sliver and the light turned into a strange subdued greyness. It also became noticeably cooler.

This was at 9.45am; after that, the sun began to re-appear.

An eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. This casts a shadow on the earth’s surface. If you are in the shadow the sun begins to disappear as the black circle of the moon passes in front of this.

Astronomers can predict where this will be and how much of the sun will disappear in any given place. The only two places on land where the eclipse was total this time were the Faroe Islands and Svarlbard.

This was a fantastic event and certainly one of the most warm-natured that the York Museums Trust Astronomy team have been involved with.

It was all the better for having been a team effort, including curatorial staff and volunteers, and made for a really unique experience for everyone who visited us on the day.