A rare site in Banchory tonight

Tonight, here in Banchory, we will experience one of the deepest solar eclipses seen here for decades.

And here’s an interesting comparison: during the famous UK eclipse of 11 August 1999, around 78% of the sun was obscured in the Aberdeen area. Tonight’s eclipse will be deeper here.

Tonight’s eclipse times

6:06pm – Eclipse begins

7:03pm – Maximum eclipse

7:57pm – Eclipse ends

Although this is a total solar eclipse in other places, it will remain a partial eclipse here in Banchory, so there is no point at which it’s safe to look directly at the sun without proper protection.

No eclipse glasses? Try a pinhole projector

You only need two pieces of white card or paper and a pin.

1. Make a small hole in one piece of card.

2. Stand with your back to the sun – don’t look at it.

3. Hold the card so sunlight passes through the hole.

4. Hold the second piece of card behind it as a screen.

5. Move the cards apart until you see the sun projected onto it.

As the eclipse progresses, the projected image will become a crescent.

Important: Don’t look through the pinhole at the sun. You’re looking at the image projected onto the second piece of card.

And… have a look under the trees

Tiny gaps between leaves act as natural pinhole projectors. Instead of the usual round patches of sunlight, you may see dozens or even hundreds of little crescent suns projected onto the ground.

Please remember: ordinary sunglasses aren’t safe for viewing an eclipse. Only use certified eclipse glasses for looking directly at the sun.

If you capture the eclipse, the changing light, or those crescent shadows anywhere around Banchory, we’d love to see your photos and videos.

Image note:

Original photograph of Scolty Hill by Neil Williamson, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Sky and eclipse digitally altered using AI for illustration purposes.