The partial solar eclipse in Warsaw began at 11.55 a.m., and the maximum phase, i.e. the degree of the Sun’s disk (about 0.20), reached at 12.54. It ended at 13:54. In other places, individual moments could differ by several or a dozen or so minutes, such as in Poznań, where the eclipse began at 11:45, maximum phase was seen at 12:46. The phenomenon ended at 13.48.
The largest phase was visible in northern Poland, including, for example, Gdańsk or Szczecin. In turn, in the southern part of the country, the part of the Sun covered by the Moon was the smallest, for example in Kraków, reaching a maximum of about 0.14.
– These are infrequent and rare phenomena and are worth watching. I recommend – said Mr. Sławomir observing the eclipse in Szczecin, who is also a member Polish Society of Astronomy Enthusiasts.
– I have been interested in astronomy since I was a child, I read a lot of books on this subject and I develop this passion until today – explained Mariusz.
Your observations
On Kontakt 24 we received photos of a partial eclipse. 24 reporters will share their observations from Tricity, Chojnice and Tychy.
HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING INTERESTING? SHARE YOUR RELATIONSHIP ON CONTACT 24
Complete, partial, ringed
Solar eclipses occur when the Moon moves around the Earth in the Sun-Earth line of sight. It is on a new moon then, but because its orbit is not perfectly circular and has a certain inclination to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every new moon.
The most spectacular are total eclipses, when the entire solar disk is covered and then we see the solar corona all around. In the event that part of the shield remains visible, we are talking about partial. There are also eclipses known as annular eclipses. In an annular eclipse, the entire Moon obscures the Sun, but the Moon is too far from our planet and the angular size of its disc visible in the sky is smaller than the size of the Sun’s disc. In this situation, a bright ring can be seen around the dark disk of our natural satellite.
On Thursday, the band where the annular eclipse could be seen ran across Canada, Greenland, the North Pole and the eastern tip of Asia. The maximum duration of the annular eclipse was three minutes and 51 seconds.
Already in antiquity it was possible to predict the moments of solar eclipses. Currently, total eclipses are also quite a big tourist attraction, able to encourage many people to go to the country through which the total eclipse belt runs.
How to safely watch an eclipse?
To see an eclipse, we need a way to weaken the Sun’s light, for while a portion of the Sun’s disc is obscured by the Moon, our star’s glow is still blinding. Under no circumstances should you look at the Sun with binoculars or a telescope if they are not equipped with appropriate filters, as this may damage or lose eyesight.
The safest method of observation is to project the image of the Sun from the telescope onto the screen (e.g. white sheet). You can also see the eclipse without a telescope. Special glasses for observing solar eclipses are available for purchase. There are also home methods, such as looking through a smoky glass or a CD, although they should be treated with caution (do not exaggerate with the length of time such devices gaze at the sun), because even they are not completely safe for eyesight.
Eclipses in Poland
Solar eclipses occur relatively frequently, two to five times a year, and are visible only in certain areas of the Earth, and therefore are much rarer for a given place. From the perspective of a single locality, total eclipses are really rare, statistically occurring in one area every 370 years.
In Poland, the last total eclipse was visible in 1954 (Suwałki, Sejny), and the next one will be in 2075. For the annular eclipse visible from our country, we will have to wait until 2135.
Partial eclipses can be seen much more often from Poland. The previous one was on June 21, 2020, but only a scrap of the solar disk (less than 1 percent), visible from the Bieszczady Mountains, was covered. The partial eclipse was actually visible from all over Poland on March 20, 2015. The next one after this year’s will be October 25, 2022.
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