Solar Eclipse of 2026 viewed from Shotover

Although not visible as a total eclipse from the United Kingdom, a nice sunny day on 12th August 2026 tempted "Shotover Observers", Alan & Judy out into the garden to record the partial solar eclipse.

The equipment used was that originally devised to record the transit of Venus in 2004, and displayed at transit.htm on this web site. In this instance, shown in the upper pictures, a 10x 25mm monocular was used as a projector to display an inverted image of the sun on a white cardboard screen which was protected from direct sunlight by a cardboard box.

The photographs here were taken by Alan using a Canon SX220 HS camera. The inversion caused by the projection system has been reversed and the geometry has been adjusted to approximate to a view taken square-on to the screen rather than at an angle through the top of the cardboard box.

The chromatic aberration seen on the solar rim is believed to be a result of using the monocular in a projection mode for which it was certainly never designed.

The eclipse took place in the late afternoon of 12 August 2026 and the left hand image shown here was taken at 17:43 UTC soon after the start of the eclipse, whilst the right hand image was taken at 18:08 at the closest approach to totality visible from Shotover.

Copyright © Alan Simpson 2026 Back to index. Last Updated 2026-08-21