Ireland Draws Thousands for 90% Solar Eclipse as Scientists Launch Aerial Sun Mission
Updated
Updated · RTÉ News · Aug 13
Ireland Draws Thousands for 90% Solar Eclipse as Scientists Launch Aerial Sun Mission
3 articles · Updated · RTÉ News · Aug 13
Summary
More than 90% of the Sun was covered over Ireland shortly after 7pm, drawing thousands to parks, observatories and public viewing sites for a rare partial solar eclipse.
Dublin's Phoenix Park hosted one of the biggest crowds, with people cheering as the sky darkened and using telescopes, eclipse glasses and homemade cardboard viewers to watch safely.
Irish scientists used the eclipse for research, flying toward Iceland with Air Corps support to capture images of a total eclipse and the Sun's corona with ESA and Italian colleagues.
The event was billed by many viewers as a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle; the last eclipse visible in Ireland was in 1999.