A good bite of the sun'

The eclipse of the sun by the
moon as seen from Minsk, Belarus.
Photograph: Maxim Malinovsky/EPA
Anyone looking out of their window in London at 10:01am this morning may have wondered why the sky was a bit darker than usual. Well, it was because at precisely that moment, 57% of the sun was obscured by the moon, writes Kearan Ramful.

An annular solar eclipse took place today - the moon appeared to sweep across the face of the sun, casting a shadow over a swath of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Unlike a total eclipse, when the moon is at its closest to Earth, an annular eclipse occurs when the moon is near its apogee, its furthest point away from our planet.

Over London, the phenomenon took place from 8.48am to 11.18am. Astronomers gathered to observe it in Hyde Park, but cloud cover meant most people witnessed only a murky gloom. Those in Aberdeen fared better, seeing a 44% eclipse, and in Plymouth 64% of the sun was covered.

The best views were to be had on the Iberian peninsula, where the skies were clear and the eclipse moved through its annular stage, virtually blotting out the sun, and observers in Madrid were amongst the first to see the phenomenon. Spanish bloggers have been following it online, noticing that the moon took a "good bite" of the sun.

Britain last saw a solar eclipse - a total one - in August 1999. The next one will be in March 2006.