Around quarter of Sun blocked out during partial solar eclipse

A partial solar eclipse transformed skies across the UK as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun.

On Tuesday morning, observers saw nearly a sixth of the sun being blocked out by the moon - with the Royal Greenwich Observatory streaming the view live on YouTube.

Those in northern Scotland got to enjoy especially good views, as residents of Lerwick in the Shetland islands could see 28% of the sun's surface eclipsed.

Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said the phenomenon caused the moon to block the view of “some or all of the bright solar surface”.

In London, the eclipse will began at 10:08am on Tuesday, with the maximum eclipse at 11.13am, when the moon covered close to 15% of the sun.

The partial eclipse ended by around 11:51am.

Looking directly at the sun can cause serious damage to the eyes, even when a large fraction of the solar disc is blocked out, and looking at the eclipse with binoculars, telescopes or a telephoto lens on an SLR camera should be avoided.

Experts recommended pricking a pinhole in a piece of card, and observing the eclipse that way.