Solar Eclipse 2026: How did you watch?
By Caz Pennington
On Wednesday 12th August 2026, the United Kingdom witnessed a partial solar eclipse. The UK observed over 90% of the Sun being obscured by the Moon as it passed between the Earth and the Sun; which doesn’t happen very often, so no wonder we all got very excited!
At Explorer Dome, we all watched in a variety of ways…
First, we’d love to give a big ‘shout out’ to Go Stargazing, who provided us with 200 pairs of eclipse glasses at very discounted prices so that we could share the eclipse love with as many people as possible. Through selling these glasses, Go Stargazing raised a massive £10,000 for Astronomers Without Borders, whose mission is “to bring people together through a shared interest in and love of the night sky”. These eclipse glasses were by far the best way to safely watch the eclipse happening!
Ben, Archie and Callum were at Rutland County Museum on Wednesday. The museum had a sell-out crowd of 151 people for our shows, due in large part to all the media coverage of the partial eclipse, and we were able to distribute these eclipse glasses to all their visitors.
On the way home, they stopped at Hopwood Park Services to watch this awesome spectacle. This was an amazing opportunity to engage with the public there and share more eclipse glasses with anyone lucky enough to be watching nearby. Ben set up his binoculars on a tripod and projected the disk of the sun onto a large piece of white paper. As the occultation occurred (the Moon moving directly between the Sun and the Earth), spectators were able to watch in real time.
Some of the Explorer Dome team were lucky enough to be on holiday in the direct path of the total solar eclipse! Both Shaaron and Amy managed to catch the total solar eclipse visible from southern Spain. Amy had a great view from the beach, while Shaaron hiked to the top of a hill to watch.
The rest of us were at home, making the most of the clear skies, and used whatever we had to hand. It’s surprising what becomes eclipse-viewing equipment…
Caz and her family tried a couple of different methods to observe the eclipse. They found the colander was by far the best method for observing the moon moving across the face of the sun.
Whilst observing in her garden, Laura discovered that one of her trees provided the perfect viewing opportunity.
Finally, Laura's husband Alex, who was part of the Bristol-based ITV News team deployed to Cornwall last minute to cover the partial solar eclipse, were gifted some eclipse glasses by Explorer Dome. Here are a couple of photos shared by them.
