Dusted of the 4.5 inch refractor yesterday, cleaned the solar filters and set up the equatorial mount in readiness for todays eclipse. Woke up to solid cloud and the BBC forecast did not look good at all. Running for about two hours, with maximum at 0930 I hoped that there would be a few breaks from time to time, but it seemed to get worse as the morning progressed. There was a noticeable drop in light levels about twenty minutes before maximum with an interesting ominous feeling-something I last experienced at the total eclipse in Penzance in 1999. Spent most of the time watching the tv coverage, popping out from time to time into the garden, and just after 0930, I was sitting there and noticed it brighten a bit outside-the cloud had thinned sufficiently to see the narrow crescent. Grabbed the camera gear and got a few shots before the cloud thickened up again.
The clouds finally started to break up about half an hour later, though by then the Moon had pretty much cleared the Sun, but it looked nice in the special eclipse glasses.
Took Mum up to Sarah's new place for lunch and it was bright sunshine for the rest of the day......
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