Astronomers have revealed why eclipses happen – and why they often come in pairs
UK sky watchers will be treated to their second eclipse of 2025 this weekend when the Moon will cover a chunk of the Sun in a partial solar eclipse . The spectacular celestial event will be visible just two weeks after a stunning 'Blood Moon' partial lunar eclipse graced UK skies on March 14.
The upcoming solar eclipse will happen on Saturday , with some parts of the UK seeing up to 50 per cent of the Sun blocked by the Moon. Met Office weather forecasts predict that parts of the UK will see clear skies at the time of the eclipse , which will begin at around 10.07am UK time, with maximum coverage happening at 11.03am and ending at 12.00pm. But what causes these exciting celestial events – and is there a reason why the UK has been treated to both a solar and lunar eclipse in the month of March? An eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth line up. During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking some or all of its solar rays and casting a shadow on our home planet. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon so that the Earth's shadow blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon, casting a red hue over the lunar surface in a phenomenon called a Blood Moon. This weekend, many parts of the world will witness a partial solar eclipse, with the greatest eclipse happening in eastern Canada where up to 93 per cent of the Sun will be covered. 'The 29th March sees a partial eclipse from here in the UK, so only part of the Sun’s disc will appear blocked by the Moon from our perspective,' explains Anna Gammon-Ross, an astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich. 'Solar eclipses aren’t visible everywhere because the shadow cast by the Moon onto the Earth’s surfaces during these events is small – you need to be in the right place at the right time to see one,' she told the Manchester Evening News. In the UK, the most coverage will occur in Gallan Head in northwest Scotland. The least coverage will be seen in Dover in southeast England. Manchester will see 36.1 per cent of the Sun blocked by the Moon, according to the tracking website Time and Date. During a total eclipse, the Sun's light is blocked by the Moon, effectively 'shutting off' its power to that part of the Earth. The last total solar eclipse happened on April 8, 2024. It moved across Mexico, the US and Canada in a remarkable event known as the Great North American Eclipse. 'A sudden lack of radiation from the Sun can affect the atmosphere’s temperature and charged particles,' explains Gammon-Ross. Eclipses cause a sudden drop of temperature in the atmosphere, which people in the eclipse's path can feel. They also disrupt solar radiation, which can temporarily affect radio communications. However, these effects are both local and temporary, and are 'less significant' during a partial solar eclipse, says Gammon-Ross. Eclipses are also an exciting time for astronomers. 'Solar eclipses can be great opportunities for studying the Sun, in particular, the outer atmosphere which is much fainter than the main disc of the Sun so can be seen more easily when that’s been blocked out,' Gammon-Ross adds. The back-to-back eclipses seen in March 2025 is more the rule than the exception, according to scientists. Eclipses often come in pairs because of how the Moon's orbit is tilted toward Earth. 'If the Moon had been orbiting in the same plane as the Earth's orbit around the Sun, then there would be an eclipse every time. But its orbit is inclined, meaning that when the Moon passes the Sun, it is often displaced above or below the Sun, so the shadow misses,' explains Albert Zijlstra, Professor of Astrophysics at The University of Manchester . 'You get an eclipse when the alignment is such that the Moon is in the right place of its orbit at the right time,' Prof Zijlstra told the M.E.N. However, when this happens, it also means the Moon and Earth will align at the other end of orbit during the same lunar cycle. 'One gives a lunar eclipse, the other a solar eclipse. So they often happen in pairs,' he said, noting that lunar eclipses can only happen during a full Moon, while solar eclipses happen at a new Moon. However, since solar eclipses are only visible over part of the Earth, in many cases sky watchers will only witness the accompanying lunar eclipse – so the UK is especially lucky to be seeing both this month.
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