As you will have seen from these pages, the morning of 31 May 2003 would see a 'special' sunrise over most parts of the UK, in that the sun would rise while in eclipse.  This eclipse was an annular eclipse, although the full annular eclipse would only be seen from the far north of Scotland - the vast majority of the UK saw a partial eclipse.

I had decided to make my way to the East Coast (I was travelling on holiday to Norfolk that day anyway), and I thought that the coast at Orford Quay would offer a good flat horizon, and hopefully with a clear sky - both rather important factors!

The driver round the M25 and up the A12 was not promising, as high cloud had come in in the very early hours, but as the dawn sky started to lighten, breaks were starting to occur again.  I arrived at Orford at 4.10am, and made my way to the quayside, and then along the coastal path.  Yes, I admit I had in advance calculated that the rising sun would appear amongst the masts of the NSA C4 station over on Orford spit!

My calculations of the sunrise time itself (courtesy of StarryNight) proved wrong by 8 minutes, but the sun made its first appearance at 4.43am (03.43 UT), although it was already a good diameter of the sun's disk above the horizon before it broke thru the cloud and mist.

I spent the next 36 minutes watching the eclipse continue as the moon transited the sun's disk, though by the end of the eclipse it was difficult to see due to the sun's increasing brightness and glare - but conversely it wasn't bright enough to be seen clearly with 'eclipse glasses'...

<<< Back to Space Watching...