Solar eclipse Ireland: When it starts and how to watch it safely

Ireland’s eclipse fever begins

The spectacle begins at around 6.10pm, lasts for roughly two hours and reaches its peak about an hour in and nothing on this scale will be visible from Ireland again until 2090.

Peter Gallagher, astrophysicist and director of the Dunsink Observatory, told The Journal that viewers can expect to see “a little bite taken out of the sun, and that little bite will progressively get bigger” as the moon moves directly between the Earth and the sun.

Whether we get the full show depends on cloud cover, a welcome turnaround from Met Éireann’s August forecast earlier in the month is that Wednesday falls in the middle of a hot, settled spell.

Solar eclipse Ireland: how to watch it safely

One thing the experts agree on: do not look directly at the sun, even with most of it covered. Specialists have issued a warning over fake eclipse glasses being sold online, warning that counterfeit versions could damage your eyesight, so make sure any viewing glasses are the genuine article before looking up.

No glasses? A homemade pinhole projector, RTÉ has even shared a method using an ordinary cereal box, lets you follow the whole thing safely by projecting the sun’s image instead of staring at it.

The eclipse should hit its maximum at around 7.10pm, leaving time to get home and set up. Miss it, and it’s a long wait: Ireland is not expected to see a total eclipse until 2090.