An Eye-Witness Account
of the Last Total Eclipse of the Sun
of the 2nd Millennium on
11th August 1999 - as seen from the UK
The Greatest Light-Show on Earth
The Tract of Totality (the darkest path of the moon's shadow)
fell across the tip of South-Western Britain, touching Cornwall at Falmouth,
and then it sped on at 1,500 miles per hour towards north-west France.
The light-blue band represents the entire dark shadow
cast over the earth by the moon; the thin black line within it, is the central line of deepest darkness.
Wales lies just north of this map.
People of all ages watched, utterly fascinated as the sun's perfectly round disk gradually became 'eaten away' by the slow-moving bulk of the moon. Every few minutes or so, we gasped in wonderment at what we saw...
97% of the sun was obscured by the moon
on that Wednesday morning in South Wales, Great Britain,
at approximately 14 minutes past 11 am, on 11th August 1999 -
and for two minutes an 'unearthly twilight' descended
The sun's bright corona or halo of light
is revealed only during Totality
At approximately 11.14 a.m. the shadow of the moon rushed towards us from the west; but we were conscious only of a darkening of the light. It wasn't like twilight, which radiates a richness of golds and blues, this was an eerie 'negation of light'. As our eyes turned towards the sun, the land fell under the huge shadow of the moon's penumbra (hundreds of miles in diameter) and bright daylight turned into 'evening' - in the middle of the morning.
The moon's shadow threw a soft coppery-orange 'evening' glow over the earth, which fascinated us.
Suddenly the beach became quiet; the temperature dropped and the breeze became stronger. I felt cold. Then the light faded quickly to its darkest.
It was so eerie...
Seagulls cried out above the distant water; but most people were stunned into silence - except for some who whispered phrases like... 'My God...', 'This is absolutely incredible...', 'Amazing...', 'I've never seen anything like this before...'
A jittery lad of about eight was looking at the sun without any protection - an act which could cause blindness. I handed him my viewers and his eyes sparkled with joy; he tilted his head towards the sky, and he was so affected by what he saw that he stood absolutely still; and gazed at the heavens... 'This is a day for you to remember;' I said to him, 'something to tell your children and your grandchildren about when you're old and grey - a once-in-lifetime event.'
'Oh, I'll never forget this,' he said, his voice full of wonder.
While the eclipse was underway I was completely enthralled; it was only later that I wept when I saw the worldwide event broadcast on television and heard thousands of people in countries across the world cheering, clapping, whistling and crying with joy as absolute Totality passed over their heads.
Two minutes and 23 seconds later, the light began to brighten gain - and it quickly returned to normal. It was over - much too soon. I looked to my right and saw darkened skies over the eastern coastline as the massive penumbra rushed past the headland at 1,500 miles per hour...
Later, in my quieter moments, some thoughts occured to me:
Who among us had the power to prevent or delay this remarkable event from happening?
Not one of us.
On that late late summer's morning in August 1999, like millions of others I was struck dumb by the Majesty of Nature as I watched the Immutable Natural Laws in action.
We, who believe ourselves to be so sophisticated and intelligent, could only stand and stare in the presence of such incredible phenomena - and marvel at the awesome power displayed.
The momentous occasion of the last total eclipse of the sun before the start of the third millennium was witnessed by an estimated three hundred million people across the globe. I stood on a beach in Wales, with special solar-viewers held to my eyes - and for me it was a spiritual experience.
Dawn in Britain on that Wednesday had started very miserably: cloud cover was very thick; further south in Cornwall millions of people groaned at the leaden-grey skies, and feared they would glimpse nothing of the eclipse. South Wales turned out to be one of the better locations in the UK and we were promised that 97% of the sun would vanish behind the moon.
9.30 a.m: hundreds started to gather along the beach. One man, who was over 90, and who had witnessed the last British Total Eclipse on 29th June 1927, was helped out of a car by his daughters and grandchildren. Aided by his loved ones and two stout walking-sticks, he ambled his way slowly to a prime position on the beach.
We were not expecting to experience the depth of darkness which would engulf the tip of Cornwall; but we knew from the mathematically precise calculations of astronomers that we would fall just outside the moon's shadow (its umbra), and that we'd experience 97% of 'Totality' (because we were in the moon's penumbra or semi-shadow). But that didn't dampen our spirits or our enthusiasm: we'd be just 3% away from the full eclipse and we couldn't believe our luck.
But the moment of 'first contact' was to be denied us because the cloud-cover held fast. However, the clouds did break - many times - and we saw an amazing sight that would not be repeated again in Great Britain until 2,090.
