Partial Solar Eclipse on the Clifton Downs – 29 Mar 2025
A group from the Society ran a very successful outreach event on Saturday 29th March 2025 on the Clifton Downs (opposite the Water Tower), to observe the partial solar eclipse (maximum of 33%).
We set up a variety of telescopes, including: Lunt solar telescope, Tele Vue telescope with a Herschel wedge, Coronado solar scope, SeeStar S50 telescopes, Vixen refractor telescope with solar filter, Zenithstar 61 refactor on a Star Adventurer mount, and a DSLR with telephoto lens and solar filter.
Allan McCarthy, the BAS Outreach Coordinator, conducted a risk assessment before the session started, to maximise the safety of the solar viewing session, and provided safety advice to all involved.
The solar observing of the partial eclipse attracted many visitors and we handed out 100 solar viewing glasses, which we had previously obtained from the Federation of Astronomical Societies.
We heard many ‘wows’ when people saw the eclipse for the first time and BAS members were able to answer lots of questions about the eclipse and the Sun.
Please see the attached photos of BAS volunteers and members of the public using the telescopes and the solar eclipse glasses.
Many thanks to all the BAS members who helped run the event: Allan McCarthy, David Bennett, Ben Commis, Darren Brown, John Henn, Stephen Price, Mel Rigby, Toby Lumber, John Huntley, Sean Williams, Mikail Fahad, and Douglas Russell.
Many BAS members took amazing photos of the eclipse and the sequence of the eclipse – please see the attached members photos.
