Clouds stay away at planetarium for watch party of 'amazing' solar eclipse

It was a once-in-a-generation celestial event and for the dozens of people, young and old, gathered at Northern Ireland's only planetarium, the lack of clouds gave them an "amazing" experience.

Armagh Planetarium was one of a number of venues to host a watch party for the largest solar eclipse visible from the island until September 2090.

More than 90% of the sun was obscured across Ireland during the early evening on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, many people in Belfast, and elsewhere in Northern Ireland, were unable to see much due to clouds but that wasn't the case in Armagh where people gathered on a hill near the planetarium.

Michael Bolster and his granddaughter Cara travelled from Londonderry to watch the eclipse in Armagh.

They both said it was "brilliant" as they shared their eclipse glasses.

"I loved it, it was my first time ever seeing something like this," Cara said.

Michael said it was "much, much better" than the last eclipse in 1999 and he joked that he "hopes he's around for the next one in 2090.

Sean and Marguerite Dunne from Antrim viewed the eclipse with the three young children.

"It was a good experience," Marguerite said.

"It was special to be able to experience it with the children, they loved it."

"We didn't get glasses in time so we thought we'd chance getting some here and we shared amongst ourselves," Sean said.

"I think they enjoyed the playing a bit more but they also wanted to see through the glasses."

Ben said it was "amazing and very cool".

"I want to be an astronaut, scientist or work in a space station."

Eamon said he liked seeing the eclipse because "it had my favourite colour in it which is yellow".

Michael and Emily both said it was "really cool when it went all dark".

Speaking to BBC News NI ahead of the event, Ed Ronayne and his daughter Genevieve from County Tipperary said they were "very excited" to see the eclipse from the observatory.

"It'll be really cool," Genevieve said.

"And just to say: 'I've been around for a solar eclipse.'"

Ed said he missed the last solar eclipse in 1999 due to travelling abroad, so he was "really looking forward" to seeing this one.

"And sure this little one wasn't even around so it's her first chance to see it," Ed said.

Sharon Walsh and her daughter Mia travelled up from Dublin for the event.

"We were looking for somewhere to the see the eclipse and just thought it'd be nice to mark such an event," Sharon said.

"There won't be another one until 2090 and I'll probably be dead by then," she joked.

"So it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

Mia said she was "really excited to see what it's like", because she had never seen one before.

Heather Alexander, a senior education officer at the Armagh Observatory, said it is "crazy to think that a lot of the people coming to see the eclipse weren't even alive back in 1999" - when the last solar eclipse occurred.

"I remember watching that on TV myself and getting solar filter glasses through the newspapers and everything," she said.

"It's so significant because we will not see another eclipse like this again on the island of Ireland until 2090 which is pretty insane," she continued.

"The excitement for this eclipse has been next level, I actually haven't seen anything like it before and I've worked here for eleven years.

"For lack of a better phrase it is astronomical."

In Belfast, a few hundred people gathered at Queen's University to watch the partial solar eclipse.

About 1,500 people had registered interest at the university.

There were clouds covering Belfast at the time but Aisling O'Hare, a PhD researcher in solar physics, said "hopefully the clouds give us a bit of break and people can even catch a glimpse of the partial eclipse".

And then, as if by magic - the sun peeked through the clouds.

The Martin family told BBC News NI: "This is a once in a lifetime event. We had to come down to see this. The children are very excited to see this event today. It's very cool".

Astronomers have warned people never to look directly at the sun during a partial eclipse.

Even when most of the star is covered, the visible section remains bright enough to cause damage to the eye.

Instead, viewers should use certified eclipse glasses for naked eye viewing, but not while looking through binoculars or a telescope.

Further information can be found here.

People could also watch safely by projecting an image of the sun onto a white card using a telescope, a cereal box pinhole viewer, or even a kitchen colander.

Astronomers also advise against pointing an unfiltered smartphone or digital camera directly at the sun because the intense light could damage the camera sensor.