Partial solar eclipse seen over Estonia
A partial solar eclipse was observed across Estonia on Wednesday evening, with the moon covering more than 80 percent of the sun's disk at its peak in Tallinn. A similar spectacle will not return to the country for another century.
Skywatchers across Estonia witnessed a partial solar eclipse on Wednesday evening. In Tallinn, the phenomenon reached its high point at 8:53 p.m., when the moon obscured more than 80 percent of the sun's disk, leaving the sun looking like a thin crescent.
An eclipse happens when the moon, moving along its orbital path, passes directly between the Earth and the sun. Even though the moon's diameter is roughly 400 times smaller than the sun's, its relative closeness to Earth allows it to block out much of the star's light.
How it unfolded
In the capital, the event began at 8:02 p.m. and continued for one hour and 18 minutes, concluding at 9:19 p.m. as the sun set below the horizon. Since the eclipse's peak came just before sunset, the sun sat only a few degrees above the horizon, to the west and northwest, when the moon's coverage was greatest.
The last total solar eclipse visible in Estonia occurred on August 11, 1999, and the next one of that scale is not expected until 2126.
