What an evening on Calton Hill!

We thought we might get hundreds of people joining us to watch Edinburgh’s partial solar eclipse. Instead, thousands turned up!

Calton Hill was absolutely packed with people of all ages who had come together for one reason, to look up and watch something extraordinary happening in the sky above Edinburgh.

Of course, this being Scotland, the clouds decided they wanted to take part too. There were some agonising moments as the eclipsed Sun disappeared behind them, but thankfully the clouds opened up often enough for us to see the important stages, and every time the Sun appeared again, you could hear the reaction ripple through the crowd.

We came with 600 pairs of eclipse glasses to give away, more than we ever expected to need, but I think 6,000 might have been more useful!

One of the loveliest things was seeing people sharing eclipse glasses with complete strangers. People were talking, laughing, helping each other find the Sun and passing glasses around so that everyone could have a look. For a couple of hours, Calton Hill became one enormous Astronomical Society of Edinburgh astronomy club.

A special part of the day was some of our ASE members putting the historic 6-inch Cooke telescope in the McEwan dome to work, using it for solar projection. Bringing together our own history at Calton Hill, Edinburgh’s long astronomical heritage and the events of the day.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along, to our Astronomical Society of Edinburgh volunteers, and to everyone who helped make the event possible. Thanks especially to Collective Gallery for allowing us access and supporting us. Thanks also to Go Stargazing who provided the bulk order of glasses for us and many more organisations and events, in collaboration with Astronomers Without Borders and First Light Optics. Thanks also to DWARFLAB who provided us with a DWARF  Mini for the event. Lots of interest from the media too and we did quite a number of interviews on TV, radio and other formats.

Thousands of people stood together on a hill in the middle of Edinburgh and watched the Moon pass across the face of the Sun. Judging by the smiles afterwards, we’d call that a pretty successful evening.

Here’s to the next one visible from Edinburgh on 2 August 2027. This will be a morning event and only 27% coverage, but who’s counting!

Clear skies and keep looking up!
by Mark Phillips

Banner image: Andy Lawrence

STV report including President Neil Martin:

Watch the livestream again: