Cloudy skies have dashed attempts by skywatchers in Wiltshire to catch a glimpse of the partial eclipse of the sun. Today's phenomenon was experienced in differing degrees in much of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East in an annular eclipse.

The annular eclipse, as it is known, cast a dark shadow over much of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. An annular event is less spectacular than a total solar eclipse because the sky does not go completely black.

One of the best places to view the event was in the Spanish capital, Madrid, where thousands came out on to the streets. Many went to the city's planetarium to view the ring through special eclipse glasses. Further north and south of the darkest path, a partial eclipse was seen, with the Moon observed to take a large chunk out of the Sun.

As the New Moon passed between the Earth and the Sun it clipped the Sun's disc to create a Partial Solar Eclipse. First contact began at around 8.50am BST with the dark edge of the Moon taking its initial bite. The Mid Eclipse occurred at 10am when almost 60% of the Sun's disc was covered.
The Moon left the Sun at around 11.15am.

Many astronomical clubs had invited people to attend an eclipse watch across Great Britain, but our totally reliable weather put a big damper on the occasion. We have an image above for those who missed the eclipse, to see what it was all about. This has been the fourth annular eclipse of the 21st century. The next partial solar eclipse is on 29th March 2006. It will traverse equatorial West Africa, the Sahara, the western Mediterranean, Turkey and Russia.