Crier Astronomy - Eclipses
October is a good month for interesting celestial events; a partial eclipse of
the sun on 3rd Oct. But whether any Swaffham Prior residents got the benefit is
a bit doubtful. For the first three hours of the day, the time when the eclipse
was occurring, our northern and eastern skies were under uniform grey cloud.
The partial eclipse of the moon on 17th October lasted longer. The moon would
then be at full; the partial eclipse will have shown, as the lower edge of the
moon's disc would look blurred and raggy, where the earth's shadow
encroached onto it. It was the sight of the earth's shadow, at all lunar
eclipses, that finally convinced people that the earth is spherical.