Eclipse a bullseye

What a treasure of a photograph.

Astro-loving Michelle Treasure had the in-laws over for Boxing Day lunch at her Deepdale home — and bagged a ripper of a memory for them.

Between 1.30 and 2pm, Michelle got out her five-inch telescope topped with a solar lens and put a mobile phone down the eyepiece.

She ended with an eye-opening picture of a partial solar eclipse when the moon passed in front of the sun.

The eclipse happened in Geraldton between 1.14pm and 2.31pm and in Carnarvon between 12.50pm and 2.51pm.

About 3 per cent of the sun was blocked by the moon in Geraldton and about 10 per cent in Carnarvon.

“Yes, I was pretty happy with the result; it looked pretty cool,” Michelle said. “It doesn’t happen that often; the next one will be around 2023 or 2024.”

Parts of the Mid West and the Gascoyne saw the partial solar eclipse.

Well-respected Geraldton photographer Ken Lawson, who specialises in astrophotography, said viewers had to be “way, way up north” to see a full angular eclipse.

“Unfortunately, very little of Australia saw it,” Mr Lawson said.

Astro websites reported a band stretching from Saudi Arabia, through southern India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and out to the island of Guam would have best vision.