Yorkshire crowds gather for 'incredible' eclipse

Crowds have gathered across Yorkshire to view the most significant solar eclipse since 1999.

An eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth are in alignment. The Moon casts a shadow on the Earth as it passes between the two, completely or partially blocking out the Sun.

At Beetle Bank Farm in York, the York Astronomical Society had telescopes set up, while families made pinhole cameras and donned their solar glasses.

Brian Jones from the astronomical society said it was "lovely" to be among about 200 people sharing the rare event.

"The universe is there to be shared. I've been interested since I was about five, and it gets you," he said.

"You're made of star stuff - everything in your body comes from a star, so you're looking back at family history."

Rory, 11, said it was "incredible".

"It's really a once-in-a-generation experience," he said.

Brother Max said he felt it "had gone really cold".

"The Sun generates all the heat and the Moon is blocking out the Sun," he explained.

Their mum Tracey said she felt "really lucky" to see a second solar eclipse in her lifetime.

Ash, 18, said she was fascinated by astronomy.

"I like the fact you don't know what's out there. You don't really know how everything works, it's just really fascinating to me.

"I've never seen anything like it before, it's really exciting."

At Roundhay Park in Leeds, hundreds gathered and queued to get a look through a telescope set up by Leeds Astronomical Society.

Meera Daby and her family were using a colander because the glasses had sold out.

"It's the summer holidays. We have a lot of family staying over so we thought it would be a nice experience to come and watch the solar eclipse with our family," she said.

David Sellers from Leeds Astronomical Society said the group had organised the event for members and were "amazed" to find 2,000 people turn up.

"In the first half hour using this eclipse viewer I must have shown at least 100 people a partial eclipse," he said.

"It's a really nice thing to be able to show people such an amazing spectacle.

"It's an event that's gathered people here for a common purpose and you can feel that unity."

At Top of the World, a popular viewing spot above Gaisby Lane in Shipley, Mazzy Khan was watching the eclipse with her nine-year-old daughter Mehrun and husband Sej.

"We saw it in 1999 when we were young so it was something we wanted to share with Mehrun," said Mazzy.

David Armitage was watching alongside his dad, also called David, daughter Madison, six, and Carol - who passed her driving test on the day of the last solar eclipse in 1999.

He said it was an "historic" event.

"To get to see it with my wife, my child and my dad is amazing really.

Meanwhile, at the Ron Cooke Hub at the University of York, physicists gathered to view the eclipse through five telescopes set up to see the Sun safely.

"We have five telescopes set up, perfectly safe to look at the Sun, in the particular wavelength that we call H Alpha, so that blocks out a lot of the energy of the Sun so we can view it safely," explained Mark Laughton.

PhD student James Metcalf, 24, said the experts were tweaking the telescopes to follow the passage of the Sun.

"It's lovely to get involved with people in the community - it's all about introducing people to physics in a safe-ish environment," he said.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.