A PARTIAL eclipse of the sun will be visible in Dorset next week.

On Thursday June 10, just after 10am, the moon will appear to clip the sun, steadily making inroads into the sun's disc. After mid eclipse, the moon will then slowly appear to move away until after 12.20pm, when the sun fully reappears.

A partial solar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and the moon align in an almost straight line.

Because the moon, sun and Earth don't align perfectly, the moon casts only the outer part of its shadow (known as the penumbra shadow) onto the Earth’s surface.

Given the size of the shadow cast by a body much smaller than our own Earth, the moon’s shadow falls on different places of the Earth at different times (as it spins).

Only certain parts of the world will get to see this partial eclipse, with the UK being one of them.

Eclipse timings: 

Start of eclipse - 10.03am; mid eclipse - 11.08am; eclipse ends - 12.19pm.

Finally, a word of caution. Please do not look directly at the partial solar eclipse using binoculars or a telescope, as the sun's intense brightness can cause permanent damage to the eye.

By far the safest method of viewing the eclipse is by undertaking the simple construction of a pinhole camera projector, which will allow you to project an image of the eclipse onto a piece of card. This website (www.timeanddate.com will enable people to make a pinhole projector.

Alternatively you can watch the event on YouTube - courtesy of Royal Observatory in Greenwich.