A CORK man with a passion for astronomy has told of his surreal experience as he witnessed last week’s total solar eclipse in Spain.
John Fehilly from Dripsey, who describes himself as an ‘eclipse chaser’, travelled Castelló de la Plana in Spain to witness the phenomenon.
He captured a striking image of the sun’s corona visible during the total eclipse, a rare solar occurance.
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John was keen to share his experience and the image he captured with The Southern Star.
He said: ‘The experience of the total eclipse was unforgettable, I would highly recommend experiencing it to everyone.’
John, who has a PhD in biology from UCD and now works in the pharmaceutical industry in Cork, revealed: ‘I’ve always been interested in anything to do with the sky.
‘I have very fond memories of my father showing me how to locate the North Star in the sky and bringing me in to my uncles to look at the moon through his telescope.
‘I distinctly remember having a book about solar eclipses as a child but I never thought I’d get the chance to see one. So I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.’
Describing his unforgettable experience on Wednesday August 12th he said: ‘There was a large crowd camped out at the beach ahead of the eclipse. There was a cloud threatening the view at one point, but as the eclipse progressed the sun moved below the cloud to the clapping of the crowd. As the moon further covered the sun the light got much dimmer and the birds were very confused.
‘At the moment of totality where the moon completely covered the sun, the crowd went crazy clapping and cheering. The scene did not seem real. It was a very eerie almost unsettling feeling to see the sun covered in the sky.
‘The big black circle of the moon combined with the ‘ring of fire’ formed by the sun’s corona was very ominous in the sky overhead. I completely understand why different cultures in history interpreted this as a bad omen.’
John said he would ‘highly recommend’ the experience to everyone, adding: ‘There will be a total solar eclipse over parts of southern Spain and North Africa next year.’
