Mist it?

THIS is the spectacular sight which greeted hundreds of stargazers who flocked to Scotland yesterday to catch a rare glimpse of an annular eclipse of the sun.

A dazzling "ring of fire" appeared on the horizon for the first time in more than 80 years.

Enthusiasts had to travel to the far north coast to catch a glimpse of the spectacular phenomenon. At about 4.45am, those who watched from the beach at Durness were rewarded with a thrilling glimpse of the once-in-a-lifetime event.

The ring of fire as the moon passed across the face of the sun was only partially obscured by clouds which blocked the view elswhere.

The rare phenomenon drew spectators from across the globe, including veteran stargazer Sir Patrick Moore and Queen guitarist Brian May, who is a qualified astronomer. Both watched the eclipse from Talmine, near Tongue in Caithness. But those who travelled the extra distance to Orkney were not so fortunate. Low and slow-moving cloud cover stopped them from seeing anything. Although Friday night was clear at Durness, the 30 or so people who pitched tents woke at 3am to find low cloud in the way.

There was no change 90 minutes later, but as people on the beach began to douse their campfires and leave the morning sun suddenly broke through the cloud, with the moon visible passing over it.

Although the full annulus - the ring of fire - was not clearly visible, the event was greeted by whoops of delight. David Willow, 49, who travelled from Essex with his wife Michelle, 53, said: "I'm glad we came to Durness in the end. We were undecided last night as to where was the best place to view it. We had been along the coast in Tongue, but we're glad we took the last-minute decision to race back here."

Spectators also watched at other locations along the north Scottish coast, including Dunnet Head, Duncansby Head and John O'Groats. The annular eclipse was also visible in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

This type of eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun but is too far away to totally obscure the sun. Yesterday the moon was more than 250,000 miles away - 31,000 miles further than its nearest orbit.

Annular eclipses are rare in Britain and anyone who missed the event yesterday will have to wait until 2093 for the next one.

A lesser eclipse occurred across much of Europe and parts of Asia, including the Indian subcontinent.

In some areas it happened before sunrise and was not visible.

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