European Association for Astronomy Education

Source: ESA

The annular solar eclipse on 15 January 2010 was observed by the Sun-imaging SWAP (Sun Watcher using APS detectors and imaging processing) instrument on ESA’s Proba-2.

The solar Eclipse on January 15th seen by the sattelite Proba-2. Credits: ESA/ROB

This is the same solar eclipse observed on the ground from Africa and Asia, the longest eclipse of the new millennium. It is termed ‘annular’ because the Moon is further away from the Earth than during a total eclipse, so only part of the Sun is covered. (read more)

Source: Wikipedia

On January 15th there was an annular eclipse, but it wasn’t visible from the majority of the European territories.

Cropped image of full annular solar eclipse as seen in Bangui, Central African Republic at 05:19:04 GMT (6:19 a.m. local time). The bottom ‘noise’ are clouds. Source: Wikimedia; Author: Tino Kreutzer.

The eclipse was visible as only partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as annular eclipse within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka and parts of Bangladesh, Burma and China.

This was the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium, with a maximum length of 11 mins and 7.8 seconds.

The next eclipse that will be longer than this one will occur on December 23rd, 3043. (read more)

Source: Wikipedia

A partial lunar eclipse was visible on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2009. It was the last and largest of four minor lunar eclipses in 2009.

The eclipse was only seen in southern latitudes and therefore not seen in Europe. (read more)