A partial solar eclipse will darken the skies around Ireland this morning – with experts saying the sun will look like it's had “a bite taken out of it”.

The event begins shortly after 10am and will reach maximum eclipse just before 11am.

People in the east of the country look likely to get the best view, with around one-quarter of the sun blocked out by the moon at its peak.

The event will finish at around 11:40am.

A sparrow watching a rare partial solar eclipse. Jize Country, Hebei Province, China, June 21, 2020. (Photo by Jin Shuhuai / Costfoto/Sipa USA)

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Frances McCarthy, Head of Education and Outreach at MTU’s Blackrock Castle Observatory, explained how to safely watch it without damaging your eyes.

“This partial eclipse has a little bit of the moon covering up a little bit of the sun, so the sun will look like someone’s taken a bite out of it,” she said.

“Please do not stare straight at it. If there is a clear sky, do not stare at it. There are no pain receptors on your eyeballs, so you’ll stare at it thinking, this is great, doesn’t hurt me at all.

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt – but you can permanently damage your eyeballs.”

Natahan Doyle (14) puts on his Solar glasses at the Phoenix Park Dublin, 01-08-2008. Image: Leon Farrell/RollingNews

It is extremely dangerous to look directly at the sun - including during an eclipse - as you can seriously hurt your eyes or even go blind.

Ms McCarthy said the safest way to watch the eclipse is through a pinhole projector or a box projector – which you can learn how to build here.

You can also use ISO-compliant solar filter/solar eclipse glasses - although you must remember not to watch through a camera or through binoculars or telescopes even while wearing the glasses.

Collander projector

Ms McCarthy said you can use a colander as a projector if you don’t have time to make your own.

“I know we are going to get pictures of people holding a colander over their head and projecting multiple little eclipses on to the ground,” she said.

“Don’t try to peer through the colander, thinking it is blocking the sun. The idea is to project the image of the sun onto a surface – not your eyeballs.”

Eclipse

This morning’s eclipse is the largest in Ireland since almost half the sun was blocked out last summer.

That was the biggest event due here until March 2025 when even more of the sun will be obscured.

Ireland's last total solar eclipse was nearly 300 years ago and the next one is not due until September 2090.