CLOUD cover over Donegal could not overshadow people’s desire to capture the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse.
Many people who saw the phenomenon five days ago will not see the next solar eclipse in 64 years’ time.
Last Wednesday is the only time that it will happen in the 91 years between when it was last witnessed in 1999 and when it will occur again in 2090.
As the birds stopped singing in the trees around them, eagle-eyed readers of the Donegal News snapped some truly astronomical images.
Sky watchers were told that the eclipse was to be the best in the county for 27 years with photographers like Lifford’s Treasa Frazer, who founded Donegal Dark Sky, enjoying the generational experience.
Experts said it was the deepest partial solar eclipse in almost three decades.
All eyes looked up, from around 6.17pm to 7.12pm, as the moon passed directly between the earth and the sun for around 90 per cent obscurity.
Experts claimed there will not be another deep solar eclipse of the same scale over Ireland until September 23, 2090, when a total solar eclipse is calculated to be visible.
With the 64-year countdown underway, here are some photos of the 2026 eclipse:
Daly’s Donegal Facebook page showed this photo from Mall Quay in Ballyshannon.
Teresa O’Donnell Errea was home from Spain with her family in Rockhill, Letterkenny, when she and her daughter Lili took this snap of the eclipse.
Edel McElhinney, Lismonaghan, Letterkenny said: “The best we could get with the cloud.”
Shane O’Buachain posted this photo from Letterkenny on the Donegal News Facebook page.
Facebook page Co Donegal posted this photo from Carndonagh in Inishowen.
Our photographer Brian McDaid’s photo of the scene among the clouds above Letterkenny.
This image was sent to the Donegal News Facebook page by Łukasz Szymon Gdulski.
Lifford photographer Treasa Frazer’s Donegal Dark Sky posted this deep crescent phase eclipse photo that was taken in Antrim.
Facebook page Co Donegal shared an image of the eclipse from Tullan Strand in Bundoran.
Donegal photographer Noel Keating shared this smouldering image on his Facebook page.
Donegal photographer Noel Keating shared this eclipse image on his Facebook page.
David McDaid just captured this beautiful reflection through the trees in Glencar in Letterkenny.