The rare event saw the sun and moon move exactly in line with the Earth. The partial solar eclipse, took place between 10.10am and 12.20pm today, though experts said the best time to see it would have been around 11.14am. Heavy cloud cover across much of Essex meant few were able to catch a glimpse of the event. Photo by Laura Barker But camera club members Laura Barker and Martin Curtis were able to snap shots of the partial eclipse. Martin Curtis took this shot of the partial eclipse Parts of the US, Canada, Europe and Asia will see an annular eclipse – which occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line with the Earth, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun.