After mixed reactions to the solar eclipse earlier this month FLORA THOMPSON looks back at some slightly more successful shots of the event in 1999 captured by Argus photographers.

BLINK and you missed it – that was the anti-climactic reality for thousands eager to catch a glimpse of the solar eclipse in Sussex earlier this month.

Some had great luck in catching sight of the spectacle while others saw barely a glint behind the crowds. It still attracted thousands of people along the Brighton and Hove seafront and at beauty spots around the city, hoping to enjoy a better view than they did 15 years ago.

Stargazers on the coastline broke into a rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s hit Total Eclipse Of The Heart as the moon passed between the sun and the earth, blocking out sunlight. The seafront was awash with amateur astronomers armed with makeshift pinhole cameras.

The skies went dark in Hollingbury and birdsong faltered as the temperature dropped, but in Hove people claimed the atmosphere remained unchanged. Others in Seaford said they saw no difference at all and were unable to take a peek.

Many said that the total eclipse on August 11, 1999, was much better.

The event had an eclipse magnitude of 1.029. The path of the Moon's shadow began in the Atlantic Ocean and, before noon, was traversing the southern United Kingdom, northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and northern Yugoslavia.

Its maximum was at 11:03 UTC at 45.1°N 24.3°E in Romania and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, Iran, southern Pakistan and Srikakulam in India and ended in the Bay of Bengal.

It was the first total eclipse visible from Europe since 22 July 1990, and the first visible in the United Kingdom since 29 June 1927.

The 1999 display caused traffic chaos at the Ditchling Beacon as cars crammed along the road to park up and catch a glimpse.

The seafront was full of pinhole cameras and viewing devices, eclipse glasses, cameras and telescopes specially geared up for the viewing. And to add to the occasion it was a hot, sunny day and people took the opportunity to sunbathe in the run up to first contact and as the light slowly faded before totality.