Stunning (and spooky) photos of the final solar eclipse of 2022

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On Tuesday, Oct. 25, half the world saw the moon's shadow creep over the surface of the sun in the year's last partial solar eclipse.

Birds sit on a branch in from of a partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25, 2022
Birds sit on a branch in from of a partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25, 2022 (Image credit: (Photo by ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images))

On Tuesday (Oct. 25), the moon's shadow appeared to creep over the face of the sun during the last solar eclipse of 2022.

Though the eclipse was just partial, with most viewers seeing between 40% and 60% of the sun's surface obscured by the moon at the eclipse's peak, the event nonetheless drew out sky-watchers with cameras, telescopes and paper eclipse viewers around the world. The eclipse was visible from most of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the western parts of Asia, beginning in the U.K. around 10 a.m. BST (9:00 a.m. UTC).

While this was the last chance to catch the moon obscuring the sun for the rest of 2022, the rest of the world will have a chance to view a total lunar eclipse just a few weeks from now. On Nov. 8, the lunar eclipse will be visible from North America, parts of South America, Central and Eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

In the meantime, enjoy these stunning — and spooky — photos of October's ultimate solar spectacle.

(Image credit: (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images))

Spied through some trees in Hyderabad, India, the moon's shadow sneaks over the sun during the last partial eclipse of the year on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.

(Image credit: (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))

The moon appears to take a Pac-Man-size bite out of the sun during the partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25, 2022. This photo was snapped in Jerusalem, Israel.

(Image credit: (Photo by Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))

Dust drifts through the air in Cairo, Egypt, as the year's last solar eclipse unfolds on Oct. 25, 2022.

(Image credit: (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))

Viewers in Russia saw up to 86% of the sun eclipsed by the moon on Oct. 25, 2022. Here, in Moscow, a star ornament atop a building sneaks into frame as the shadow of the moon appears to fall over the sun.

(Image credit: (Photo by Evrim Aydin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))

A bird in Ankara, Turkey photobombs the year's last solar eclipse on Oct. 25, 2022.

(Image credit: (Photo by Evrim Aydin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))

Photographer Evrim Aydin also captured the ghostly silhouette of this crescent moon ornament atop a mosque in Ankara, Turkey, with the eclipsing sun in the background on Oct. 25, 2022.

(Image credit: (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images))

The moon obscured a particularly large chunk of the sun for viewers in Erbil (also spelled Arbīl or Irbīl), the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on Oct. 25, 2022.

(Image credit: (Photo by Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

This composite photo shows several views of the partial solar eclipse as seen over L'Aquila, Italy on Oct. 25, 2022.

Brandon Specktor
Brandon Specktor
Editor

Brandon is the space/physics editor at Live Science. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in journalism and media arts. He enjoys writing most about space, geoscience and the mysteries of the universe.