STARGAZERS were treated to yet another cosmic display above Dorset as a partial eclipse swept across the county.

While a total solar eclipse brought America to a standstill on Monday evening, the spectacle was still partially visible in parts of the UK including in Dorset.

It was the most observed and photographed eclipse in history, with many Americans staking out prime viewing spots and settling onto blankets and garden chairs to watch.

Totality, when the sun is completely obscured by the moon, lasted for around two minutes in each location along the narrow corridor stretching across the US heartland to Charleston, South Carolina.

Dorset’s keen photographers were out in force to catch the event through their lenses.

Amateur photographer Rachael Tabone, 25, managed to capture a great shot from her garden in Dorchester. She said: “I used my brother’s telescope with an adaptor which attaches to the camera and takes a picture of whatever can be seen through the telescope.

"We wouldn’t have been able to get the picture without the telescope as it was so low in the sky and we couldn’t see it above the houses.”

The Earth, moon and sun line up perfectly every one to three years, briefly turning day into night for a sliver of the planet, although this is usually in vast unpopulated areas of the Pacific or the Earth’s Poles.

The south west was among one of the best spots in the country to catch the eclipse along with Wales and Shetland.

The partial eclipse started shortly after 7.40pm in the UK and reached its maximum at about 8.05pm. The next partial eclipse across Britain won’t happen until June 2021 and a total eclipse visible in the UK won’t happen until September, 2090.