Pictures: Kilkenny comes alive to watch as the cosmic ballet goes on

The birds fell silent and much of Kilkenny came to a standstill on Wednesday evening, as the skies darkened for a rare celestial phenomenon that captured people’s imaginations and brought them together.

Strangers mingled, joined in the spirit of community and a feeling of transendence - a sense we are part of something far bigger, not the centre of the universe, mere bit-players in the cosmic ballet. It unfolded with the visible rotation of heavenly bodies in the western sky just after 6.30pm.

Some gathered on rooftops and in public parks to watch as the moon moved into place, casting a shadow as it covered almost all of the sun.

Special-lens glasses were very much in demand, with tourists trying multiple local shops to get their hands on a pair. Others had devised ingenious workarounds, involving colanders, or holes cut in cereal boxes and other homemade devices to witness proceedings. Where the special glasses were present, they were shared and received gratefully among groups of skywatchers.

More avid astronomers fled to peaks around the South-East, where they would be guaranteed an unobstructed view. At Mount Leinster, the carpark was full by 6pm, and cars began to line the ditch.

Observers enjoyed a clear sky for the entirety of the phenomenon. Families, friends and strangers shared around eclipse glasses, welding helmets, colanders and cereal boxes to experience the spectacle, and the landscape grew noticeably colder and darker as the eclipse reached 95% coverage.