A keen amateur astronomer said he was "chuffed" with his photograph of a partial eclipse last week on June 10.

Mike Waiter, who lives on the boundary of Hackney and Islington, sent the picture to a "proper astronomer" friend who did not manage to capture it due to 100 per cent cloud cover.

Mike told the Gazette: "It's not that easy to do. The solar stuff is by far the most difficult because [ordinary telescopes] are not really set up for that and you have got to be very careful as you can blind yourself without suitable solar filters between the Sun and your eyes.”

Mike says he has always had an interest in telescopes but did not get one until a few years ago. The Newington Green man, now in his late 50s, explained how he captured the eclipse safely.

He said: "I have got a solar filter that attaches securely to the front of the telescope. This filter rejects approximately 99 per cent of the incoming sunlight.

"There were no gaps in the clouds until 12pm when I suddenly saw some appearing.

"I got the telescope, securely attached the Solar Filter to the front, lined it up using its shadow and thought: 'That's it'.

"Then I got another gap, looked through it and I just took a photograph with my iPhone."

Mike continued: "It's not astronomical grade photography but it’s got very clear lines and shows exactly the shape, basically there's a bite out of the Sun."

He says a partial eclipse is difficult to see without suitable optical equipment adding: "You can take nice photographs through a telescope with an iPhone if you know what you are doing. It is easier and safer to photograph the Moon because, obviously, you are working in the dark.

"When you are doing it in the daylight you get lots of reflections, you have the sun shining directly on you and it’s very difficult to shield out unless you’re using a professional camera."