Millions of Sky-gazers in the UK and northern Europe were treated to a perfect view of a total solar eclipse Friday as the moon completely blocked out the sun in a clear sky, casting a shadow over Norway’s remote archipelago of Svalbard.
The skies were clear, offering a full view of the sun’s corona — a faint ring of rays surrounding the moon — that is only visible during a total solar eclipse. It was said to be best solar eclipse to be seen in years
A great swathe of the Earth’s surface was plunged into darkness as the Moon came between us and the Sun.
The deep shadow formed first in the North Atlantic and then swept up into the Arctic, ending at the North Pole.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon lines up between the sun and the Earth. This casts a lunar shadow on the Earth’s surface and obscures the sun. During a partial eclipse, only part of the sun is blotted out.
In Copenhagen, the sun was 85 per cent covered up while 80 per cent was hidden in southern Sweden. Cloudy weather put a lid across large parts of the continent, making it hard to see the eclipse. However, a thin cloud cover allowed people in Stockholm to watch the eclipse without protective glasses, as the faint disk of the sun could be seen through the overcast sky.
The last total eclipse was in November 2012 over Australia. The next one will be over Indonesia in March 2016, according to NASA.
