A solar eclipse swept across Europe, with the Moon obscuring more than 90 per cent of the Sun for most viewers in the UK, while areas in Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain experienced a total solar eclipse, briefly plunging those locations into darkness, according to reports.
Solar eclipse sweeps across Europe, bringing totality to parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain
A solar eclipse swept across Europe, with the Moon obscuring more than 90 per cent of the Sun for most viewers in the UK, while areas in Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain experienced a total solar eclipse, briefly plunging those locations into darkness, according to reports.
The eclipse's path of totality began at the northern tip of Siberia before crossing the Arctic Ocean and reaching Iceland in the early evening, then moving south toward the UK, where the partial eclipse began at around 6:00 pm local time in northern Scotland and shortly before 6:20 pm along England's south coast.
The partial eclipse peaked in the UK shortly after 7:00 pm local time. Clear skies over much of central and southern England and Wales allowed unobstructed views of the Moon passing across the Sun for approximately one hour, while cloudier conditions in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland limited visibility in those areas.
Spain deployed a large police contingent and established designated viewing areas in rural locations ahead of the event. Authorities expected up to six million visitors to travel to mostly rural areas along the eclipse's path across northern Spain and the Balearic Islands.
Solar eclipse glasses sold out at opticians, hardware shops and bakeries in the UK ahead of the event. Some observers improvised viewing methods using colanders, cereal boxes and sheets of paper.
A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth approximately every 18 months, but any given location experiences one far less frequently, typically only once every 400 years. Such an event is possible because the Sun is roughly 400 times farther from Earth than the Moon, while the Moon's diameter is approximately 400 times smaller than the Sun's, causing the two to appear nearly the same size in the sky.
- No specific date is given for the eclipse event.
- No named witnesses, scientists, or officials are quoted.
- No information is provided on whether any injuries or incidents occurred during viewing events.
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Read the original at The Times of India