The tiny Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard turned out to be the only place on Earth where sky-gazers were treated to a perfect view of the total solar eclipse, as others across the northern hemisphere enjoyed partial views.
In Svalbard, high in the Arctic Ocean, the skies were clear as the sun moved perfectly behind the moon around 4:30 a.m. ET, leaving visible only a ring of the sun's rays.
Eclipse watchers who had stayed up to witness the event in Svalbard's main town of Longyearbyen cheered and applauded as the brightly lit day was suddenly plunged into darkness for about three minutes.
"All of the various things that you're supposed to see -- the shadow bands, the corona, both diamond rings, prominences -- it had everything. It had absolutely everything," said Richard Patching, a 63-year-old from Calgary told The Associated Press.
In the Faeroe Islands between Norway and Iceland -- the only other land area where a total eclipse was to be visible -- a blanket of clouds obscured the view, disappointing the thousands who had come to witness the event.
"It was a pretty big disappointment not to be able to see the sun," Janaki Lund Jensen of Copenhagen told the Associated Press. Like thousands of others, Jensen had travelled to the islands expressly to see the full eclipse.
Other parts of Europe were able to see a partial eclipse, but overcast skies made it hard to appreciate the full sight. In Stockholm, the thin cloud cover actually came in handy as it allowed sky-gazers to watch the partial eclipse without protective glasses.
Britain's weather service, the Met Office, said 95 per cent of the sun was covered in the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, while 94 cent was covered further south in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In Copenhagen, Denmark, the sun was 85 per cent covered, while 80 per cent was hidden in southern Sweden.
Total solar eclipses vary in frequency, but on average happen a couple times a year. But, they can only be observed from select pockets of the globe, and people can go decades, or even hundreds of years, before one is visible in their location.
The last total solar eclipse was in November 2013.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, and blocks the sun's light. A small shadow – roughly several hundred kilometres wide -- is cast upon the Earth, within which you can see a total eclipse.
"If you happen to be in that shadow, fantastic; you get to see a total solar eclipse," Michael Reid, an astronomy professor at the University of Toronto, said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca.
"If you’re anywhere outside that shadow – maybe on the edge of that shadow you see a partial solar eclipse – but most people see nothing," he added.
Observing a solar eclipse can be dangerous, and Reid warned that people shouldn't look directly at the sun unless they are using special glasses outfitted with protective filters.
"All of the other kinds of old wives tales you hear people talking about, like welders glasses or sunglass, none of those are good idea – you can actually do permanent damage to your eye if you look directly at the sun," Reid said.
Reid said that there are other safe options. He suggested creating a pinhole camera, which would allow the user to project an image of the sun onto another surface, like a piece of cardboard. Reid recommended poking a tiny hole in a household item – like tinfoil – to create the camera.
Supermoon and equinox coincide
For Canadians who are missing out on this Friday's celestial show, there are a couple of upcoming solar eclipses to look forward to.
Reid said Canadians can visit our neighbours to the south to see a total solar eclipse that will be observable in a "good chunk" of the U.S. in August 2017. He added that another one will be "easily visible" in southern Ontario in 2024.
Friday will also be marked by two other celestial events: a supermoon and the Spring Equinox.
A supermoon is a moon that appears bigger and brighter in the night sky. Because the moon's orbit around the Earth is oval in shape, it draws closer at certain points. A supermoon occurs when the full or new moon is at one of these closer points.
There have already been two supermoons this year, and there will be four more. Most of the time, there are between three and six supermoons a year.
The supermoon will not be visible on Friday, because it is a new moon.
The Spring Equinox will also happen on Friday. The equinox refers to the time of the year when sun shines directly on the equator, and the day and the night are of equal duration.
With reports from The Associated Press
