All eyes were turned to the heavens early on Friday for a solar eclipse offering spectacular views from selected airplane seats, European countries with clear skies and a remote Arctic archipelago.
Die-hard eclipse junkies flew in from around the world to the Faroe Islands and Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago to observe the less than three minutes of daytime darkness.
People cheered and clapped as the moon blocked the sun for about 2.5 minutes in Svalbard, where tourists had been warned of polar bears after an attack on Thursday and risks of frostbite. They were later treated to the famous diamond ring as the sun came out of the moon's shadow.
"I've seen aurora, I've seen some volcano eruptions, but the total eclipse is still the most spectacular thing I've ever seen. And each one is unique," said Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist in Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands further south, where clouds masked the sky.
In the Swedish capital Stockholm a crescent-shaped sun shone through overcast skies as temperatures dropped, prompting people in the city's business district to stop and take pictures with their smartphones.
As with previous eclipses experts warned the public not to look directly at the sun due to the danger of eye damage.
Around 500 people gathered in London's Regent's Park under an overcast sky, hopeful of a glimpse of the partial eclipse as it moved across European skies before heading northwards via North Africa and the Middle East.
A police officer handed out special eclipse viewer glasses.
Eight-year-old Rufus Aagaard had brought along a home-made viewer, fashioned out of a cardboard tube.
"It's made of cardboard, paper, Sellotape and tin foil, and a pinprick on the end," he told AFP.
More than 8,000 visitors gathered in the Faroes, where the total eclipse began at 9:41 am (0941 GMT), and some 1,500 to 2,000 were expected in Svalbard, where it started at 11:11 am (1011 GMT).
A group of 50 Danes bought tickets aboard a Boeing 737 chartered by a science magazine to watch the event from the skies above the Faroe Islands.
The Threat of Polar Bears
In Svalbard, which is just emerging from four months of winter darkness, hotels have been fully-booked for years ahead of the event, the 10th solar eclipse of the 21st century.
In the Arctic archipelago, where everything is extreme, visitors must contend with temperatures as low as -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at this time of year.
And then there's the threat of roaming polar bears.
A Czech tourist who was lightly injured in a polar bear attack on Thursday served as a reminder of the danger posed by the animals, which have killed five people since 1971 in Svalbard.
Total eclipses occur when the moon moves between Earth and the Sun, and the three bodies align precisely.
The moon as seen from Earth is just broad enough to cover the solar face, creating a breath-taking silver halo in an indigo sky pocked by daytime stars.
Elsewhere, the eclipse was partial, to varying degrees: the sun was 97 percent hidden in Reykjavik, 93 percent in Edinburgh, 84 percent in London and 78 percent in Paris.
The next total solar eclipse visible from Europe is not due until August 12, 2026.
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