1 of 4 | A total solar eclipse is viewed while flying on board a special flight operated by Transavia, from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI |
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, March 20 (UPI) -- Millions across northern Africa and Europe got a view of Friday morning's total eclipse, though the best view was either above the clouds on the North Sea or from space.
The path of the total eclipse -- where the sun was completely blocked by the moon -- followed a route across the North Atlantic and into the Norwegian Sea. Residents in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Scandinavia saw an 80-95 percent eclipse, while others as far away as North Africa and into Russia saw a much smaller partial eclipse.
The Faroe Islands were in the path of the total eclipse, but clouds obscured the view.
A special flight from Amsterdam gave about 100 lucky contest winners a perfect view from above the clouds. A photographer for UPI was aboard the plane and sent back some amazing pictures.
A solar eclipse occurs when the orbit of the moon places it directly between the sun and Earth. On Friday, the moon's shadow darkened the skies over a relatively small area for approximately two to three minutes as it traced a northerly path across the North Atlantic between Iceland and the European continent toward the North Pole.
The view from space was pretty good, although the International Space Station saw only a partial eclipse. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti posted pictures of the event to Twitter.
The best picture came from a European Space Agency satellite that monitors the sun. The image shows the moon nearly fully eclipsing the sun. The image shows solar prominences along the edge, where shots from Earthbound cameras showed the sun's corona -- the plasma that surrounds the sun extending into space.
One stunning photo got a lot of attention on social media, but it was an obvious fake. The image was supposedly taken from aboard the International Space Station, but it shows the sun in total eclipse from the camera supposed angle from orbit, while the eclipse shadow is visible on the Earth below. The image was created by a digital artist who posted it to the deviantART site.
The next solar eclipse happens March 9, 2016, with the total eclipse visible over Indonesia and Borneo.
