TORSHAVN, Faeroe Islands (AP) — A blanket of clouds in the Faeroe Islands kept thousands of sky-gazers from getting a clear view of a total solar eclipse Friday, but that did not stop the cheers.
Tourists and residents alike hooted and applauded as the daylight dimmed, plunging the Faeroese capital of Torshavn into darkness for about 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
“It was a pretty big disappointment not to be able to see the sun,” said Janaki Lund Jensen, who had sailed from Copenhagen with 884 others to see the eclipse. Hotel rooms have been booked for years as thousands came to the Faeroe Islands to try to see the eclipse.
People on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard had a better chance of seeing the spectacle, with clear skies there.
The Faeroe Islands and Svalbard are the only places on land where the sun will be completely obscured by the moon during Friday’s eclipse.
A partial solar eclipse can be seen across Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Britain’s Met Office says 95 percent of the sun will be covered in the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetland Islands, and one percent less in in further south in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In Copenhagen, the sun will be 85 percent covered up while 80 percent will be hidden in southern Sweden.
However, cloudy weather put a lid across large parts of the continent, making it hard to see the eclipse.
The last total eclipse was four years ago, and the next is set for August 12, 2026.
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Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.
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