Millions watch solar eclipse deliver celestial show

MILLIONS of people living in Europe, Africa and Asia watched as the moon passed across the face of the sun, causing an annular eclipse in which only a fiery solar rim can be seen.

The corridor in which this dramatic event could be seen was a narrow one, snaking from the North Atlantic, where it started at 0841 GMT, across the Iberian peninsula and then to northern and eastern Africa before petering out in the Indian Ocean at 1222 GMT.

Countries that lie on this path included Portugal and Spain as well as Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, northern Chad, central Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

The inhabitants of Madrid were among the first to see the spectacle during which the sun was obscured for four minutes, the Spanish capital lying in the centre of the strip from which the phenomenon could be seen in its fullest form.

Weather conditions were perfect with clear skies and local people crowded east-facing pavements and balconies to watch the eclipse.

Applause broke out as the moon moved across the sun, eventually covering 95% of it. The sky took on a grayish hue and the temperature fell but after a few minutes conditions were back to normal.

But the eclipse was not like that of 1999 when a total eclipse gave the impression that night was falling.

In the far northwestern province of Galicia, thousands of spectators gathered to watch an event that last occurred in 1764 and will not happen again until 2026.

Northern Portugal was the first to see the eclipse and hotel rooms in the city of Braganca were booked up.

Some spectators ignored warnings not to watch with the naked eye.

But not everyone in the path of the eclipse was able to see the celestial show.

In one area in the south of France education officials told schools to keep their children inside at break time so they did not damage their eyes by gazing at the sun without protection.

In Algeria the authorities went further, closing educational establishments to avoid children risking eye damage by staring at the sun as they went to school.

In Lodwar, a town on Kenya’s Lake Turkana, which saw the full force of the eclipse shortly after 2pm (1100 GMT), most activity came to a standstill as the curious stared at the sun.

In India, tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims jostled to take holy baths in the sacred River Ganges after performing special prayers for ancestors during the eclipse.