Excitement as solar eclipse countdown begins

Thousands descend on Denmark's Faroe Islands and Norway's Svalbard archipelago to catch glimpse of solar eclipse.

 

The eclipse will be observed for less than three minutes of daytime darkness, a phenomenon that has fascinated mankind [AFP]

Die-hard eclipse junkies have descended on the Faroe Islands, a Danish autonomous territory, and Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago to catch a glimpse of a total solar eclipse, which is expected to offer spectacular views.

A partial eclipse of varying degrees should also be visible, weather permitting, across most of Europe, northern Africa, central Asia and the Middle East.
On Friday, the moon's shadow will alight on Earth's surface at 0741 GMT in the eastern central Atlantic, according to Britain's Nautical Almanac Office.
The eclipse will be observed for less than three minutes of daytime darkness, a phenomenon that has fascinated mankind since the beginning of time.
More than 8,000 visitors were expected in the Faroes, where the total eclipse was due to begin at 9:41am (0941 GMT), and some 1,500 to 2,000 were expected in Svalbard, where it should start at 11:11 am (1011 GMT).
"There are a lot of eclipse chasers from all over the place," Torstein Christiansen from the Faroese tourist office told the AFP news agency.
"The majority are from Europe but there are also countries which are not usually on our list, like Australia, New Zealand, the [United] States, Africa," he said.
Meanwhile, a group of 50 Danes have bought tickets aboard a Boeing 737 chartered by a science magazine to watch the event from the skies above the Faroe Islands.
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.

Freezing temperatures
In the Arctic archipelago, where everything is extreme, visitors must contend with temperatures as low as -20 Celsius at this time of year.
And then there is 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 real danger posed by the animals, which have killed five people since 1971 in Svalbard.
Total eclipses occur when the moon sneaks 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 will be partial, to varying degrees: the sun will 97 percent hidden in Reykjavik, 93 percent in Edinburgh, 84 percent in London and 78 percent in Paris.
In places like London and Paris, observers will not get much of a sense of darkness.
"It won't get very dark because even at 20 percent, the sun still brightens up (the sky) a lot," Patrick Rocher of the IMCCE astronomy institute in France told the news agency AFP.
"What will be different is that the light will come from a crescent-shaped sun," he said.
The next total solar eclipse visible from Europe is not due until August 12, 2026.