Solar eclipse leaves all of Europe in awe

A SOLAR eclipse has left Europe in awe. Everyone from Dutch royals to pets took part in viewing the spectacle overnight.

If you didn’t have glasses, a protective slide helped you to watch it.

A SOLAR eclipse briefly darkened the sky over northern Europe on Friday, and millions used sun viewers ranging from a welder’s mask to a dental X-ray to watch the cosmic phenomenon.

While the best spot to view the rare total eclipse was in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, possibly the worst was in murky and damp London. But that didn’t stop schoolchildren wearing protective glasses from looking up at the thick cloud cover over the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park.

And a dog owner even put shielding eyewear on his pooch in London’s Regent’s Park.

Spectators were creative in trying to get a glimpse of the eclipse. The welder’s mask was held up to the sky by a woman in Ukraine, while a man in Kosovo used a dental X-ray to better observe the wonder. Others used makeshift pinhole projectors, while one viewer used a dark glass plate in Bosnia’s capital.

The Dutch royals got in the mood, with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima watching the eclipse at the Fish Market in Hamburg, Germany. The queen, dressed from head to toe in red, smiled as her husband pointed up to the sky in delight.

While it wasn’t viewable here in Australia, thanks to social media, you can see what we missed.

Hot off the press from orbit: Europe’s #solareclipse seen by Proba-2 https://t.co/Gv5MviBn0a pic.twitter.com/5v02uKwEL0

— ESA Science (@esascience) March 20, 2015

We're in the shadow of the Moon! #TSE2015 #solareclipse #eclipse2015 http://t.co/WumGn4d9QR pic.twitter.com/H5hE7ySSWB

— Geoff Sims (@beyond_beneath) March 20, 2015

People watch in darkness during the totality of a solar eclipse on as seen from a hill beside a hotel on the edge of the city overlooking Torshavn, the capital city of the Faeroe Islands, Friday, March 20, 2015. For months, even years, accommodation on the remote Faeroe Islands has been booked out by fans who don't want to miss an almost three-minute-long astronomical sensation. Now they just have to hope the clouds will blow away so they can fully experience Friday's brief total solar eclipse. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A total solar eclipse is visible through the clouds as seen from Vagar on the Faeroe Islands, Friday, March 20, 2015. Apart from a few small breaks, a blanket of clouds in the Faeroe Islands blocked thousands of people there from experiencing the full effect of the total eclipse. (AP Photo/Eric Adams)

A dog is given protective glasses by its owner prior to the solar eclipse in Regent's Park in London, Friday, March 20, 2015. Unfortunately due to heavy cloud cover, the eclipse was not visible in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The moon starts to block the sun during a solar eclipse seen through clouds, in Skopje, Macedonia, Friday, March 20, 2015. An eclipse, a rare solar event, is darkening parts of Europe on Friday in the last total solar eclipse in Europe for over a decade (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

A man uses a protective slide to watch as the moon passes infront of the Earth's star marking a total eclipse, the only one this year, in Vigo, northwestern Spain on March 20, 2015. The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, located 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the North Pole, is along with the Faroe Islands the only place the total eclipse will be visible, assuring three minutes of total darkness when the moon totally blocks the sun. AFP PHOTO/ MIGUEL RIOPA