This week was amazing for sky watchers throughout the world. The “aurora borealis” came first, earlier this week and today we were fortunate enough to witness a total solar eclipse. The first day of spring is upon us and with it came the largest celestial event of this year.

Unfortunately for people in the U.S., the total solar eclipse was not visible from any part in the county. Only folks from some specific far away islands in Northern Europe as well as the residents of the Faroe Islands and of the Norwegian Svalbard got to see the event in all its splendor.

Americans were able to witness it via a live stream hosted by the “Slooth Community Observatory” that managed to send real time images from the beginning until the end of the event. For those of you that did not manage to catch the live stream, you can browse your way to live.slooth.com (here) and see a recording of it.

As mentioned by “Space.com”, a rather partial eclipse was visible across parts of Europe, the Northern part of Asia and Northern Africa. They said that depending on your location in Europe you were able to see from about 50% to almost 99% of the Sun’s diameter covered by the Moon.

The celestial event started at 4:30 AM Eastern Standard Time on Friday the 30st of March, 2015, and it lasted for about four hours. It was the only total solar eclipse this year and the first one since 2013.

What is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens when a sizable object, namely the Moon, obscures our view of the Sun. The Sun’s light does not reach Earth but instead is projected on the Moon’s surface causing a large shadow to be cast on some parts of our planet sinking them into darkness. Usually it gets so dark that if you were to look at the sky you would swear that it is dusk and not the middle of the day.

Some people believe that during a solar eclipse the whole world darkens but they are wrong and in truth only a few small regions of the world are affected and not even all at the same intensity or time. This is why not everybody got to experience this Friday’s event with their own eyes.

In order for this to be a perfect day for astronomers everywhere, two other significant astrological events occurred. The vernal (spring) equinox, that marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the celestial event known as the Supermoon.

The Supermoon

The Supermoon occurs when a “new moon” (“full moon”)  is at its closest to Earth on its elliptical orbit around our planet. This results in the lunar disk being at its largest size as viewed from Earth. The term “Supermoon” was given in 1979 by the American astrologist Richard Nolle and he defined it as: “…a new or full moon which occurs with the Moon at its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.

In short, Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line, with Moon in its nearest approach to Earth.”. Because of its size the Moon will completely block out our view of the sun causing a total solar eclipse.

The Vernal Equinox

It happens when our Sun passes exactly over the equator, causing the nights and days to be almost equal. It does not have any impacts on the solar eclipse or on the Supermoon. The term “Equinox”  comes from the Latin “aequus” that translates into “equal” and “nox” meaning “night”. It happens twice every year, first roughly on the 20th of March, and second around the 22 of September.

It was an amazing, and at the same time a rare coincidence that a total solar eclipse took place on the same day as the spring equinox. Scientists say that such an event will not happen again for another 18 years in 2034. After that, they estimate that a similar event will take place in the year 2055 followed by another one, 19 years later in 2072.

There will be another solar eclipse in 2015 but this time it will only be viewed by observers from Antarctica and South Africa. The event will take place on the 13th of September. Partial solar and lunar eclipses are not rare at all and they tend to occur about twice a year.

NASA reports that there will be yet another total solar eclipse two years from now in 2017 and this time the event will be visible in the US. Until then, Americans can witness two moon eclipses this year. The first one will take place on the 4th of April followed by another one on the 28th of September.

Today’s total solar eclipse was a spectacular event leaving millions of people across the globe amazed. If you didn’t get the chance to witness it live then jump over to sloth.com or any other web site that has a recording of it and watch it for yourselves. Trust me when I say that you will not regret it.