# A solar eclipse swept across parts of Europe yesterday, with a rare total eclipse visible in Spain, Portugal, Iceland and Greenland. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, resulting in the moon casting a shadow on the Earth. A partial eclipse, in which only some of the sun’s light is blocked from view, passed over the northern US, Canada, much of Europe and northwestern Africa. This total eclipse was the first in mainland Europe in two decades.
Millions of sky-gazers in Europe experienced a rare total solar eclipse