( CNN ) What 's better than the sun on a March day in Europe , at the tail end of winter with spring on the doorstep ? No sun , apparently . That was the verdict of many around the continent , who found Friday morning 's solar eclipse picture perfect . Millions from around North Africa , the Middle East as well as Europe woke up with a chance to see the rare cosmic event . For some of them , it was a partial eclipse ; but others -- say if you were at the North Pole , or in Svalbard or the Faroe Islands between Iceland and Norway -- got the full deal . Such eclipses are basically as old as the galaxy itself , happening when the moon and sun are at just the right distance from the Earth and they appear to be of the same apparent size in the sky -- even though the sun is actually about 400 times larger . An eclipse happens when the moon passes right in front of the sun , blocking the sunlight and casting a shadow on the Earth . That means what used to be morning suddenly looks like nighttime again , until the sun and moon get out of each other 's way . Staring at the sun anytime can be a bit dangerous , even when it 's there , not there , then there again during an eclipse . That 's where the term `` eclipse blindness '' -- which is really retinal burns -- comes from . Luckily , a lot of those peering into the skies Friday came prepared . At least that was the case for famous Bayern Munich footballers Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina , who looked cool looking up in their 3-D movie-type glasses . Or a bunch of children at Stockport Grammar , a British school not far from Manchester . One of them looked more like a welder than a stargazer but did n't seem to mind , giving a thumbs-up to the view . Not everyone was similarly enthused ; not because they do n't love a good eclipse , but because they do n't like a bad one . CNN 's Nick Thompson in London , for instance , went out hoping for an out-of-this-world experience and instead saw little more than a bunch of clouds . He was n't alone , as many in Britain in particular did n't get the big show they 'd hoped for . Clouds be damned , some folks there used a sun costume , along with an Earth-and-moon prop , to put on a show of their own . If the sun wo n't come out for you , then you might as well be the sun , their reasoning went . Even in the United Kingdom , whether you were Glasgow University students cheering when a glimpse of the eclipse emerged from the clouds or a bird soaring the sky , there was a lot of enthusiasm for the eclipse . And there were even more cheers elsewhere , in Berlin , Beirut and beyond . Norwegians , especially , got some of the most spectacular perspectives . Eclipses are n't everyday events , and they 're getting less common . While there will be more full eclipses , they will get rarer and rarer as the moon moves away from the Earth at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters ( about 1.5 inches ) every year . That means there will come a time when the moon will appear to be too small to cover the sun . But do n't sweat it just yet : NASA calculates this will take about 563 million years , meaning there 's still time to catch another eclipse . Weather permitting , of course . CNN 's Dave Gilbert contributed to this report .
The moon blocks the sun , casts a shadow across parts of the Middle East , North Africa and Europe . The view of the resulting eclipse is particularly impressive in places like Norway . It 's also seen around the Middle East , though clouds obscure the views of many in England .