Solar Eclipse, Supermoon and Spring Equinox: 3 Celestial Shows in One Day

When a solar eclipse darkened the skies over parts of Europe, Africa and Asia on Friday, two other celestial shows occurred – the appearance of an oversized moon dubbed "supermoon" and the spring equinox.

As with other solar eclipses, the path of totality was limited to the Faeroes and the Svalbard archipelago in the North Atlantic, which form part of Norway. A large area of the United Kingdom witnessed 95 percent of the eclipse.

In the Faroe Islands, the view was obscured by clouds. But sun gazers who traveled to the Svalbard archipelago were in luck as they got a clear view of the sun's corona which is only visible to the naked eye during a total eclipse. In the town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard, as the sun's shadow was cast on the surface of the earth the sky turned dark and people cheered.

Over 20,000 people had travelled to the two groups of islands and booked hotel rooms several years in advance to witness the eclipse which lasted for a period of just two minutes and 45 seconds. A group of 884 people who travelled together to the Faeroes were among those who did not get a clear view and they expressed their disappointment.

The total solar eclipse was not visible in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The next solar eclipse is expected to occur on March 8, 2016 over parts of Asia and Australia. On Aug. 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse will visit much of north America. Prior to Friday's solar eclipse, the previous celestial show occurred over Australia in 2012.

The eclipse and the supermoon brought problems to some European countries such as Germany and Italy.

France's North Atlantic coast experienced its first giant tide of the millennium on Saturday as the full moon and the solar eclipse combined to help create an ocean surge not seen there since 1997.

When the giant tide arrived on Mont Saint Michel island, the sea disappeared from sight, exposing areas visible only every 18 years, before coming back again. The next peak tide is not due until 2033.

Despite warnings from the authorities about the dangers of being caught in the giant tide, a 70 year-old man died after being swept away by the fast-moving water, the police said.

The eclipse also caused an unprecedented disruption of solar power in Europe, causing massive drops in supply. Germany, Europe's leading economy and the world's biggest solar-powered nation, was the country most badly affected by the solar power outage. The Germans were forced to draw on alternative power sources including coal, gas, biogas, nuclear and hydroelectric energy pumped from storage to make up for the drop in solar power.

Italy dealt with the problem by disconnecting 30 percent of its solar capacity.

The fact that the eclipse occurred on the vernal equinox was also considered significant. The last time such an event occurred was in 1662.

At 6:45 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 20, the sun appeared directly overhead at Earth's equator, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

The spring equinox is one of only two days of the year when all places on Earth, except the polar regions, see the sun rise at due east and set at due west along the horizon. With neither hemisphere tilted away from or toward the sun, all latitudes get approximately 12 hours of daylight and darkness.