Solar eclipse 2015: the best pictures from across Europe

• LIANNA BRINDED
•  

GettyA school class on Marienplatz uses special glasses to look into the sky at a partial solar eclipse on March 20, 2015 in Munich, Germany.

Britons gathered across the country to try and witness the largest solar eclipse since 1999.

While many complained across Facebook and Twitter about the rubbish weather ruining any chance of seeing the rare phenomenon, which occurred between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. GMT (4 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET) today, some people did manage to post some pretty awesome pictures.

So if you were one of the unlucky people that only saw a blanket of grey this morning, live vicariously through your social media and news agency counterparts.

The news photo agencies had some particularly spectacular shots. Here is one from above a mosque in Oxford.

REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

 

The eclipse forms in the sky through clouds near the cross of the Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker in Sofia.REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

The partial solar eclipse as seen from near Bridgwater, in southwestern England.REUTERS/Toby Melville

A bird sits on a branch in front of the partial solar eclipse in Bridgwater.REUTERS/Toby Melville

Another shot from Bridgwater.Getty

A dove is pictured in front of the sun in Munich, Germany.

Getty

People use special glasses to look into the sky in Munich, Germany.

Getty

Clouds pass across the sun over the Madeira Islands.

Getty

A woman watches the eclipse in Budapest.

REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

And from yesterday:

GettyMembers of the Galloway Forest Astronomical Society prepare their equipment ahead of tomorrows solar eclipse on March 19, 2015 in Newton Stewart, Scotland.

AND MORE:

• ESA/ROB
  ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite had a ringside seat to view the eclipse from orbit, using its SWAP imager to capture this image of the moon passing in front of the sun.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The moon crossing in front of the sun during the solar eclipse as seen from Berlin, Germany.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  A skywatcher uses special glasses to view a partial solar eclipse as people gather near the Sphinx at the Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The sun is seen during the solar eclipse in Marseille, southern France.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The moon blocks part of the sun during the solar eclipse as seen over a statue at one of the city landmarks, the General Staff Headquarters in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The solar eclipse is seen through a dark glass plate in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
• Rob Stothard/Getty Images
  Students from Saint Ursula's Covent Secondary School in Greenwich pose for a photograph wearing protective glasses at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The moon blocks part of the sun during the solar eclipse as seen over the city landmarks statue in St.Petersburg, Russia.
• ASSOCIATED PRESS/Kirsty Wigglesworth
  A skywatcher places solar glasses on a dog in preparation to view the eclipse in Regent's Park in London.
• Suleyman Elcin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
  A child lying on the grass uses sunglasses to catch a glimpse of the solar eclipse in Antalya southern province of Turkey.
• FRANCISCO LEONG/AFP/Getty Images
  Performers play instruments at sunrise near a prehistoric stone shrine aligned to the Spring Equinox in Chas, northeast Portugal during the eclipse.
• AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic
  People use exposed X-ray films to observe the eclipse in Belgrade, Serbia.
• JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images
  The eclipse visible over a statue located at the rooftop of Austrian Art History Museum in Vienna.
• AP Photo/ Sergei Grits
  The solar eclipse is reflected onto a white piece of cardboard during a viewing party in Minsk, Belarus.
• AP Photo/Frank Augstein
  A young boy wearing his father's welding mask to watch the solar eclipse in Duisburg, Germany.
• AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
  The moon blocks part of the sun during the solar eclipse seen in Barcelona, Spain.
• AP Photo/Matt Dunham
  The moon passes between the sun and the Earth after the totality phase of a total solar eclipse as seen from a hill beside a hotel near Torshavn, the capital of the Faeroe Islands.
• AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
  An Israeli man looks up at the sun wearing protective glasses to watch the eclipse in the town of Givatayim, near Tel Aviv, Israel.
• FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images
  The eclipse over Strasbourg, eastern France.
• Evren Atalay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
  A man wearing glasses to view the eclipse.
• MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP/Getty Images
  The eclipse in Vigo, northwestern Spain.
• KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
  The solar eclipse above the Kremlin in Moscow.