GENEVA — Wintry skies darkened over Switzerland on Tuesday morning, but Romanians were treated to a pinkish ethereal light and Swedes to a beautiful sunrise as a partial solar eclipse that began over the Mideast extended across much of Europe.
In Switzerland, the pall of clouds and light snow seemed like dusk with lights twinkling in cities — time in reverse just as people streamed off trains and buses to arrive at work. The solar occurrence was at its height over Geneva, Bern and other Swiss cities in the midmorning, then the grayness at the lower altitudes began to brighten a bit.
As much as two-thirds of the sun slipped from view behind the moon, something that hasn’t occurred in Switzerland since August 1999. A more minor eclipse happened in August 2008.
Some Genevois asked via Twitter how they could see the eclipse as it snowed.
Federal health officials warned people, especially children, to wear special eye protection rather than use homemade gear to see the eclipse. The Swiss government itself tweeted: “An astronomical show, but watch the eyes!” For some, the weather lent that protection. “It was covered,” Delio Macchi of the Neuchatel observatory said of the effect in Swiss skies.
Clear skies over southern Romania offered a chance to glimpse a pale-pink, otherworldly glow that spread over Bucharest, the capital.
People climbed atop snow-coated buildings to get a better view, or donned sunglasses and huddled outside subway stations in Revolution Square. Some watched it televised live; Romanians won’t see their next eclipse until March 2015.
“This morning I saw a strange light,” said Andrei Carlescu, a 21-year-old architecture student who was fascinated by the way the light dipped.
