Ireland experienced a partial eclipse of the sun this morning.
Viewers were able to see the eclipse, during which between 15 and 20 per cent of the sun was obscured, between 10:49am and 12:09pm.
Astronomy Ireland warned eclipse watchers to never look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. Even looking at it directly for a brief moment can cause permanent eye damage.
Thousands of Western visitors flooded into Libya to view the full solar eclipse. An area spanning 14,500 kilometres from Ghana to Mongolia will see the Moon completely cover the sun for several minutes. A group from Astronomy Ireland were in Turkey to view the phenomenon.
The longest view of the eclipse - four minutes and seven seconds - was visible at Libya's Wao Namus settlement near the Chadian border 2,000 kilometres south of Tripoli.
Libya issued visas to 7,000 tourists from 53 nationalities, as well as a number of scientists from the US National Aeronautics Space Administration who would help Libyan experts study the eclipse.
The last such eclipse, in November 2003, was best viewed from Antarctica. Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.
Meanwhile, UFO watchers of Ireland, you can put away your tinfoil hats and Star Trek suits - the bright light you will be able to see above us for the next ten days is not an alien invasion.
It is, in fact, the International Space Station.
The ISS, which, at a cost of €100 billion, is the most expensive object ever built, is carrying the only two human beings currently in space. The space station, will bring Nasa astronaut Bill McArthur and his Russian colleague Valery Tokarev back to Earth on April 8 th.
Until then, their spaceship will be seen as a bright white light in a different part of the sky every night for about a minute. Astronomy Ireland's website is carrying details of how best to view it.
The two crewmen will have the best possible view of today's total solar eclipse, being able to see the Moon's shadow racing across the face of the Earth. Nasa is running a live broadcast on its website.