ABOVE: See how passengers on one transatlantic flight took a surprising detour to witness a natural phenomenon
Passengers flying from Chicago to Munich were treated to a special sight on Friday when their Lufthansa flight took a detour near Iceland to witness the solar eclipse.
Passengers watched the moon eclipsing the sun through special safety glasses provided by the flight attendants.
They had the option to be woken up by the flight attendants if they were asleep during the event, which happened about six hours into the flight, according to Lufthansa airlines.
READ MORE: Amazing videos and photos of Friday’s solar eclipse
A solar eclipse happens when the moon lines up between the sun and the Earth. This casts a lunar shadow on the Earth’s surface and obscures the sun. During a partial eclipse, only part of the sun is blotted out.
Though some enterprising eclipse-seekers got exactly what they were hoping for, others were less lucky. A blanket of clouds in the Faeroe Islands in the North Atlantic blocked thousands of people from experiencing the full effect of the total eclipse.
The Faeroes and Svalbard were the only two places on land where the eclipse was total. About 20,000 visitors had travelled to the two remote island groups to watch the spectacle.
The last total eclipse was in November 2012 over Australia. The next one will be over Indonesia in March 2016, according to NASA.
Wow! An amazing eclipse photo from the space station. Except, it’s fake
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