Faeroe Islands get ready for total solar eclipse

People wait for the start of a total solar eclipse from a hill beside a hotel overlooking the sea and Torshavn, the capital city of the Faeroe Islands, Friday. AP

TORSHAVN, Faeroe Islands—Thousands of sky-gazers on the Faeroe Islands are hoping for the clouds to part so that they can get a clear view of a total  solar  eclipse.

The tiny island group in the North Atlantic and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard are the only places on land where the sun will be completely obscured by the moon during Friday’s eclipse.

Clouds are covering the sky over the capital, Torshavn, but with the sun occasionally breaking through, as the big moment nears.

More than 11,000 tourists, eclipse chasers and scientists with telescopes, cameras and glasses for safe direct  solar  viewing have invaded the Faeroes for the almost three-minute-long astronomical sensation.

The phenomenon will later be seen in Svalbard, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,270 miles) to the northeast.

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