A wait for more than a century came down to barely a minute: the moon covered the sun over Spain, and a total solar eclipse returned to the mainland. Near sunset on Wednesday, crowds watched the sky darken almost to night before sunlight briefly returned, leaving one of Europe’s rarest celestial events over almost as soon as it had begun.

Spain, Iceland and Greenland will see totality as the sun, moon and Earth align near sunset; an even longer eclipse in 2027 will also be visible from Israel

Total solar eclipse to spellbind Europe | Travel

This will be mainland Europe's first total eclipse since 2006, and the first in mainland Spain since 1900.

Millions across Europe and North America were set to take in the dazzling sight