Eclipse ‘a Cosmic Light Show’
Thousands of Finns and tourists stayed up all night or rose early Sunday to watch a total eclipse of the sun that momentarily darkened the skies over southeastern Finland.
Birds suddenly stopped their singing and some flew around aimlessly in panic during the eclipse, which one observer in Helsinki described as “a cosmic light show, equally frightening and fascinating.”
The eclipse occurred at 4:52 a.m. It was visible in an arc about 125 miles wide from the northern Baltic Sea and southeast Finland across the Kola Peninsula and the northeast Soviet Union to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
In Helsinki, the light changed from a summer dawn to dark dusk, and the eerie scene remained for more than a minute. Several thousand people gathered on hills, bridges and rooftops around the city to watch.
At 5:45 a.m. the sun was completely uncovered, and many observers began to applaud.
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