Photo gallery: Partial solar eclipse lights up ME skies

The region gets front row seats as the moon blocks out almost half the sun in the first of four solar eclipses for the year.

Solar Eclipse 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Solar Eclipse 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)

A partial solar eclipse began Tuesday in the skies over the Mideast and will extend across much of Europe.

In cloudy winter skies over Jerusalem, the sun appeared to have a large bite taken out of its upper right section.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon lines up between the sun and the Earth, casting a lunar shadow on the Earth's surface and obscuring the solar disk. During a partial solar eclipse, only part of the sun is blotted out.

Western Europe woke up to a sunrise eclipse. Astronomers expected the greatest eclipse over Sweden, where about 85 percent of the sun will be blocked.

A sunset eclipse will be visible from central Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northwest China.