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Where to watch Friday's solar eclipse

The best land-based location is the Faroe Islands. Next best: northern Europe. And of course, the Internet. 

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James Kevin Ty
A partial solar eclipse in 2010 as seen above Manila Bay in the Philippines.

Friday's solar eclipse will be the stuff of legends.

The first since Nov. 3, 2013, this total solar eclipse will be especially striking because three celestial events will coincide this Friday: a new moon, an equinox, and an eclipse. In other words, a new moon will totally cover the sun while the moon is currently at the point of its elliptical orbit closest to the Earth. It's a phenomenon astronomers call the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system but more commonly known as an eclipsing supermoon.

"By both scientific and cultural standards, this will be a legendary moon," as The Christian Science Monitor reported. 

So what's the best place to view the moon sliding in front of the sun? 

The minuscule Faroe Islands, a self-governing country off the northern coast of the UK, is the only place that will experience a total solar eclipse.

After that, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and Iceland will have the next best experience, according to reports, followed by the UK, France, and Germany. Parts of North Africa and Asia will be able to see a partial eclipse Friday morning.

Celestial sky-gazers in those parts of the world can find local eclipse times through Eclipsewise.com, which also has a map of eclipse times in the Atlantic, Africa and Asia.

NASA also has an interactive web page that allows users to click on their region and get a reading on whether or not they will experience the eclipse, when, and to what extent.

As always, would-be eclipse viewers should never look directly at the sun without special safety equipment, as serious eye damage could result. Sunglasses and "eclipse selfies" are not recommended; pinhole projectors or special eclipse glasses, are.

And after a polar bear injured a foreign tourist on an Arctic island off Norway on Thursday, some cities like Svalbard have also warned tourists of the risks of bears and of bone-chilling temperatures, expected to be around 0° Fahrenheit on Friday.

So what are eclipse enthusiasts in other parts of the world to do?

Fortunately, there is one place everyone can watch the eclipse: The Internet.

Websites such as Slooh.com, the website of the Slooh Community Observatory, and Space.com will be broadcasting the entire event live from the Faroe Islands, the aforementioned prime land-based viewing location. The early bird gets the eclipse: the live webcasts kick off off at 04.30 am ET.

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