A rare solar eclipse graced Northern Hemisphere skies early Thursday morning.

Stargazers in the eastern half of the North America and parts of Europe were able to see the annular solar eclipse, in which the moon's silhouette covered the middle of the sun, leaving a thin "ring of fire" around the outside.

Space.com reported that the full annular eclipse was mostly visible over Canada, Greenland, Siberia and a small portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Although not all viewers could witness the full effect, photos show angles of a partial solar eclipse that are nonetheless spectacular, as the eclipse aligned with sunrise in many locations.

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The next solar eclipse occurs on Dec. 4, but totality will only be visible from Antarctica and from the nearby ocean.

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: May's Total Lunar Eclipse

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