The moon darkened the daytime sky as it swept across North America in a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, thrilling tens of millions of skywatchers with their eyes glued to the sky.
All of North America and Central America experienced a partial solar eclipse, but only those in the path of totality—about 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide and 10,000 miles long (16,000 kilometers) route – saw the moon completely hiding the sun.
Relating to: Total solar eclipse 2024: Pictures from the internet
The path of totality crossed four states in Mexico (Sinaloa, Nayarit, Durango, and Coahuila) and then 15 US states (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) and seven Canadian Provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland).
About 31.6 million people in the United States alone live in the path of totality, NASA officials said.
“It was extremely surreal, I wasn’t expecting this,” said Diamond Cromwell, an 18-year-old freshman studying business at Potsdam State University of New York in Potsdam, New York, who canceled classes so students and the public could watch. eclipse at a festival. “It definitely exceeded my expectations.”
Cromwell nearly missed the 3 minutes and 14 seconds that began at 3:24 PM EDT, when the moon blocked the sun over Potsdam, leaving a solar corona ring shining through a thin layer of clouds. “What’s mine [eclipse] wearing glasses, I didn’t know you could actually take them off during the full.” Another spectator forced him to take off his glasses and he was able to take in the view. “It was good, really good.”
What causes a total solar eclipse?
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A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon appears the same size or slightly larger than the Sun in the sky, completely covering the solar disk, providing observers with a view of the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The apparent size of the Moon in the sky and whether it can completely cover the solar disk during an eclipse depends on the Moon’s distance from Earth. The Moon has a slightly elliptical orbit around the Earth, so each month it is farthest (apogee) and closest (perigee) to the Earth at two points, making the moon appear slightly smaller and slightly larger than average in the sky.
The totality path made landfall in Mazatlan, Mexico, around 9:51 a.m. local time (12:51 EDT, 16:51 GMT). At 10:21 a.m. local time (1:21 p.m. EDT/5:21 p.m. GMT), this region became the first to experience totality. It took approximately 3 hours and 16 minutes for the Moon’s shadow to pass. Soil Before setting off at sunset in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores.
There was a wonderful atmosphere and camaraderie among eclipse watchers on the way to totality in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where TechRadar staffer and Space.com writer John Loeffler was stationed to watch the eclipse.
“I liken it to a tailgate atmosphere,” Paul Ruff, who traveled to Poplar Bluff from Iowa City, IA, told Loeffler. “The people are very nice, they share their equipment, they show you what they see.”
Not all of the millions of people who traveled to the path of totality to see this event were rewarded with a clear view of the total solar eclipse. This is a natural phenomenon and nature does not always play ball.
Space.com’s Daisy Dobrijevic traveled from England to Rochester, New York, and saw the moon begin to obscure the sun around 2:15 PM EDT (18:15 GMT). The event was somewhat muted due to uncooperative cloud coverage.
Dobrijevic noted that viewers could see fascinating eclipse effects even though it was cloudy, as the darkening of the moon caused the clouds to change color. When the eclipse began, the cloud cover did not silence the crowd.
“A cheer went up as people saw the total solar eclipse from Rochester for the first time and the moon began to take a bite out of the sun!” Dobrijevic said:
When is the next total solar eclipse?
Eclipse hunters won’t have to wait too long until the next solar eclipse, which will be visible from Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean and Spain on August 12, 2026. At the largest eclipse point near Iceland, the total eclipse will last 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
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As for North America, the next total solar eclipse will occur on March 30, 2033 and will be visible in Alaska. After this, the US states of Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and some parts of Canada will experience a total solar eclipse on August 23, 2044.
Almost exactly one year later, on August 12, 2045, the total solar eclipse will be visible in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia. and Florida, as well as the Caribbean and South America.
Editor’s Note: Space.com senior writer Rob Lea and writer Alex Cox contributed to this story from London; UK Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik contributed to this story from Potsdam, New York. Space.com writer John Loeffler contributed to this story from Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Submit your story photos! If you take a photo of the total solar eclipse on April 8 or any of these strange effects and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo, video, comment, and your name, location, and content usage permission to Space.com. spacephotos@space.com.