by The moon turned the skies of the day dark as it swept across North America in a total solar eclipse on Monday (April 8), to the delight of thousands of sky watchers who had their eyes glued to the skies.
There was a partial solar eclipse in North America and Central America, but only those located within the path of totality – about 115 miles (185-kilometers) wide and 10,000 miles long (16,000 kilometers) way – the dim moon saw the sun completely.
Related: Total solar eclipse 2024: Pictures from around the web
The path of totality crossed four states in Mexico (Sinaloa, Nayarit, Durango and Coahuila) before sweeping over 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 live in the entire U.S. orbit alone, NASA officials said.
“It was really unreal, I didn’t expect that,” Diamond Cromwell, an 18-year-old freshman studying business at State University of New York Potsdam in Potsdam, New York, who canceled classes so that students and the public could view them. the eclipse in a festival. “He definitely blew my expectations out of the park.”
Cromwell missed almost all of the 3 minutes and 14 seconds that began at 3:24 pm EDT when the moon blocked the sun over Potsdam, leaving a ring of the sun’s corona shining through a thin layer of clouds. “I had mine [eclipse] glasses on, I didn’t know you could take your glasses off during a whole.” Other spectators urged him to take them off and he was able to see the scene. “It was good, very good.”
What causes a total solar eclipse?
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A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon appears the same size in the sky as the sun, or slightly larger, so it completely covers the sun’s disk, giving observers a view of the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona.
The moon’s apparent size in the sky – and whether it can completely cover the sun’s disk during an eclipse – depends on the moon’s distance from Earth. The moon has a slightly elliptical orbit around the Earth, so at two points each month, it is farthest (apogee) and closest (perigee) to Earth, making the moon slightly smaller and slightly larger than the average in our sky.
The path of totality made landfall in Mazatlan, Mexico, around 9:51 local time (12:51 pm EDT, 16:51 GMT). At 10:21 local time (13:21 EDT/17:21 GMT) this region was the first to experience totality. It took about 3 hours and 16 minutes for the moon’s shadow to cross World before disappearing into the sunset in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores.
In the run-up to totality in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where TechRadar staff and Space.com contributor John Loeffler were stationed awaiting the eclipse, there was a great atmosphere and camaraderie among eclipse watchers.
“I liken this to a gateway atmosphere,” said Paul Ruff, who traveled from Iowa City, IA to Poplar Bluff, Loeffler told. “People are very nice, sharing their equipment, showing you what they can see.”
All the millions of people who traveled to the path of totality to witness this event, an unmistakable sight of the total solar eclipse, were not rewarded. This is a natural occurrence, and nature doesn’t always play ball.
Space.com’s Daisy Dobrijevic traveled to Rochester, New York, from the UK to see the moon begin to cover the sun at about 14:15 EDT (18:15 GMT). The event was somewhat muted by uncooperative cloud cover.
Dobrijevic noted that even with the clouds, viewers saw some spectacular eclipse effects as the cloudiness of the moon changed the clouds. The cloud cover didn’t dampen the crowd as the eclipse began either.
“There was excitement when people caught the first view of the total solar eclipse from Rochester, and the moon began to bite the sun!” Dobrijevic said.
When will the next total solar eclipse be?
Eclipse chasers won’t have to wait too long until the next solar eclipse on August 12, 2026, which is visible from Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, and Spain. At the point of greatest eclipse near Iceland, totality will last 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
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— When will the next solar eclipse be?
For North America, the next total solar eclipse will occur on March 30, 2033, and will be visible in Alaska. After that, there will be a total solar eclipse on August 23, 2044 in the US states of Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and areas of Canada.
Almost exactly one year later, on August 12, 2045, a 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.
Note to the editor: Space.com senior writer Rob Lea and staff 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 contributor John Loeffler contributed to this story from Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Submit your photo stories! If you take a photo of the April 8 total solar eclipse or any of these strange effects and want to share it with Space.com readers, send photos, videos, comments, and release your name, location and permission to use content to spacephotos@space.com.
