Eclipse fans gather at many locations along the Path to Totality.
Mazatlan, Mexico:
Millions of people in North America braced themselves for a total solar eclipse on Monday – some anxiously watching wayward clouds – as the moon began to creep across the sun’s face in western Mexico before completely blocking it out.
The total solar eclipse, which will last more than four minutes in some places, will be visible along a path that begins in western Mexico and then crosses the United States into Canada.
The Mexican seaside resort town of Mazatlan is the first major viewing site in North America. Thousands of people gathered on the coastal promenade, wearing eclipse glasses and sitting on lounge chairs as an orchestra played the “Star Wars” theme song.
Lourdes Corro, 43, drove 10 hours to get there.
“The last time I saw it was when I was 9 years old,” Coro said. “Although there are some clouds, we can still see the sun.”
Eclipse fans gather at many locations along the Path to Totality.
For example, in upstate New York, the total solar eclipse will occur shortly after 3 p.m. (1900 GMT). At a border town campground in North Hudson, N.Y., kids ran around wearing solar eclipse T-shirts while parents set up tables, chairs and beer coolers.
Connecticut residents Bob and Theresa Love lay in the bed of their pickup truck, eating pastries and hoping the predicted clouds would stick around long enough not to obscure the spectacle.
“I try not to get too excited about the weather and just try to keep my expectations real,” said Teresa, 49. “Some people say it’s life-changing. I don’t know if it’s life-changing, but I think seeing It would be cool.”
The total solar eclipse lasted 4 minutes and 28 seconds, which was longer than the total solar eclipse that swept parts of the United States in 2017, which lasted as long as 2 minutes and 42 seconds. According to NASA, the duration of a total solar eclipse ranges from 10 seconds to about 7-1/2 minutes.
Some other cities along the path of totality include: San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, home of the famous waterfall and Montreal, Quebec.
In North America, a partial eclipse will be visible outside the path of totality.
About 32 million people in the United States live within the impact of the total eclipse, and federal officials predict another 5 million will travel there. Countless solar eclipse viewing events were held at bars, stadiums, fairgrounds and parks along the route.
Rural towns are bustling, like Adzeus, Missouri, with just over 1,300 people, where Tim and Gwen Wurst drove from their home in Kansas City after checking the weather forecast. They had the pleasure of witnessing the 2017 partial solar eclipse and were excited about the total solar eclipse.
“It’s been on the calendar for years,” said 62-year-old Tim Wurst. “The last eclipse was very dark, but this time it should be pitch black.”
Experts urge the use of protective sunglasses to prevent eye damage from looking at the sun with the naked eye. They say the sun is only safe to see without such glasses during the few minutes of totality.
Cloudy skies are one of the biggest worries for solar eclipse watchers. As of Monday morning, the National Weather Service is predicting “rapid and untimely increases in clouds” over southern Texas; less concern for “high, thin clouds” across a swath of the Midwest from Arkansas to the Midwest; and the sunniest conditions in northern New England Sky.
It takes about 80 minutes from the moment the moon begins to cover the sun to the moment it becomes fully visible, and then it takes about 80 minutes to complete the process in reverse.
Eclipse veterans describe the 15 minutes before totality as foreboding, with shadows becoming eerily clear and sunlight taking on an eerie quality. In the seconds before totality, a phenomenon called “shadow bands” may appear – shimmering shadows on the ground, like those seen at the bottom of a swimming pool.
The last bit of bright sunlight left before totality creates a “diamond ring effect,” where a bright spot appears on the edge of the moon even as the Sun’s atmosphere leaves a halo around the moon.
This will be the ninth total solar eclipse for Anthony Aveni, author of “Under the Moon’s Shadow: The Science, Magic, and Mysteries of Solar Eclipses,” and each eclipse leaves everyone around him deeply moved. Awe. He said people often shed tears and hug complete strangers.
“No matter who you are, no matter what era you live in, seeing a solar eclipse can be terrifying,” Avni said. “These images shock you. That fear gradually transforms into awe and then into a state of sublimity. .”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
