Total Solar Eclipse: North Americans Celebrate with Cheers, Music and Matrimony
Editor
9 April 2024 13:35 WIB
SHADOWS AND LIGHT
Where clear skies prevailed, observers along the direct path of the eclipse were treated to the rare spectacle of the moon appearing as a dark orb creeping in front of the sun, briefly blocking out all but a brilliant halo of light, or corona, around, the sun's outer edge.
It was the first total eclipse to sweep across a large swath of North America since 2017, and will be the last one visible from the contiguous United States until 2044.
As totality unfolded at a campground in North Hudson in upstate New York, hundreds of people shrieked with excitement.
"Oh my God!" some said, as the air cooled and automatic outdoor lights on a nearby building flicked on, fooled by the darkness.
Mexico's beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot for totality. Thousands in solar-safe eyewear perched in deck chairs along the coastal promenade, and an orchestra played the "Star Wars" movie theme as skies darkened under the approaching lunar shadow.
The crowds burst into cheers, applause, and whistles when the eclipse reached totality.
The period of totality, lasting up to 4-1/2 minutes depending on the observer's location, was ushered in by a number of other eerie eclipse effects. Some stars twinkled at midday as dusk abruptly descended, sending temperatures dipping and faint waves of "shadow bands" flickering over the landscape. Birds and other wildlife sometimes fall silent and still.
Eclipse fans traveled from far and wide hoping to glimpse the phenomenon somewhere along the "path of totality" stretching 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Mexico's Pacific Coast through Texas and across 14 other U.S. states into Canada. The moon's shadow exited continental North America in Newfoundland.
A partial eclipse, in which the moon obscures only a portion of the sun, was visible across most of the continental United States outside the path of totality, where weather permitted.
Lourdes Corro, 43, said she traveled 10 hours by car to reach Mazatlan, Mexico, for an event widely considered one of nature's greatest wonders.
"The last one I saw was when I was 9 years old," Corro said. "There are a few clouds but we can still see the sun."
