A total solar eclipse moved across a wide area of Mexico and the United States as well as Canada on Monday, with local media reporting millions of people sharing in the celestial show at viewing events and other gatherings.
The total eclipse could be seen from land beginning in the late morning in parts of Mexico, with the path of totality stretching to the northeast through U.S. states such as Texas, Arkansas and Indiana.
In Cleveland, Ohio, people who came to the Great Lakes Science Center in the city were treated to the total eclipse, which began before 2 p.m., and the phenomenon of a diamond ring, where the sun peaks out from one side of the Moon.
"Very beautiful. I was amazed," Karen Hanna, 45, said of the dazzle of the totality she saw for the first time. "Looking 360 degrees twilight, totally amazing...It was very moving for sure."
The city of Burlington, Vermont, drew an estimated 50,000 people, a number similar to the population, who crowded a viewing event and formed long lines at vendors of novelty T-shirts and stickers.
Major U.S. broadcasters showed people whooping and cheering when the sun completely disappeared behind the Moon as viewed from other cities such as Mazatlan in Mexico and Kerrville in Texas.
Compared to 2017, the previous occasion such an eclipse was visible in the United States, the path of totality was wider this time because the Moon was closer to Earth, according to Marina Gemma, an astrophysics research educator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
In New York City, people saw the sun as a thin crescent during the peak of the eclipse before 3:30 p.m., when it was nearly 90 percent blocked from view by the Moon.
"It was really spectacular," said Olivia Derimay, 10, who took part along with her mother Mariana in a viewing event organized by the museum.
"At first, I saw the sun that was orange, and then there was a little part that was black. And then it started to become more black," Olivia said.
