Solar eclipse 2024: Highlights and key moments

A researcher observing animals at the Fort Worth Zoo during totality said some seemed extra vigilant.

That included a rambunctious young male gorilla that stood on a pole while being quite active.

Most animals remained relatively calm during totality and many moved to where they are put away for the evening.

“In general, everybody was really well adjusted. Nobody was doing sort of bonkers behavior,” said Adam Hartstone-Rose, a researcher from North Carolina State University who came with a team to Texas for the eclipse.

He said in past eclipses, giraffes galloped. This time, the giraffes gathered more, but weren’t stressed out.

Eye safety experts say you can reuse eclipse glasses for another solar spectacle as long as they aren’t warped and don’t have scratches or holes.

Legitimate glasses should block out ultraviolet light from the sun and nearly all visible light.

Eye damage can occur without proper protection. Symptoms of solar eye damage, called solar retinopathy, include blurred vision and color distortion.

Traffic is slow in some places that experienced today’s total solar eclipse.

Interstate 65 in southern Indiana is moving very slowly as people make their way back from eclipse viewing.

Meanwhile, traffic near Paducah, Kentucky, came to a crawl as thousands of people crossed the Ohio River. Drivers going eastbound on I-24 were traveling at speeds of 15 mph or less just after 4 p.m. EDT.

The story is similar in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Interstates 87, 89 91 and 93 all have slowdowns in their southbound lanes.

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The moon partially covers the sun behind the Statue of Liberty during the total solar eclipse on the Liberty Island, Monday, April. 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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The moon nearly covers the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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Senate pages wear eclipse glasses as they view the moon partially covering the sun during a total solar eclipse, in front of the U.S. Senate on Capitol Hill, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Cincinnati Reds’ Will Benson, left, Bubba Thompson, middle, and Jonathan India, right, use special glasses as they watch the sun during a solar eclipse before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Cincinnati, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)

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People gather to watch the total solar eclipse from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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Skiers and hikers watch the total eclipse of the sun from the Appalachian Trail at the summit of Saddleback Mountain, Monday, April 8, 2024, near Rangeley, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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A woman views the solar eclipse in Times Square, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)

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A woman uses special glasses to watch the total solar eclipse from the beach in Luna Pier, Mich., Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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▶ See the AP’s total eclipse photo gallery.

ST. LOUIS – Aboard the Tom Sawyer, an old-fashioned paddlewheel riverboat on the Mississippi River, a crew member announced that the height of the eclipse was just minutes away.

The crowd quieted; some adjusted their solar eclipse glasses. Everyone looked up.

Just after 2 p.m., they saw an eclipse that wasn’t quite total.

The sky darkened and looked like dusk. The arch of the sun slimmed and shifted, but never fully vanished.

“It was beautiful. I almost think I enjoyed it a little bit more because it didn’t go black,” said Jeff Smith, 60, of St. Louis. “You could see the ring move all the way around the entire time.”

COLEBROOK, New Hampshire – Holly Randall said experiencing the eclipse had been beyond her expectations.

“I didn’t expect to cry when I saw it,” she said, as tears ran down her face.

It had made her think about fundamental aspects of the universe.

“The power of the sun, and life,” she said. “And us, humankind, here on this planet, and how grateful we can be to have this energy source.”

MAZATLAN, Mexico — After totality passed and the sky brightened again, crowds gathered along the waterfront hugged and kissed.

Joan Albert and his wife Ana Carolina Ruiz Fernández, marine scientists who lived and worked in the city, embraced each other.

“There wouldn’t be life if it weren’t for the sun,” Albert said.

Totality was “spectacular, very emotional,” added Ruiz Fernández.

PHILADELPHIA – Clouds blanketed the skies around 3:23 p.m. when maximum solar coverage was meant to begin in Philadelphia.

But Spencer Symula was all smiles.

“Obviously I am a little disappointed, but you see all the people out here and think, you know, it’s really something special,” he said. He was viewing the eclipse with people from the United Kingdom and Latin America.

“I think post-COVID we are all so eager to get together and do stuff,” said Symula. “I’m really happy I got to do this.”

Symula came prepared with a camera and said he got some good shots of the partial eclipse earlier before the clouds moved in.

About a half-hour later, the clouds shifted and the partial eclipse was again viewable.

WASHINGTON – A cheer went up from a crowd of a few thousand onlookers on the National Mall as the eclipse reached its maximum extent – about 87% – in the nation’s capital.

Through eclipse glasses, only a sliver of the sun remained visible behind the moon.

“This is a great event for students and a great celebration of astronomy,” said Denise Wright, an astronomy teacher from Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Crispin Burke, of Washington, D.C., added, “I really enjoyed seeing a partial eclipse, but it really makes you want to see totality.”

The sun is reappearing from behind the moon as the total solar eclipse leaves North America.

There won’t be another coast-to-coast spectacle on the continent until 2045.

VIENNA, Illinois – Hundreds of people at Shawnee National Forest erupted into cheers as darkness fell over a campground.

Temperatures dropped several degrees. Birds chirped and frogs croaked. And planets including Jupiter and Venus were visible during the
more than 3 minutes of totality.

Thick clouds cleared out late morning and mostly sunny skies turned to dusk during the eclipse. Rangers passed out eclipse glasses to
visitors.

Thousands of people watched the eclipse from this area in southern Illinois.

CLEVELAND – Kindergarten teacher Tara Rossetti can’t wait to get back to her students in Palm Bay, Florida, to tell them about the eclipse.

She and her friends joined the throngs outside the Great Lakes Science Center to see the eclipse under hazy skies. She’s going to tell them: “How cool it was. Literally, it got cooler!”

Next up for Rosetti and her friends: the Cleveland Guardian’s first home game of the season.

Aaron Pratt also traveled to Cleveland to see his second eclipse - he saw the 2017 eclipse in South Carolina.

“It got really dark, really fast,” said Pratt, who lives in the Washington area. “I’m blown away!”

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of White House staffers and security personnel watched the eclipse from around the complex, including some staffers catching a glimpse of the partial eclipse from the roof of the executive mansion.

Some jeers and boos could be heard when clouds briefly obscured the partial eclipse, but cheers erupted when the sky cleared up enough to see it.

President Joe Biden was seen holding eclipse glasses in his hand as he boarded Air Force One in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was traveling Monday, though it was not clear if he took it in.

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Bubba Watson looks up at the sun during an solar eclipse while standing on the first hole during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Monday, April 8, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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A young patron looks up at the sun during an solar eclipse during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Monday, April 8, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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Patrons look up at the sun during an solar eclipse during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Monday, April 8, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Tom Kim, of South Korea, and Sam Burns, right, look up at the sun during a solar eclipse on the 16th hole during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Monday, April 8, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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Patrons look up at the sun during an solar eclipse during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Monday, April 8, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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AUGUSTA, Georgia – Golfers at Augusta National got a pretty good show of the solar eclipse on Monday.

Georgia was not in the path of totality, but the sun was shining brightly and there was nary a cloud in the sky during practice rounds for the Masters – ideal conditions to watch the moon cast at least part of the course in shadow.

“This is timing up pretty good,” said British Open champion Brian Harman, who was playing the back nine during the height of the eclipse. “Get to watch the end of the world at Augusta National.”

Tournament organizers handed out eclipse glasses to patrons. The shades even carried the Masters logo, making for a unique souvenir.

“I was talking to my daughter and you can make one out of cereal box,” said Luke List, who practiced early and was planning to watch the eclipse elsewhere with his family. “So she’ll probably use that over the cool Masters glasses.”

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – Crowds on the balcony of the Clinton presidential library and in the surrounding park cheered and clapped as the eclipse reached totality.

The visitors included Denise Taylor, who traveled from Denver with her sister to see the eclipse at the library. Taylor, who works for the town of Bennett, said the library was the eighth presidential library she’s visited.

“It’s so surreal and now the day is going on like nothing happened,” Taylor said. “In the universe, this was such a small thing. To me, it was monumental.”

Taylor said the eclipse was even more special since it combined with her love of presidential libraries.

“I totally get how people can become eclipse chasers,” she said.

GEORGETOWN, Texas – “I will never unsee this,” said Ahmed Husseim of Austin, who had the eclipse on his calendar for a year.

Husseim and his family were among hundreds who gathered on the lawn of Southwestern University, north of the Texas capital city of Austin, with blankets, lawn chairs and country music to experience the total eclipse.

Fears of missing the astronomical event were put to rest when skies cleared moments before totality and remained cloudless until the eclipse continued on its path.

“It was unreal, taking off the glasses and not sure what to expect but when you look at it, it was like out of a movie,” said Michael Islas, a junior at the university.

MESQUITE, Texas – Just east of Dallas, the hundreds gathered at Mesquite’s Front Street Station cheered and whistled as the clouds parted in the final minutes before totality.

As the sun finally became cloaked, the crowd grew louder. They whipped off their eclipse glasses to soak in the unforgettable view of the sun’s corona, or spiky outer atmosphere, and Venus shining brilliantly off to the right.

DJ Jesse Navarette turned off his eclipse-themed music as the big moment approached.

“Wow, what a sight to witness, you all,” he told the crowd.

Aiyana Brown, 14, watched alongside her grandfather, Mesquite Mayor Daniel Aleman Jr.

“Oh God, it’s so dark,” Aiyana marveled.

DALLAS – Emergency lights clicked on outside D.A. Hulcy Middle School as the last sliver of the sun disappeared. Students cheered and whooped, sitting on towels and picnic blankets in an adjacent parking lot.

“I’m a new person,” eighth grader Nia Modkins said.

Students and teachers took off their eclipse glasses and pointed at the sky, taking pictures and videos. Once three minutes elapsed, their teachers told them to put their eclipse glasses back on as the sun prepared for its return act.

Once daylight swept over the parking lot again, eighth grader Sky Johnson swiped through her phone, looking for the video she’d taken during totality.

“Two minutes of me screaming, literally,” she said.

INDIANAPOLIS – Fallon Vahani moved her fingertips over a Braille tablet reader as the moon passed slowly in front of the sun.

The 44-year-old Indianapolis resident, blind from birth, visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to try the tablets after listening to a radio broadcast of the 2017 eclipse.

She stood at a table in a race car garage with her hands on the tablet, as thousands of people outside stared at the sky. Small plastic bumps pulsed underneath her fingers, tracing the moon’s path.

“I was very excited when I could finally understand what everyone else was talking about,” she said.

GEORGETOWN, Texas — Hundreds of people gathered on the Southwestern University lawn cheered when the skies cleared just in time to give spectators a clear view of totality.

“We are really lucky,” said resident Susan Robertson. “Even with the clouds, it is kind of nice because when it clears up, it is like wow.”

SCOTTSBURG, Indiana – Colby Reed and his partner Adam Johnston consulted a NASA map before driving hours to this small city.

“It was the closest place for totality coming from Nashville,” said Reed, 27, sitting with Johnston as the moon started its slow trek in front of the sun.

Looking around them at the relatively sparse crowd, they said they’re glad they wound up here because they could feel a sense of community.

Reed said he’s glad totality cut through this region, quipping, “It’s middle America’s chance to shine.”

Johnston cut in, looking up at the sky as a sliver of moon covered the sun: “…And then not shine.”

COLEBROOK, N.H. – Don Hall and his daughter, Casey, left from New York’s Hudson Valley at 3:30 a.m. and headed to northern New Hampshire based on the clear skies promised in weather reports.

They weren’t disappointed as they arrived to sunny skies and one of the warmest days of the year in New England.

Don Hall said he loved taking road trips with Casey.

“I’m as excited about seeing the eclipse as I am being able to spend time with my daughter,” he said.

He said he’d never seen an eclipse.

“I’m 76, so it’s time,” he said. “I doubt I’ll have another opportunity.”

The moon’s shadow has moved into the U.S. with cloudy skies in store for a part of the total eclipse path from Texas to Maine.

The eclipse cuts through major cities including Dallas; Austin, Texas; Indianapolis; Cleveland; and Niagara Falls, New York.

WASHINGTON – A few dozen people are waiting in line on the National Mall to stare straight at the sun through a special telescope provided by the National Air and Space Museum.

The instrument – a safe Hydrogen-alpha light telescope – makes it possible to closely scrutinize the glowing orb and see the loops of cooler, denser gas that arise from the sun’s surface, called “prominences.”

“Oh wow,” says Kayla Pate from Hyattsville, Maryland, once she and her 4-year-old daughter, Amallah Lewis, made it to the front of the line to peer through the lens.

“We won’t see a total eclipse here, but we can still learn a lot,” said Pate, smiling at her daughter. “I really hope she’ll remember this.”

BROKEN BOW, Oklahoma – The state’s secretary of tourism, is watching the eclipse from a lodge at Beavers Bend State Park in far southeast Oklahoma, which is in the path of the total eclipse.

Shelley Zumwalt said state officials began planning for the eclipse more than a year ago and brought in extra police and park rangers to McCurtain County, the population of which is expected to double due to visitors to the area.

“It’s really cool to see people lined up to experience something in nature,” Zumwalt said.

Zumwalt said visitors were hopeful cloud cover would burn off in time for the eclipse.

“We’re crossing our fingers and hoping,” she said. “Either way, it’s going to be dark for four minutes.”

ST. LOUIS — Colleen Devine and her husband planned to drive from their home in the suburbs of Chicago to Carbondale, Illinois, to watch the total eclipse.

But COVID-19 upended travel plans. “I didn’t want to deal with the traffic and the crowds,” Devine said.

Devine has recovered, but instead of heading south, the couple walked across the street from their hotel to the lawn near the Gateway Arch. Under a mostly blue sky, they’ll witness a nearly full eclipse.

“It won’t totally be in the path of totality but close enough,” she said.

MAZATLAN, Mexico – Mazatlan’s sparkling beaches have been cast into darkness as the total solar eclipse reaches its maximum coverage.

Hundreds of gathered faces were illuminated only by the screens of their cell phones as they tried to capture the slightly more than 4 minutes of totality.

Palm trees were silhouetted against a faint glow near the horizon like one of the resort’s famous sunsets, but coming before noon.

Karen Ibarra, of Colombia, is a researcher at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. She came to Mazatlan for the eclipse.

As darkness blanketed the coast she said, “seeing the corona is the best.”

PHILADELPHIA – Harris Pham, 27, rearranged his work schedule and traveled from suburban Lansdale to view the eclipse at the steps of the Franklin Institute, a science museum.

“I could have easily saw it, like, at the park. But I think just being with the community … it feels like you’re sharing an experience with humanity,” Pham said.

Hundreds gathered outside of the museum that was hosting a free viewing party.

Philadelphia is expected to see at least 85% totality as the moon passes over the sun. The Erie area, which is at the opposite corner of Pennsylvania, was awaiting a peek at totality.

RUSHVILLE, Indiana – The crowd briefly hushed as the eclipse began in Riverside Park in Rushville.

One spectator shouted: “This is the last time I’ll see this in my lifetime!”

Cars parked nearby in this small town of approximately 6,000 people are from Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, New York and Michigan.

Rushville is in the path of totality and is expected to get about 4 minutes of darkness during the full eclipse.

DALLAS – Mia Baker, an eighth-grader at D. A. Hulcy Middle School, rolled a white knob of clay into a ball and attached it to a wooden stick. When her teacher, Tamara Thomas, turned off the lights, she and her classmates held up their “moons” and tried to cover the “sun”: a yellow lantern dangling from the ceiling.

Over the course of the day, students participated in a variety of eclipse-themed lessons. They drew timelines to explore the history of solar eclipses and colored in the spectacle’s path on cardstock.

When Baker held up her clay moon to model the eclipse, she was reminded of the phases of the moon, which she’d recently reviewed in science class.

“But it’s going to look better in person,” she said. “I’m ready to see it.”

A total solar eclipse has reached North America over Mexico as throngs gather along the country’s Pacific coast. It’ll race toward United States and eastern Canada before exiting into the Atlantic.

MESQUITE, Texas – City officials cheered as the thick clouds parted in early afternoon and the sun peeked out.

“We special ordered the sun this morning,” said downtown development manager Beverly Abell.

Hundreds gathered at Front Street Station for the outdoor watch party, many pulling out their eclipse glasses to watch the moon’s bite out of the sun grow ever bigger.

Heads tilted upward as DJ music blared from speakers, everyone hoping the sky would clear even more before darkness hit.

WASHINGTON – Janice Nozka and her three children – ages 11, 7, and 3 – picked up their eclipse glasses from a table outside the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.

“This is a really special day, and I know it’s not going to happen again while all my children are still at home,” said Nozka, who is from Burke, Virginia.

She brought her children here to experience the partial eclipse together as a family this afternoon, after spending the morning at the space museum.

“I’m very excited, I’ve never seen anything like a solar eclipse before,” said Alina, 11, smiling broadly as she unfolded her new glasses.

The district has a chance at seeing more than 87% of the sun covered later this afternoon.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Jadiee Cesin, 8, and her family were among those set up with blankets and chairs at Waterfront Park under mostly sunny skies in downtown Louisville.

Kentucky’s largest city wasn’t in the path of totality but was in line to see 99 percent of the sun covered by the moon.

Jadiee said she learned about the eclipse in school and was hoping to get a good view at the park.

“It’s my first time,” she said about seeing an eclipse.

Meanwhile, a science-themed street fair in downtown Paducah, which was also in the path of the 2017 total eclipse, offered people a place to gather and see totality that lasted more than 90 seconds.

VIENNA, Illinois – At the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, thick clouds cleared late this morning as dozens of people gathered
at the Hidden Springs Ranger Station.

The national forest is in the path of totality and will experience just over four minutes of darkness.

Thousands of people are expected to watch the eclipse from this area, a park official said.

MAZATLAN, Mexico – Cheers broke out along the beach in this resort city as the moon began to pass over the sun.

Hundreds in a beachside park had passed the waiting time by readying their equipment and listening to a youth orchestra play Star Wars songs while a large screen projected images of Princess Leia behind them.

Luz Elena Aguillón de la O sat in the grass with a group of 14 family and friends who had gathered from Mexico City, Guanajuato and right here in Mazatlan to take in the spectacle.

“Happy to be here with family, friends sharing a singular, unrepeatable event that the universe and nature give us,” she said.

GEORGETOWN, Texas – Tracy Bedell, from Katy, Texas, and Terri Pagani, from Atlanta, arrived in Georgetown yesterday after a year of planning their path to totality.

Relaxing on a lawn at Southwestern University, Bedell said she saw a total eclipse in 2017 and was determined to catch the next one. They began researching cities and hotel availability in June.

“It is still going to get dark,” Bedell said as she looked up at the shifting clouds. “It is still going to be phenomenal.”

University students were enjoying a day without classes as heavy clouds took turns with the sun.

“If it rains, it rains,” said Chloe Mayfield, a Southwestern senior. “Rain or shine, baby we are out here.”

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vermont – Pratik Koirala, a microbiology researcher from Brighton, Massachusetts, was in college in Kansas during the 2017 eclipse, but it was cloudy.

“I saw the darkness, but not the sun,” he said. “Now I want to see the sun.”

He and several relatives drove more than two hours to a grassy bank along the Passumpsic River in this town of about 7,000. He’s got a good chance — the sky is cloudless.

Sassee Niraula, a nurse and Koirala’s wife, was in Nepal in 2009 when an eclipse created 7 minutes of totality. Niraula, now 30, says she was too young then to fully appreciate it, so she’s back.

Nirmal Nepal, Koirala’s uncle, and Nepal’s wife, Sassee, took their two sons, ages 15 and 12, out of school for the day.

“It’s a better education than being in the classroom,” said Nirmal Nepal, of Needham, Massachusetts.

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – Rose Hopper and Karen Thomas are among the visitors who grabbed spots in the park outside the Clinton presidential library to view the eclipse.

The friends traveled more than four hours from central Mississippi and decided to watch the eclipse at the city park outside the museum.

“It’s one thing to see it on TV. It’s a whole other thing to see God’s glory like that,” Hopper said. “I think it’s going to be spectacular.”

The two remained hopeful that the mostly clear sky would hold up.

“I’m just going to expect the best and see the whole thing,” Thomas said.

BURNET, Texas – The forecast in Texas is doing more than spoiling views of the eclipse.

One festival outside Austin wrapped up early Monday because of possible severe afternoon weather.

The Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet urged attendees to pack up and leave early for safety and beat traffic.

Organizers canceled performances as well as inbound shuttles to the festival grounds.

The National Weather Service said severe weather could include hail, lightning and isolated tornadoes.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden posted a brief video on X to encourage Americans to wear eye protection when viewing the eclipse – in a subtle dig at his predecessor and 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump.

“Folks, enjoy the eclipse, but play it safe, don’t be silly,” Biden said in a video showing him donning eclipse glasses and looking skyward from the balcony outside the Blue Room of the White House.

That’s the spot where Trump glanced up toward the sun without eye protection in 2017.

Biden is traveling to Wisconsin, which, like Washington, will experience a partial eclipse on Monday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she had no details to share on whether Biden would view the phenomenon.

The moon lines up perfectly between the Earth and the sun in a total eclipse over the South Pacific.

Over the next few hours, it will sweep across North America, entering Mexico, cutting diagonally from Texas to Maine, before exiting over eastern Canada into the Atlantic.

CLEVELAND – The alignment of earth, sun and moon above Cleveland came one day after a big star departed the city.

Caitlin Clark, the Iowa All-American guard and scoring sensation, ended her college career on Sunday in Cleveland in a loss to South Carolina in the NCAA championship game.

As basketball fans left Cleveland, sun chasers came in droves to witness the total solar eclipse.

There were also plenty of baseball fans flooding downtown: The Cleveland Guardians play their home opener two hours after the eclipse.

Michelle Samarin and Warren Root planned a doubleheader, the eclipse and then the Guardians game.

“We stay home constantly, so it’s nice to get out,” Root said.

When the sky is dark, you may be able to spot four planets and a comet, if you’re lucky.

Jupiter will be to the left of the sun and Venus to the right. Saturn and Mars will be to the right of Venus, but fainter. The solar system’s three other planets will be in the vicinity, but virtually impossible to see with the naked eye.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is swinging past Earth, as it does every 71 years. Still faint, it will be positioned near Jupiter during the eclipse.