Millions of people across the UK and America gathered to watch a rare total eclipse of the sun on Monday evening.
The celestial event drew huge crowds in the US and Canada as some of the best vantage points were located in heavily populated areas, including New York, Dallas and Montreal.
People in Belfast and Stornoway in Scotland were expected to have the best view in the UK, but Britons only got to see a partial eclipse. There was no view of the eclipse from London.
Some British stargazers have flown to the US especially to watch and capture the rare phenomenon. Specialist travel companies reported a wave of enthusiasm from Britons, The Times reported.
The start of the partial eclipse was at 7.52pm (BST) and it ended by 8.51pm.
Cheers broke out along the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico 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.
In the US, crowds in Dallas were not put off by overcast skies. Erin Froneberger, who was in the city for work, had brought along special glasses allowing her to look safely at the eclipse.
She said: “We are always just rushing, rushing, rushing.
“But this is an event that we can just take a moment, a few seconds that it's going to happen and embrace it.”
At Niagara Falls State Park, tourists streamed in under cloudy skies with park officials expected a large crowd at the popular site overlooking the falls.
For Monday's full eclipse, the moon was due to slip right in front of the sun, entirely blocking it.
The resulting twilight, with only the sun's outer atmosphere or corona visible, was expected to last up to four minutes and 28 seconds and could be long enough for birds and other animals to fall silent.
Eclipse veterans have described the 15 minutes before totality as foreboding, with shadows becoming oddly crisp and sunshine assuming an eerie quality. In the seconds before totality, a phenomenon called "shadow bands" may appear which are shimmering shadows on the ground, like those seen on the bottom of a swimming pool.
The last remaining bit of brilliant sunlight before totality creates a "diamond ring effect" in which a single bright spot appears along the lunar edge even as the sun's atmosphere leaves a ring of light around the moon.
Anthony Aveni, author of In the Shadow of the Moon: The Science, Magic and Mystery of Solar Eclipses said each eclipse he has witnessed inspired deep awe in everyone around him who saw it. He said people frequently burst into tears and hug complete strangers.
"No matter who you are or when you lived, the sight of an eclipse begins with fear," Aveni said. "The imagery shocks you. That fear is gradually transformed into awe and then into a sublime state."
It will be another 21 years before the US sees another total solar eclipse on this scale.
US President Joe Biden posted a brief video on X encouraging 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 which is where Trump glanced up toward the sun without eye protection in 2017.
An eclipse is worth marveling at.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 8, 2024
But don't be silly, folks – play it safe and wear protective eyewear. pic.twitter.com/S6REAiZ735
Experts from NASA and scores of universities were posted along the route to launch research rockets and weather balloons, and conduct experiments.
Stargazers in the UK had to make do with a partial solar eclipse where part of the Sun is covered, and a small percentage is blocked out by the Moon between about 7.50pm and 8.50pm.
Professor Don Pollacco, of the department of physics at the University of Warwick, saw the total eclipse in Texas and said British spectators had not missed much because there “wasn’t anything worth seeing in the UK”.
He said: “The total eclipse is just so unbelievable.
“The partial eclipses are really boring.”
He added total eclipses were “very magical” and watching them felt like “a sensory overload”.
“The light takes on this really eerie quality, kind of a silveriness that’s really hard to explain and doesn’t come over on camera,” he said.
“I’m a scientist, and I’m saying it’s magical.”
The last total solar eclipse which could be seen from the UK was in 1999, and there will not be another until 2090.
