Long-awaited sun show doesn’t disappoint

The most anticipated celestial event in nearly a century did not disappoint the millions of Americans who spent Monday afternoon gazing through protective glasses or peering into pinhole cameras. The total solar eclipse took about 90 minutes to race across the United States, starting in Oregon and ending in South Carolina. Eclipse watchers, many of whom planned their trips years in advance, flocked to the best viewing sites to experience totality, the 3 minutes when the moon completely covered the sun. As the skies grew dark, birds stopped singing, crickets started chirping, and the stars shone overhead in the middle of the day. Totality covered a swath only about 70 miles wide, but the rest of the country got to view at least a partial eclipse. About 4.4 million people watched the event via NASA’s live web stream. Solar eclipses happen about every three years, but this is the first in recent memory to cover so much of the United States. The country’s last coast-to-coast eclipse happened in 1918. The next one won’t happen until 2045, although the central part of the country will get treated to one in 2024.