The sky darkened for millions in the U.S. on Monday as the 2024 total solar eclipse worked its way across a swath of the country.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow that blocks out the light from the sun. The sun appeared to vanish behind the moon for minutes at a time as the eclipse traveled along its “path of totality,” starting on Mexico’s Pacific coast and moving northeast through more than a dozen states, from Texas to Maine, and into eastern Canada.
More than 31 million people live along the path of totality, and many more flew or drove to witness the April 8 spectacle in person. Outside the path of totality, the rest of the continental U.S. got to see a partial eclipse (if skies were clear) as the moon blocked a portion of the sun. It will be decades before the next total solar eclipse appears in the U.S.