:format(jpeg):focal(2130x1720:2140x1710)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gfrmedia/IFLQJDCEFJD4HG3VHJAAEZPG5M.jpg "Clouds can spoil the view of the solar eclipse")
Mesquite, Texas – Millions of people flocked to a narrow strip of land that ran from Mexico to the United States and Canada to await Monday's celestial sensation: a total eclipse of the sun, despite forecasters predicting clouds.
Vermont and Maine, New Brunswick and Newfoundland were expected to have the best weather for the spectacle.
This may be the most crowded solar eclipse ever seen in North America due to the density of people in the visible zone and more than four minutes of darkness during daylight hours in Texas and elsewhere. Everyone in North America can enjoy at least a partial eclipse, weather permitting.
“Clouds are one of the hardest things to predict,” National Weather Service meteorologist Alexa Mines explained Sunday at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. “At least it won't snow.”
The uncertainty added excitement to the event. Rain or shine, “it's about sharing the experience with other people,” said Chris Lomas of Gotham, England, who lives in a trailer park with no vacancies in Dallas, the continent's largest city. The eclipse is visible.
For Monday's total eclipse, the moon is scheduled to pass in front of the sun, completely blocking its light. Twilight, where only the solar atmosphere or corona is visible, lasts long enough for birds and other animals to remain calm and see the planets, stars and even a comet.
The darkness lasts for four minutes and 28 seconds. It's almost twice as long as the eclipse seen from one coast to the other in the United States seven years ago, because this time the moon is closer to Earth. After 21 years, another total solar eclipse of this magnitude will occur in the country.
The event, which lasts five hours from the moment the moon begins to cover the sun to the end, will begin in the Pacific and continue to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and 12 other states, first visible on land in Mazatlán, Mexico. North Central and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, New England and later Canada. Your last stop will be Newfoundland, where the eclipse will end over the North Atlantic.
It takes one hour and 40 minutes for the moon's shadow to travel 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles) across the continent.
During an eclipse, eye protection, with appropriate filters and glasses, is necessary to look at the Sun, except when it is completely hidden from view.
1 / 17 | PHOTOS: This is how hundreds of citizens in Puerto Rico experienced the solar eclipse. This image shows how the annular solar eclipse was perceived in Puerto Rico, with a partial solar eclipse seen on the island around 2:00 p.m.
— Nahira Montcourt
The route is 185 km (115 miles) long and includes cities such as Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York and Montreal. About 44 million people live in the area, and a few hundred million people live 320 km (200 mi) away. Add in eclipse chasers, amateur astronomers and enthusiasts, and it's no wonder hotels and flights are sold out and roads are clogged.
Experts from NASA and dozens of universities are stationed along the route to launch research rockets and weather balloons and conduct experiments. The seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station will follow at an altitude of 435 kilometers (270 mi).
