FORT WORTH, TEXAS - APRIL 8: The moon begins to eclipse the sun on April 8, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. Millions of people have flocked to areas across North America that are in the "path of totality" in order to experience a total solar eclipse. During the event, the moon will pass in between the sun and the Earth, appearing to block the sun. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Millions looked skyward today, April 8, as the moon eclipsed the sun from Mexico's Pacific Coast to Canada's eastern shore. Those who traveled to the around 115-mile-wide path of totality experienced between three and five minutes of darkness, but viewers outside the stretch had plenty to look at, too. Below, we've compiled some of the most breathtaking press photographs of what's been dubbed the Great American Eclipse.
The moon overtakes the sun in Mazatlán, Mexico. (photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)The eclipse in Torreón, Mexico, which was in the path of totality (photo by Saul Perales/Getty Images)
The total eclipse made landfall in the resort town of Matazlán, Mexico. As it continued its 1,500-mile-per-hour journey northward, the skies darkened in Mexico City, where one onlooker donned a unique take on the eclipse glasses that proved impossible to find in the days leading up to the celestial event.
A man wears a special protective mask to watch the eclipse in Mexico City. (photo by Fernando de Dios/Getty Images)
The path of totality encompassed a wide swath of Texas, as well. One photo captured the final moments before the moon overtook the sun above Fort Worth, when viewers could observe the "diamond ring effect."
For those lamenting not traveling to the path of totality, the next large North American eclipse will take place in 2044, when the moon will overtake the sun in Canada, Montana, and North and South Dakota.
The total eclipse in Carbondale, Illinois, from the campus of Southern Illinois University (photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)The diamond ring effect, which occurs when the moon has almost completely blocked the sun, in the sky above Fort Worth, Texas (photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)The eclipse in Niagara Falls, New York (photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)A sliver of the sun in Torreón, Mexico (photo by Getty Images)The total eclipse in Brady, Texas (photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)A road sign in Niagara Falls, New York today. The area was inside the path of totality. (photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)