EAGLE PASS, Texas − In a moment of cosmic alignment that was precisely predicted yet undeniably mysterious, the moon crept across the face of the sun as seen from Earth, casting its shadow onto the United States on Monday.
And then it was over: A total eclipse of the sun has come and gone.
The partial shadow crossed into the U.S. in Texas just after noon local time, and a bit more than an hour later, the minutes of “totality” began. The total eclipse of the sun then traced a path from southern Texas to northern Maine, where it exited into Canada and the ocean beyond.
The rare event was an astronomical experience like no other. Monday’s eclipse was unusually accessible to millions of people. It was widely anticipated not only for its remarkable period of darkness, but for its rare timing: No total solar eclipse would be visible from the contiguous United States again until 2044. While millions of Americans may have seen today’s eclipse, a small group in Texas was among the very first.
