Rare solar eclipse darkens sky

Some areas of the globe got an amazing show as parts of the world experienced a solar eclipse.

While parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain had a total solar eclipse, parts of the U.S. were able to experience a partial eclipse.

The Associated Press said totality started at the North Pole and moved to Greenland, Iceland, Spain and part of Portugal, while in the U.S., the following cities got a little darker during the partial eclipse (all times local):

Anchorage, Alaska, 28% coverage beginning at 7:36 a.m., peaking at 8:21 a.m.
Bangor, Maine, 24% coverage beginning at 12:54 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.
Detroit, 3% coverage beginning at 1:03 p.m., peaking at 1:36 p.m.
New York City, 9% coverage beginning at 1:07 p.m., peaking at 1:54 p.m.
Philadelphia, 7% coverage beginning at 1:11 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.
Washington, D.C., 4% coverage beginning at 1:17 p.m., peaking at 1:53 p.m.

While the U.S. only had a partial eclipse this time around, the country is on tap to have a full eclipse, but not for a few more years. The next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse will happen in 2045, the AP reported.

You won’t have to wait that long to see a total eclipse, but you’ll have to travel to experience it. The next one will happen Aug. 2, 2027, but totality will be seen in North Africa and the Middle East, CNN reported.

If you were in an area that experienced the partial eclipse, you were reminded not to look directly at the sun. It could damage your eyes.

You should have used certified eclipse safety glasses. Sunglasses were not enough, according to NationalEclipse.com. If you didn’t have any, you can use a pinhole viewer. Using your cell phone camera, telescope, or other devices also required a solar filter, or you risked permanently damaging your eyes, making sure the filters were on the correct end of the viewer.

“Never attempt to view an eclipse through an optical device using eclipse glasses or any type of filter that attaches to the viewing side (as opposed to the Sun side) of the instrument; the focused light will destroy the filter and enter and damage your eyes,” the website said.

For more information on watching an eclipse safely, click here.

There is also one more safe option: watching the eclipse online.

Space.com offered a live stream of the event.

Eclipses in Georgia

Unfortunately, the eclipse will not be visible in Georgia. The last solar eclipse that was visible in metro Atlanta was April 8, 2024.

While it was only a partial eclipse, the moon still covered a good portion of the sunlight with maximum coverage at about 3 p.m. that day.

You may remember in August 2017, parts of North Georgia were in the path of totality. Channel 2 Action News sent reporters and photographers all over the region to cover that event, including now-Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Glenn Burns.

Burns went to Charleston, which was one of the last spots in the U.S. to see 100% totality from the eclipse.

Burns watched on with a large crowd of eclipse viewers at the College of Charleston as the sky became darker and darker, reaching totality shortly after 2:30 p.m. that day.

"Everything is like it's 9 o'clock at night," Burns said at the time as the crowd of people started cheering as the eclipse reached its peak.

“It was great. It was just something you don’t get to experience every day, and it just happened in the middle of the day was amazing,” student Jonah Williams said.

An estimated crowd of about 20,000 people filled Sanford Stadium in Athens for the event, where the eclipse reached about 99%.

“I didn’t think there would be this many people out here, but it’s like a really big event, so I guess it’s to be expected,” student Talliyah Draper said at the time.

Despite not reaching 100 percent totality, everyone was still amazed.

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