CARBONDALE, Illinois (Reuters) — A time-lapse video captured the sky over Carbondale, Illinois, during a solar eclipse on Monday, August 21.
The video shows what was visible to the naked eye during the eclipse, as clouds passed through the skies over the Southern Illinois University football stadium.
Some 12 million people live in the 70-mile-wide (113-km-wide), 2,500-mile-long (4,000-km-long) zone where the total eclipse appeared.
Millions of others traveled to spots along the route to bask in its full glory.
The campus of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale was transformed into an eclipse-themed entertainment center for gawkers to catch the view a few miles north of the point of greatest duration of the celestial event.
Despite clouds obscuring the eclipse at totality, a burning halo could be seen in the sky.
Millions of Americans armed with protective glasses have taken positions along a slender ribbon of land cutting diagonally across the United States to marvel at the first total solar eclipse to unfold from coast to coast in nearly a century.
After weeks of anticipation, the sight of the moon’s shadow passing directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the halo-like solar corona, was expected to draw one of the largest audiences in human history, experts say.
When those watching via social and broadcast media are included, the spectacle will likely smash records.
