In Washington, D.C., hundreds of people waited in long lines outside the National Air and Space Museum, which was distributing more than 20,000 pairs of free viewing glasses.
Residents of the nation’s capital saw 81 percent of the sun obscured at the eclipse’s peak.
Daniel Berger, 33, a software developer from New York, said he has been waiting with his wife and their two children for almost an hour.
“This is a far larger crowd than I anticipated,” he said. “It’s the first non-political attraction for D.C. in many years, so that’s nice.”
Thousands of Americans and tourists cheered as they were plunged into darkness today as the moon passed right in front of the sun.
The first sighting of the total solar eclipse - where the sun is completely obscured by the moon - was in Oregon, a state on the west coast of North America.
The fascinating lunar shadow then travelled right across to the east coast, moving at 1,500mph and with a journey time of approximately 94 minutes.
