On this day in space: April 8, 2024: Total solar eclipse darkens the skies over the US

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse swept over North America, including the US, Mexico, and parts of Canada, to the delight of skywatchers, including your team here at Space.com.

A total solar eclipse like that of April 8, 2024, happens when the moon appears the same size in the sky as the sun, thus fully covering the disk of our star. That gives observers a view of the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, usually obscured by light from its surface, the photosphere.

However, not all observers get to see a total solar eclipse when it rolls around. First of all, observers have to be in daylight hours, and because the Earth is much larger than the moon, only some people see the moon from the ideal position for it to totally block the solar disk.

While all of North America and Central America experienced a partial solar eclipse on April 8, only those located within the 115-mile (185 km) wide and 10,000-mile (16,000 km) path of totality saw the moon completely obscure the sun. This included four Mexican states and 15 states in the US, as well as seven provinces of Canada.

What is for sure is that those who did see this stellar event were spellbound, and to them, it may seem like yesterday.

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