Total solar eclipse 2024

A total solar eclipse swept across North America, plunging parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada into darkness in the middle of the day as the moon blocked the sun.

Large crowds gathered along the path of totality for eclipse events.

Here are some of the highlights:

What happens next: The next total solar eclipse will be in August 2026, NASA says. It will be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small area of Portugal. Another total solar eclipse won’t be visible across the contiguous US again until August 2044. In October 2024, there will be an annular eclipse visible in South America, according to NASA.

Click this video below to see highlights from today's spectacle.

Strange animal behaviors have been observed at the Fort Worth Zoo during totality, according to researchers stationed in Texas. 

One of the most bizarre animal observations reported during the 2017 total solar eclipse was of giraffes at other facilities gathering in a herd and beginning to gallop. The giraffes did not gallop this year at the Fort Worth Zoo, but they did huddle together and attempt to enter their nighttime enclosures. 

Similar behaviors were seen among other mammals and reptiles, including a crocodile that began to get ready for bed as the sky darkened, and tortoises that broke the door to their evening enclosure attempting to go inside for the night, according to Dr. Adam Hartstone-Rose, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. 

The most “dramatic reaction” at Fort Worth Zoo came from the primates. “Right at totality, all of the (gorillas) got up from all quarters of the exhibit and walked directly to where they're supposed to be let in (at night),” Hartstone-Rose told CNN.

On the flip side, nocturnal animals were observed waking up for the start of their days, including three species of owls and a ringtail. 

A group of four friends in Toronto set out to launch a weather balloon to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) during the solar eclipse. 

Michael Goldstein, 12, and his friend Ilan Kagedan were in class when they first learned about the eclipse. They came up with the idea to launch a balloon, as they had done it before.

Planning for the balloon launch took about a year, said Goldstein, who shared his story with CNN’s Wonder Theory newsletter. The group, which also included Brady Sonshine and Michael “Misha” Vishnever, attached two cameras and two trackers to the vessel.

“It took three tries so I was really happy” when the balloon launched successfully, Goldstein said.

The group hustled to Hamilton, which is more than 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Toronto, to see the total solar eclipse.

“The eclipse was amazing!!!” Goldstein said.

The partial eclipse has come to an end over Newfoundland and is now over for all land areas.

The next total solar eclipse in any portion of the contiguous US is in 2044.

Cities across the Lower 48, both within and outside the path of totality, experienced significant temperature drops as the moon obscured sunlight during the eclipse on Monday.

Weather stations began to report temperatures falling minutes after the eclipse started. Here’s a list of some of the most substantial drops reported so far:

The eclipse also caused humidity to rise as temperatures dropped closer to the dew point, or the temperature at which air becomes saturated. Temperatures will rise again as the eclipse ends and sunlight is restored. 

As long as the eclipse glasses or solar viewers you’re using comply with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard and aren’t torn, scratched or damaged in any way, they don’t “expire” and can be used indefinitely.

There is also no limit on how long you can view the sun while wearing them.

Note: Some glasses and viewers carry outdated warnings about using the glasses for more than three minutes at a time or recommend throwing them away after more than three years, but these do not apply to ISO 12312-2-certified viewers, according to the American Astronomical Society.

The next total solar eclipse will be in August 2026, NASA says. It will be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small area of Portugal.

Another total solar eclipse won’t be visible across the contiguous US again until August 2044.

There will be an annular eclipse much sooner, though, visible in South America, the agency says. That will happen in October 2024. Remember, an annular eclipse is when the moon is near its furthest distance from earth, it won’t cover the entire sun. This creates what looks like a ring around the moon.

NASA says its eclipse forecasts "are accurate to less than a minute in time over a span of hundreds of years."

Totality ended in Newfoundland at 3:46 p.m. ET, marking the end of the total solar eclipse over Canadian soil.

You'll still be able to see a partial solar eclipse — where the moon blocks out just part of the sun — for a while longer, though. The partial solar eclipse continues until 4:47 p.m. ET.

CNN spoke to enthralled people who had gathered on a mountain slope in Stowe, Vermont, after they watched the total solar eclipse.

"I knew it was going to happen, but still, when I saw it, that just completely took my ability to speak away," one man said.

"We're lucky to have an experience like that," another man said.

A third watcher said he would travel to wherever the next total solar eclipse occurs.

"Being able to take your glasses off, and seeing it for the first time was shocking," he added.