LOS ANGELES - It's a beautiful, rare celestial event - an astronomical phenomenon.
The total solar eclipse crossed North America Monday, slicing a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast, briefly plunging communities in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada along the track into darkness.
An estimated 44 million people who live within the path witnessed the event, but practically everyone else in North America had the chance to catch at least a partial eclipse today - including Los Angeles.
The out-of-sync darkness lasted up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds. That’s almost twice as long as it was during the U.S. coast-to-coast eclipse seven years ago because the moon is closer to Earth.
The path of totality — approximately 115 miles wide — passed over major cities including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York and Montreal.
The eclipse was expected to end on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland at 12:46 p.m. PST.
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If you missed it, you'll have to wait a bit to catch the next one.
Those living in Alaska will catch a glimpse of a total solar eclipse on March 30, 2033, and a partial solar eclipse will shine over most of the U.S. during that event.
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Solar Eclipse
A total solar eclipse crossed North America today, slicing a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast, briefly plunging communities in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada along the track into darkness.
A total solar eclipse won’t be visible again from the contiguous U.S. until August 22, 2044, but totality will only occur over North Dakota and Montana, plus northern Canada.
However, the next total solar eclipse with a coast-to-coast path spanning the Lower 48 states will occur on August 12, 2045. The path of totality will arc over California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, with a partial eclipse visible across other states.
You can also watch a replay of the eclipse reaching totality in Texas in the live player above.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.