People across North America — from a Mexican seashore to Niagara Falls on the US-Canada border — cast their eyes skyward on Monday for a total eclipse, cheering the celestial show and, in Arkansas, getting married en masse.

Where clear skies prevailed, observers along the direct path of the eclipse were treated to the rare spectacle of the moon appearing as a dark orb creeping in front of the sun, briefly blocking out all but a brilliant halo of light, or corona, around, the sun’s outer edge.

It was North America’s first total eclipse since 2017.

As totality hit at a campground in North Hudson in upstate New York, hundreds of people shrieked with excitement.

Mexico’s beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot along the “path of totality.”

At Niagara Falls, people viewed the eclipse next to the roaring waterfall, with hundreds dressed in costumes to look like the sun.

Header image: In this composite of 7 photographs, the moon passes by the sun into totality creating the diamond ring effect during a total solar eclipse in Bloomington, Indiana, on April 8. — AFP