Eclipse dazzles SWFL, nation

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) Millions of Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and disposable protective glasses Monday as the moon blotted out the sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in nearly a century.

WINK News livestreamed coverage from Southwest Florida and across the country as the eclipse made its path over North America:

Hundreds of people gathered at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Fort Myers, viewing the eclipse through special glasses.

“Look at all the children that have an opportunity to learn about what happens when you have an eclipse,” said Larry Aguilar, the planetarium’s executive director.

WINK meteorologist Brooke Silverang went live via Facebook from outside the planetarium:

Only about 78 percent of the sun was covered in Southwest Florida. In Boise, Idaho, where the sun was more than 99 percent blocked, people clapped and whooped, and the street lights came on briefly, while in Nashville, Tennessee, people craned their necks at the sky and knocked back longneck beers at Nudie’s Honky Tonk bar.

It was the most-observed and most-photographed eclipse in history, with many Americans staking out prime viewing spots and settling onto blankets and lawn chairs to watch, especially along the path of totality – the line of deep shadow created when the sun is completely obscured except for the delicate ring of light known as the corona.

“It’s really, really, really, really awesome,” said 9-year-old Cami Smith as she watched the fully eclipsed sun from a gravel lane near her grandfather’s home at Beverly Beach, Oregon.

The temperature dropped, birds quieted down, crickets chirped and the stars came out in the middle of the day as the line of darkness raced 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) across the continent in about 90 minutes, bringing forth oohs, aahs, shouts and screams.

Nearly 100 elementary school students from the Saint Ann School in Naples walked a few blocks to the beach on Eighth Avenue South, where teachers turned the eclipse into a lesson.

“They’re all real scientists today,” teacher Michelle Marks said. “I tell them all the time, science is not in a book. This is science. So what better place to soak it all in?”

WINK News reporter Nicole Papageorge has more: