Philly region makes the best of a cloudy eclipse; when to expect the next one

About 3:20 p.m., it was left to 7-year-old Gonzalo Octavian to tidily summarize the cosmic phenomena that he and fellow Philadelphians and millions of others witnessed on Monday afternoon.

Looking through the cartoonish protective glasses that he had placed ever so carefully over his regular glasses — this was no time for eye damage — as a subtle twilight settled over the region, he declared, “It’s a banana moon.”

Besides the memories, there's one other thing that you might have for a while now that the eclipse is over: Your eclipse-safe glasses.

Rather than just tossing them, there's a few other things you can do with your safety specs.

If you looked at the eclipse without your special safety glasses, you're not alone.

Searches for phrases like "my eyes hurt" and "I looked at the eclipse without glasses" spiked following the eclipse. So, despite warnings and advice from experts, it looks like plenty of folks snuck an unprotected peak. 

Taimara Gómez, 23, describes herself as being “half blind" — not medically, but due to her use of prescription glasses.

“People say a lot of things, talking about the end of the world and all,” Gómez said. “We are all going to die one day, so just make sure you take care of your eyes while looking at it.” 

And with that, the Philadelphia region's turn at viewing the eclipse has officially ended.

After reaching its peak at 3:23 p.m., the eclipse slowly faded, with the moon revealing the full sun around 4:35.

The world might still be trying to catch the last of the eclipse, but some people have already moved on from the experience.

At Cousins supermarket in North Philly, cousins Destiny Ortiz and Dede Lozada waited while reports of the atmospheric event aired on the television above them.

When the eclipse reached its peak over Philadelphia Monday afternoon, many onlookers took the expert advice to view it through a pair of special safety glasses.

But apparently not Gritty.

Though people at the Franklin Institute didn't get to enjoy the maximum eclipse — the clouds had taken over by 3 p.m. — plenty of people felt they made the most of it.

“I’ve enjoyed it so far,” said Philadelphia resident Sadie Moore, 8, who got to miss school Monday — her mother said it was ok to publish the absence.

Outside El Mundo Auto Repair in Hunting Park, five workers gathered by the cars. The voices of the children at Antonia Pantoja Charter School alerted them to the eclipse.

For an hour, they tossed expert advice out the window and shared one pair of special glasses in hopes of catching it.

The solar eclipse reached its peak in Philadelphia at 3:23 p.m., with the moon blocking nearly 90% of the sun.

That peak came about 75 minutes after the eclipse started for regional onlookers.

Gonzalo Octavian, 7, was frightened of the eclipse. 

“It didn’t do anything to me, but the going blind and needing special glasses did it,” said the second grader at Antonia Pantoja Charter School in North Philadelphia.

“I was scared of everything going pitch black, and the earthquake didn’t help,” said 9-year-old Gabriela Espinal. 

Espinal is one of 708 students at Antonia Pantoja Charter School in North Philadelphia. 

Mazatlan’s sparkling beaches have been cast into darkness as the total solar eclipse reaches its maximum coverage.

Hundreds of gathered faces were illuminated only by the screens of their cell phones as they tried to capture the slightly more than 4 minutes of totality.

While people going outside to look at the eclipse need to wear proper eye protection, should pets do the same?

Not so much, vets say — but there are some safety tips pet owners can follow.

At 2:08 p.m. a smattering of amazement in the form of oohs and ahhs broke out at the steps of the Franklin Institute as hundreds leaned their heads back, keeping their eclipse glasses in place.

Just a few minutes prior a speaker had offered timeless advice: Live in the moment.

We are extremely unlikely to catch even the remotest glimpse of it, but coincidentally a comet is streaking across the sky and may be visible faintly in the zone of totality.

The comet Pons-Brooks, which passes through the inner solar system every 71 years, makes its closest approach to the sun on April 21, according to EarthSky.

While some local school districts are dismissing students early because of the eclipse — and at least one is keeping students late to make sure children can safely view the celestial happenings at school — the Philadelphia School District opted to do neither. 

Official guidance from Pennsylvania’s largest district said parents could pick their children up early if they were concerned about students looking at the eclipse during dismissal, but in general, city schools would be using the eclipse “as a unique learning activity for students.” (Some schools provided students with eclipse glasses, others did not.)

Today's solar eclipse has begun on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, where thousands of amateur astronomers have flocked to be the first to watch the moon block out the sun.

In Mazatlán, totality — when the sun will be completely obscured by the moon — is expected around 2:07 p.m. Eastern (11:07 a.m. locally).

Total solar eclipses themselves aren’t rare, occurring about twice every three years, with the next one due on Aug. 12, 2026, according to NASA.

They would occur even more often where it not for the tilt of the moon’s orbit, NASA explains. Sometime the moon’s shadow is cast too low to block the sun, and other times, too high. But more or less every 18 months the shadow aligns perfectly.

Want a preview of what today’s solar eclipse will look like from your home or wherever you plan on watching? 

NASA built a handy tool that allows you to enter a zip code and see the exact timing of today’s eclipse and how much of the sun will be covered by the moon. 

Due to safety concerns and lack of available protective eyewear for its incarcerated population and staff, the New Jersey Department of Corrections is suspending outdoor activities from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m, said spokesperson Amy Quinn. 

The state has about 11,500 incarcerated persons at nine facilities statewide.

An insipid, annoying upper-air disturbance will approach the region during the afternoon, forecasters say, but it shouldn’t ruin the show.

The National Weather Service says some “mid-level clouds” may form during the afternoon in northeastern Pennsylvania and slide southward by 4 p.m.

Colleges around the region and the nation have some fun ideas in mind to help their students learn about and enjoy Monday's solar eclipse.

At Rutgers University-New Brunswick, two English professors are planning to read all 10,000 lines of 17th Century poet John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” at a daylong outdoor eclipse party.

The solar eclipse began on the Mexican Pacific Coast a little after 2:00 p.m. Eastern (around 11 a.m. local time). It is now slicing northeast across the United States, crossing into Texas around 2:27 p.m. Eastern (1:27 p.m. local time).

In Philadelphia, the solar eclipse began around 2:08 p.m., with 90% of the sun blocked around 3:23 p.m. The entire event is expected to last about two and a half hours, with the moon revealing the full sun by about 4:35 p.m.

Viewing a solar eclipse can be a spectacular, life-changing experience. It can also permanently burn your eyes — if you’re not gazing to the skies with proper protection.

In places such as Philadelphia, Monday’s eclipse will be visible, but the sun will be only partially covered by the moon. That makes it imperative that eclipse-watchers view this astronomical phenomenon only through special glasses to avoid long-term eye damage, experts say. And, no, your regular pair of sunglasses won’t cut it.

Just how long the sun and the moon have engaged in their celestial ballet of crossing paths and magically getting in each other’s way is unclear, but presumably it has been happening since the birth of the moon billions of years ago. It just took a while for humans to write things down, or at least carve them into rocks.

NASA says the oldest available record appears to date to 3340 B.C. in petroglyphs discovered in Ireland.