As millions of Americans gazed in wonder at the solar eclipse and were dazzled by the event, some observers were underwhelmed by the cosmic spectacle.
The US witnessed its first full-blown, coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I on Monday, the first eclipse of the social media era to pass through a heavily populated area.
People across the country watched the display on television and in person, gathering in stadiums, parks and backyards to stare at the sky and take pictures.
Millions of Americans watched the solar eclipse Monday and while many were moved by the spectacle, others were underwhelmed. This person photographed the eclipse through light clouds
The eclipse itself wasn’t very visible through the clouds to this viewer in Boston
The clouds completely cover this person’s viewing of the eclipse in Alabama, except for a few rays of sunshine
The best seats to watch were along the so-called path of totality, where the sun was 100per cent obscured by the moon, that raced 2,600 miles across the continent from Oregon to South Carolina.
It was, by all accounts, the most-observed and most-photographed eclipse in history, documented by satellites and high-altitude balloons and watched on Earth through telescopes, cameras and cardboard-frame protective eyeglasses.
NASA reported 4.4million people were watching its TV coverage midway through the eclipse, the biggest livestream event in the space agency’s history.
Across the country, people oohed, ahhed, whooped and shouted as the sky darkened for about two minutes at any one place.
While many were moved by the phenomenon, others were somewhat disappointed and posted their ‘underwhelming’ eclipse photos to social media.
Some viewers were let down by the cloud cover and others just weren’t impressed by the spectacle.
In New Orleans, this person couldn’t see anything, not even a bright ray of sunshine, through the ominous-looking clouds
This person from Long Island, New York, was underwhelmed by their viewing of the partial eclipse
Only a small part of the sun was obscured by the moon in this picture of the partial eclipse
Even though the special lenses of protective glasses, the partial eclipse was hardly noticeable
The best seats to watch were along the so-called path of totality that raced 2,600 miles across the continent from Oregon to South Carolina. This person, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, only got a glimpse of a partial eclipse
This person wrote with their eclipse pictures on Twitter: ‘My #Eclipse pics are very underwhelming!!! Basically there’s nothing eclipsey about them. I blew it. Eyes to 2024’
Monday’s eclipse was, by all accounts, the most-observed and most-photographed eclipse in history. However, this person in Canada found it to be ‘a little underwhelming’
Along with this picture of their view of the eclipse, this person wrote: ‘I saw the eclipse an hour ago. Kind of underwhelming to be honest’