"That's the best eclipse I've ever seen. That is truly spectacular," said Don Hall, director of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.; More than 40 million people saw the moon obscure so much of the sun that only a blazing ring was visible in the western Americas. Shadows stretched from west to east, as the eclipse turned morning into a night along a 160-mile-wide swath from Hawaii to Baja to Mexico City to Calamar, Colombia -- the only region where the eclipse made the Earth totally dark.; In Hawaii, the volcano Mauna Loa stunned visiting astronomers by producing a dazzling show of steam and glowing lava at the height of the eclipse. Local geologists, though, indicated the activity was probably routine.; In the Bay Area, more than half the sun was covered when the eclipse peaked at 11:20 a.m. The world will not see such a long-lasting eclipse for another 151 years.; Few people who saw it today will forget "The Big One."; "It looks neat. It looks like someone took a bite out of an apple," said Matthew Mauranoh, 8, of Mountain View, who peered through a homemade black box at the Foothill Observatory.; The view was diminished for many in Hawaii and Mexico, where low cloud cover obscured the celestial display.; As totality arrived at sea level on the Big Island, the sun was hidden in some places by a cloud layer. At the astronomy observatory at the top of 13,800-foot Mauna Kea, high cirrus clouds thwarted three of the 10 scientific experiments.; But scientists were still struck by the sight of two plumes of flame extending out 100,000 miles from the sun, one directly on the top of the sun and one at the bottom. Both were colored bright fuchsia. Another impressive feature was that the sun's corona, which stretched out for a million miles around the sun, was not symmetrical, but jagged, with spikes and valleys.; The eclipse ended in a little more than six minutes with a dazzling "diamond ring" effect on the rim as the first rays of sun emerged from behind the moon.; It still got dark below the mountain, but the clouds disappointed about 500 people gathered on the driving range at the Mauna Lani resort in south Kohala. Because of the clouds, most were unable to see the stages of the eclipse until it got totally dark. Spectators' hopes had fallen and risen in the previous hour as the clouds came and went.; "I came especially for this, and hope we get to see it," said Margaret MacLeod, a mathematics and science teacher from Manhattan Beach shortly before the eclipse in Hawaii. "If we don't get to see it, I may have to go to Iraq for the next one."; In the Bay Area, mostly sunny skies made eclipse-watching a treat, except along the coast, where it was obscured by fog.; Parks, parking lots, shopping centers, back yards and planetariums became Eclipsefests as the peak approached.; More than a hundred sun gazers showed up at the Branham Lane Park in South San Jose with almost as many gizmos to help them spot sunspots and watch the moon cross the sun.; There were funny Mylar glasses, big pinhole projectors, small pinhole projectors, welder's glass, welder's masks, binoculars projecting images onto cardboard and telescopes.; None was as impressive as Ralph Reeves' interference birefrigent hydrogen alpha filter telescope. All most of us need to know is that it takes electricity (provided by a gas generator) to run. And that you can take pictures of the eclipse through it. That is, if you have film.; "I didn't bring any film with me," said Reeves, a retired Lockheed instrument builder. "Isn't that awful?"; At the Children's Discovery Museum in downtown San Jose, hundreds of youngsters and adults made cardboard telescopes, which projected the eclipse on white cards through a needle hole opening. Using mirrors, the eclipse also was projected on the exterior walls of the lavender-colored museum.; "We wanted to make little theaters for all of the kids to see the eclipse without burning their eyes," said Paul Stonecipher, a discovery museum staff guide.; For nearly a week now, Hawaii has been turned into an eclipse theme park. More than 500 astronomers and tens of thousands of amateurs flocked to the islands to sell nearly everything under the sun.; Sun-minded entrepreneurs hawked eclipse T-shirts (60 different designs), hats, posters and cookies. There was even an eclipse haircut and, of course, an eclipse drink at the Eclipse restaurant in Kailua-Kona.; "Everything is selling pretty well except for the eclipse Frisbees. Nobody wants eclipse Frisbees," said "Wild Bill" Lawrence, who helped out at Moonshadows, one of many small shops set up to sell eclipse mementos.; One church offered a nightly eclipse service. Another invited visitors to "come worship with the sun."; On the commercial strip in Kona, the Big Island's equivalent of Fisherman's Wharf, the eclipse attracted a human mass equivalent to the flock that attends the island's annual Iron Man Triathalon.; "Most of the scientists who are serious about it are on the north part of the island," Mary Beth Black, a Kona health food store owner, told Bay Area radio listeners. "The people here for the fun of it are here in Kona."; In Mexico City, the eclipse melded with the city's famed smog. The Anthropology Museum held a ritual depicting the moon attempting to eat the sun. Guatemalan Indian villagers, who worry during eclipses that the sun will disappear forever, rang church bells and banged pots and pans to resurrect it.
The " eclipse of the century " occurred this morning . More than 40 million people saw the moon obscure the sun along a 160-mile - wide swath from Hawaii to Mexico to Colombia . Clouds diminished the view for many . The total eclipse lasted more than six minutes . Another to last as long will not occur for 160 years . Many maps were used to allow people to follow the moon 's path and see sunspots . In Hawaii , entrepreneurs sold almost all - imaginable souvenirs of the event , while every church held a nightly eclipse service . Guatemalan Indian villagers rang bells and banged pots and pans .