Goosebumps and History for Millions Who Watched Coast-to-Coast Eclipse

The country paused Monday and looked up to the heavens, witnessing the first total eclipse to sweep from coast-to-coast in nearly 100 years.

"A solar eclipse happens when the moon goes between the sun and the earth and a part of the earth will actually see the earth's shadow cast across it," Rebecca Ljungren, an astronomy educator, told CBN News.

Lincoln City, Oregon was the first stop for totality, the historic celestial event turning day to night.

Totality sped across the U.S. at an average of 1,800 miles-an-hour, the timing of the event in each city predicted to within fractions of a second. 

"I have goose bumps literally because I've never seen anything like it," said Martha Reyes.

In Carbondale, Illinois, the so-called "capital of the eclipse," clouds almost ruined the show, but it peeked through in the final few seconds.

In Hampton Roads, thousands of people showed up at Old Dominion University, a NASA approved viewing site. The Pretlow Planetarium brought their telescope so that people could get an up close look at this eclipse.

"This is a great part of history right now, this is not going to happen again for a long time, so I wanted to be here to witness this first hand, right here, it's pretty cool," DaJanique Stewart told CBN News.

Not everyone viewed the eclipse using glasses, some made eclipse boxes.

"Basically its a pinhole up here," Tim Anderson told CBN News, pointing to the top of his eclipse box. "It's an old camera obscura effect, so essentially what it does is it hits the pinhole and it goes through here and what you see is the outline of the sun and you can see it being eclipsed. So it's a safe way to see the eclipse," Anderson explained.

CBN News was also live at the Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. as visitors viewed the eclipse through a telescope sun gun which projected a larger image of the sun.

"This is like a once in a lifetime, so, and I'm glad we got these glasses – stood in line forever, it's hot but we stuck through it," Meeka Caldwell told us.

President Trump also viewed the eclipse from Washington – the First Lady posting a picture on Twitter.

Exciting to watch the total eclipse with @potus today! #Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/85Y8R4yJU7

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) August 21, 2017

NASA reported 4.4 million people were watching its TV coverage midway through the eclipse – the biggest live stream event in the space agency's history.

If you missed the eclipse, chances are good you can still catch the next one. The next total eclipse for North America is only seven years away in 2024.