--- title: The Moon Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying description: In this video, the moon's shadow passes over the U.S. within four seconds, engulfing large swaths of the country in darkness for a moment. canonical: https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T19:56:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:05:58.130Z article:section: Science og:title: The Moon's Shadow Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying og:description: See the eclipse engulf large swaths of the country in darkness og:url: https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82e01aa4132638f4/6988da7697cdff65436b21b2/solar-eclipse2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Solar Eclipse Is Observed In Asia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Moon's Shadow Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying twitter:description: See the eclipse engulf large swaths of the country in darkness twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82e01aa4132638f4/6988da7697cdff65436b21b2/solar-eclipse2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Moon's Shadow Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 21, 2017 7:56 PM UTC  In this handout image provided by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the solar eclipse is seen on July 22, 2009 near Iwojima Island, Tokyo, Japan. In this handout image provided by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the solar eclipse is seen on July 22, 2009 near Iwojima Island, Tokyo, Japan.Handout—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 21, 2017 7:56 PM UTC A total [solar eclipse](http://time.com/4909418/total-solar-eclipse-international-space-station-video/?xid=homepage) crossed the skies in the U.S. on Monday, as millions of people looked up to see the moon cover the sun momentarily. The first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. since 1979, the rare phenomenon was dubbed “[The Great American Eclipse](http://time.com/4907357/total-solar-eclipse-2017-america/?xid=homepage).” [Views of the total eclipse](http://time.com/4900663/total-solar-eclipse-virtual-reality-360/) were visible across a narrow portion of the country, while people from all corners of North America, along with parts of South America, Africa and Europe, enjoyed a partial eclipse. As the eclipse moved across the country, starting in Oregon and ending in South Carolina, NASA captured the shadow of the moon as it darkened the states in the eclipse’s path. > [](https://twitter.com/NOAASatellites/status/899713533134462977) In the video above, the moon’s shadow passes over the U.S. within four seconds, engulfing large swaths of the country in darkness for a moment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/"},"headline":"The Moon's Shadow Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying","datePublished":"2017-08-21T19:56:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:05:58.130Z","description":"See the eclipse engulf large swaths of the country in darkness","url":"https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/","keywords":["Eclipse","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82e01aa4132638f4/6988da7697cdff65436b21b2/solar-eclipse2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82e01aa4132638f4/6988da7697cdff65436b21b2/solar-eclipse2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Solar Eclipse Is Observed In Asia","caption":"The Solar Eclipse Is Observed In Asia","creditText":"Handout—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4909517/total-solar-eclipse-moon-shadow-video/","name":"The Moon's Shadow Darkening the U.S. During the Eclipse Is Terrifying"}}]}] ```