SoCal crowds left in awe by partial solar eclipse: 'There's something powerful happening'
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Plenty of Southland residents wearing protective eye-wear or utilizing other safety gadgets stared skyward Monday to view a partial solar eclipse, although Southern California was far from the "path of totality" that saw the sun completely blocked out in some other parts of the country.
The total eclipse, where the moon fully blocks the light of the sun for several minutes, made landfall Monday morning along Mexico's Pacific coast and crossed into Texas and 14 other U.S. states, before exiting over Canada. Elsewhere in North America, including Los Angeles, there was only a partial eclipse.
Southern California witnesses partial solar eclipse
"It was a communal experience, and I totally felt that even though I was here by myself," eclipse observer Drew Jones said after viewing the partial eclipse at the Griffith Observatory.
Jones had plenty of company as hundreds gathered at the Griffith Observatory to watch the moon cover half of the sun.
"It's like a perfect little cut-out in the sun, which is so crazy," Anastasia Narinskiy said. "It's such a crazy thing to look at."
Among those watching the partial eclipse at the Griffith Observatory were Machi Desdaller from the Philippines. She brought her grandparents to the observatory to watch and to mark a milestone wedding anniversary.
"It's once in a lifetime and you're never know the next time you're going to be able to see this," Desdaller said. "And it's great because they're celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary."
In Los Angeles, the height of the partial eclipse occurred around 11:15 a.m., with the moon covering 57% of the sun's diameter and 49% of the sun's area, according to observatory officials.
People packed into a field at California Institute of Technology to get a group glimpse of the partial solar eclipse.
"The public appreciating astronomy is obviously really important to us as scientists, and a big part of why we do what we do," Caltech graduate student Sam Ponnada said.
There were easily 2,000 people who showed up for the rare event. Caltech even provided solar telescopes, so people could get a closer look as the moon crept in front of the sun.
"You can't help but feel there's something powerful happening in the sky," Kaley Romo said. "You look around, too, and you see all these people here it feels pretty special."
Even though Southern California was not in the path of totality, the partial eclipse drew thousands of people to the Orange Coast College Planetarium.
The sunny weather in the region made for a special moment to enjoy.
"I woke up this morning, and I was like 'It couldn't be any better than this,'" Jessica Artinger of the Orange Coast College Planetarium said.
The planetarium and the school's astronomy club set up the event to give people a chance to experience the eclipse through special tools, including a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope.
"This is only our second time taking it out for the public. The last time was in 2017, and it's the biggest telescope that any community college or even maybe university in the state of California owns," Artinger said.
When is the next solar eclipse?
If you want to be in the path of totality for the next solar eclipse, you'll have to do some traveling.
According to NASA, a total solar eclipse will happen In August of 2026 across Greenland, Iceland, Portugal and northern Spain.
The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in August 2044, and that will take place in Montana and both Dakotas.
As for California, people will have to wait until August 2045.
WATCH: LAUSD students get science lesson during partial solar eclipse
City News Service contributed to this report.
