Jacob Sanders uses a piece of welder’s glass to get a look at the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School look in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Solar Eclipse starts at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Monday, August 21, 2017.(Photo by Kyusung Gong, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Morganne Malloy, 13, of Ladera Ranch holds a solar filter in front of her lens as she takes a photograph during the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It was all eyes to the sky as visitors look through binoculars, telescopes and solar glasses at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Solar Eclipse is seen through the sanctuary roof at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Monday, August 21, 2017.(Photo by Kyusung Gong, Orange County Register/SCNG)



People gather at Eisenhower Park in Seal Beach Monday morning to view the eclipse through special glasses, box projectors and a telescope projecting onto a screen. Savanna Sickel uses a cereal box to project an image of the sun to see the eclipse in Seal Beach on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The partial solar eclipse as seen from Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. in San Juan Capistrano, CA on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Solar Eclipse reflects on the sanctuary at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Monday, August 21, 2017.(Photo by Kyusung Gong, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Solar Eclipse happens above Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Monday, August 21, 2017.(Photo by Kyusung Gong, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The solar eclipse is seen as the moon passes 61.5 percent between earth and the sun at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Matt Masin, Orange County Register, SCNG)



The solar eclipse is seen as the moon passes between earth and the sun at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Matt Masin, Orange County Register, SCNG)

The moon covers the sun during a total eclipse Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, near Redmond, Ore. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The moon covers the sun during a total eclipse Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, near Redmond, Ore. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The moon almost totally eclipses the sun during a near total solar eclipse as seen from Salem, Ore., Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

The Solar eclipse as viewed from Torrance, CalIfornia Monday August 21, 2017. Photographed with a Celestron C8 GPS. Chuck Bennett/Daily Breeze/SCNG



The Eclipse as viewed from Torrance in this 5 image composition . Chuck Bennett/Daily Breeze/SCNG

The partial solar eclipse as seen from Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. in San Juan Capistrano, CA on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)

The solar eclipse is seen as the moon passes 61.5 percent between earth and the sun at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Matt Masin, Orange County Register, SCNG)

Alyssa Bowman gets he first look at the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Isabella Williams, center, and Isis Perry look at the shadow of the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Students at Lexington Junior High School prepare to don their solar glasses during a viewing assembly in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Julia Ward uses special glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Alexandra McDevitt uses special glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Students from Lexington Junior High School look at the shadow of the solar eclipse in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The partial solar eclipse as seen from Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. in San Juan Capistrano, CA on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)



About 10,000 students in the Santa Ana Unified School District viewed the solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017 through special glasses provided courtesy of NASA and Google. Viewing events using the donated glasses took place at nine intermediate sites, and three of the district’s K-8 schools that serve intermediate grades. Here, students at Willard Intermediate School watch the eclipse along with their instructor. (Photo courtesy of SAUSD)

Students from Lexington Junior High School look at the shadow of the solar eclipse in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors stand in line to look through telescopes at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Gabriel Martin del Campo uses special glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Coral Wilson of Mission Viejo looks through a telescope at the partial solar eclipse as her bird, Kaya, waits patiently on her shoulder at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



People gather at Eisenhower Park in Seal Beach Monday morning to view the eclipse through a telescope projecting onto a screen in Seal Beach on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Science teacher Bev Berekian holds a 3D printed solar eclipse shadow viewer in the shape if California at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Emily Tan and her husband Demian Valle of Tustin left their toddlers behind so they could experience a once-in-a-lifetime event at the Discovery Science Center. “This is the coolest thing ever,” Tan exclaimed while looking at the eclipse with special glasses. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Science teacher Bev Berekian holds a 3D printed solar eclipse shadow viewer in the shape if California at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Computer teacher Russ Day holds a kitchen colander as the round holds show the shape of the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Computer teacher Russ Day holds a kitchen colander as the round holds show the shape of the partial solar eclipse at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Two-year-old Zoe Short of Irvine gets assistance from her mom Jean while viewing the eclipse at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Pragati Muthuselvan looks at the partial partial solar eclipse through a telescope at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kaley Tam, 7, from left, Sophia Lu, 8, and Taylor Tam, 9, all of Irvine, view the solar eclipse through a special viewing mirror at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Monday, August 21, 2017. The event drew a large crowd and plenty of telescopes and home-made viewing devices. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The partial solar eclipse seen from Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Christian Lopez, left, and Adrianne Lee look at the shadow of the partial solar eclipse through viewers they made at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, California, on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

People gather at Eisenhower Park in Seal Beach Monday morning to view the eclipse through a telescope projecting onto a screen in Seal Beach on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Shelana Wilson is all smiles as she and her 3-son Justin !!, look at the solar eclipse through a cardboard box at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mackenzie Iavarone, 4, of Rancho Cucamonga seems to be looking in the wrong direction of the solar eclipse during a viewing party at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Anela Saxton, 7, of San Clemente reacts to the solar eclipse as her mom Angie tekes a cell phone picture of the historic event. They were at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Addison Iavarone, 7, of Rancho Cucamonga witnesses history as she views the solar eclipse at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana, CA on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Gus Bastian, 2, gets a lift from sitter Ashley Christensen, of Huntington Beach, during their visit to the solar eclipse party at Orange Coast College on Monday, August 21, 2017. The event drew a large crowd and plenty of telescopes and home-made viewing devices. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

As the eclipse begins the sun passes over the monument to great astronomers at the Griffith Observatory. Thousands gathered at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles to watch the 2017 solar eclipse. ( Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Giselle Fathi, 6, left, and Ione McKay, 5, right, both of Costa Mesa, take their turn to watch the solar eclipse with a large telescope at a viewing party at Orange Coast College on Monday, August 21, 2017. The event drew a large crowd and plenty of telescopes and home-made viewing devices. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Seth Aguirre, left, and Herena Kim, right, take in the solar eclipse at a viewing party at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Monday, August 21, 2017. A large crowd gathered to view the eclipse through various telescopes and home-made viewing devices. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)



The solar eclipse as seen from the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jason Dickerson of Tustin used a pair of Walmart binoculars to set up a projection of the eclipse at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. “I didn’t think a $9 pair of binoculars would be so popular he joked as the set-up attracted attention.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rayan Matine, 10, watches the beginning of the eclipse at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cooper Wise of Newport Beach rigs up his cell phone with protective eye glasses to photograph the eclipse in Santa Ana on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Student Aya Mykhailenko stands in the midst of telescopes and views the solar eclipse at a viewing party at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Welding student Kevin Le, of Fountain Valley, was told by his instructor that his welding helmet would be useful for viewing Monday’s solar eclipse. Le joined a large viewing party at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

This Sunspotter was one of many viewing devices brought out at Monday’s solar eclipse viewing party at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa on Monday, August 21, 2017. The event drew a large crowd and plenty of telescopes and home-made viewing devices. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Lauren Van, 31, of Riverside, uses protective glasses to take a picture of the solar eclipse with her cell phone at the University of California, Riverside campus in Riverside, Ca., Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Thousands gathered at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles to watch the 2017 solar eclipse. ( Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Four photographs showing the different stages of the partial solar eclipse as seen from Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Visitors walk up the road to the nature center to look through telescopes of the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Proudly displaying their solar glasses are from left: Kayla Ostovar, 10, Mona Parsa of Irvine, Layli Ostovar, 9, Ayva Ostovar, 10, and Heidi Ostovar of San Clemente, during the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017.(Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jen Paganelli of Capo Beach holds her son Luca, 2, as he looks through a telescope at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It was all eyes to the sky as visitors look through binoculars, telescopes and solar glasses at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors look through a telescope at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Visitors walk up the road to the nature center to look through telescopes of the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors look through a telescope at the partial solar eclipse at Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

About 10,000 students in the Santa Ana Unified School District viewed the solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017 through special glasses provided courtesy of NASA and Google. Viewing events using the donated glasses took place at nine intermediate sites, and three of the district’s K-8 schools that serve intermediate grades. Here, Willard Intermediate School teacher Kylene Bailey and her students watch the eclipse during a schoolwide event. (Photo courtesy of SAUSD)

Thousands of amateur astronomers gathered in parking lots and outside libraries, squeezing in among solar telescopes and giant TVs with their pinhole projectors and safety glasses to watch Monday’s rare eclipse.

A corruption trial in San Bernardino was even halted so jurors could take a 45-minute eclipse break. Others crowded onto the rooftop of Capital Records in Hollywood for an unobstructed view.

Denise and Mike Zellmer of Orange made sure to get their spot early, arriving at their local library before 6 a.m. to guarantee they received blackened glasses to look at the sun as the moon obscured its rays. Initially, the couple considered camping overnight, but nixed the idea after a midnight drive by the library to check for any crowds.





Spectators watch a partial solar eclipse as seen from Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano on Monday, August 21, 2017. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)“We will never be able to see this again,” Denise Zellmer said. “There’s nothing like it.”

By 9:30 a.m. the Orange Public Library handed out all 500 of its special glasses to the overflowing crowd.

Priscilla Malchow hauled a homemade pinhole projector bigger than her 4-year-old son to the library. She got the idea from a 1960s Time Magazine article. Kids took turns putting their heads in the box to watch the eclipse.

Larry Middendorf took a different approach, Frankensteining together a device early Monday he dubbed the “Eclipsenator 2017.” Made from two empty Pringles cans, four red Solo cups, duct tape, plastic bags and a magnifying glass, Middendorf hoped his creation would give him a sizable glimpse at the event.

“I have the glasses, but with this I’m going to get a bigger and better view than I would with just the glasses alone,” he said.

Early Monday a marine layer socked in coastal areas, worrying some they might miss the rare sighting because of the overcast skies.

“They broke just in time,” said Orange Coast College astronomy instructor Jerome J. Fang, who with his colleagues arrived at 5 a.m. to unpack equipment for the school’s viewing party.

It was worth the early morning.

“It was fun to see everyone just go ‘Wow’ when they looked through a telescope,” Fang said. “It was a wonderful experience just to be able to connect with what’s happening in the sky. Just seeing people looking through their glasses, mouths agape, and that connection between us here on Earth and what’s going on space.”

At Orange Coast College, Fang estimates 1,000 people gathered in the parking lot with lawn chairs and an assortment of devices, many fashioned out of cereal boxes and cardboard. The college set up nine special telescopes and streamed NASA’s live feed of the eclipse onto two 84-inch TVs.

Evan Wallace, a 27-year-old from Laguna Beach, arrived early at the school with the sextant he uses while delivering yachts from around the world to safely get a glimpse of the vanishing sun.

While eclipses aren’t a rarity, many often are only visible from uninhabited regions of the ocean. Monday’s eclipse was the first in 99 years to cross the United States, starting in Oregon and ending in South Carolina, casting a 70-mile wide total shadow over the earth. In Southern California, about 62 percent of the sun appeared veiled by the moon.

UC Irvine organizers bought 450 glasses for the event, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the 1,100 people who gathered on the campus to gaze at the sun side-by-side with scientists. It was the largest such gathering of the Physics and Physical Sciences departments since Professor Sherry Rowland won the Nobel Prize in 1995.

Because of the crowd, organizers asked visitors to share the glasses and only use them for 15 minute increments. As the eclipse approached maximum coverage, crowds gathered around a whiteboard to watch the projection from a telescope.

“It’s almost looking like a crescent moon,” Kerry Beth Daly said.

At the Discovery Cube OC in Santa Ana, Tustin resident Jason Dickerson, 44, set up in the courtyard a homemade contraption using duct tape and $9 binoculars from Walmart that drew more than 50 bystanders. He projected an image of the eclipse the size of the small palm of a hand onto a piece of paper.

Among the budding scientists surrounding Dickerson’s device was Annabell Frey, who turned 4 years old on Monday and wore a pink crown to the museum.

“It takes the solitary part out of it, because you can look at it with everybody,” Dickerson said. “It turned out way better than I thought it would.”

Lois Pearson, 83, initially thought the eclipse was overhyped, and chalked up the natural phenomenon as “no big deal.”

But after watching TV coverage at home in Costa Mesa, she decided she had to see it for herself. She showed up at Orange Coast College later than many viewers.

She gasped in awe as she gazed at the eclipse using a special mirror held by a volunteer at the school.

“It’s incredible,” she said. “When I get to heaven I’m going to watch the eclipse from the other side.”

People in line to use a telescope @UCIrvine solar eclipse viewing party pic.twitter.com/vr9kLkvgsP — Tomoya Shimura (@OCRTomoya) August 21, 2017

Who said you need special glasses to see the eclipse? #SolarEclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/PhrYjricw0 — Louis Casiano (@LouisCasiano) August 21, 2017

People lining up @orangecoast to get a view as the eclipse commences. #SolarEclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/CaHBLqcA5W — Louis Casiano (@LouisCasiano) August 21, 2017