The National Mall looked a lot like an IMAX movie theater Monday as droves of Washingtonians and visitors donning flimsy cardboard glasses lied back in the grass to gaze up at the feature attraction: the moon eclipsing the sun.
Washington wasn’t in the “path of totality” that offered eclipse enthusiasts a total solar eclipse Monday afternoon, but viewers still got to glimpse nearly 90 percent of the sun’s surface blocked by the moon. It started around 3:20 p.m. and lasted for several minutes.
Federal agencies including NASA, the NOAA and the National Science Foundation joined the Smithsonian museums to host a solar eclipse festival on the National Mall on Monday that was packed with families and tourists eager to stare at the sun.
Eclipse glasses were hot commodities, although some kids came prepared with pinhole cameras made from cardboard boxes and duct tape.
