Thousands gather for world's largest solar eclipse party

Solar eclipse party: Even a partial eclipse was enough to draw a crowd of thousands to Folsom Field in Colorado to see the moon take a bite from the sun.

By Stephanie Pappas,?Space.com / May 21, 2012

Observers gaze up at the annular solar eclipse on May 20, 2012 at a special event held at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field football stadium in Boulder, Colo.

Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado

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Thousands of people turned their eyes to the sky at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field football stadium here Sunday (May 20) to watch the moon slip in front of the sun to create a spectacular "crescent sun."

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The partial eclipse in Colorado occurred during a rare?annular solar eclipse, in which the moon passed in front of ? but did not completely obscure ? the sun. In parts of China, Japan and eight western states, the celestial show created a dazzling "ring of fire" effect, while wide swathes of the U.S., including Colorado, saw a partial solar eclipse.

But even a partial eclipse was enough to draw a crowd of thousands to Folsom Field to see the moon take a bite from the sun. The organizers had billed the event as the?world's largest solar eclipse viewing party.

At times, clouds periodically obscured the eclipsed sun, eliciting boos from the crowd. But when the clouds parted at 7:13 p.m. MDT (9:13 p.m. EDT/0113 GMT) several minutes before the maximum eclipse, it left some in the stadium speechless. [First Photos of May 20 Solar Eclipse]

"I can't think of words," said Bryce Pantoja, 15, who came with his family from the nearby city of Castle Rock to view the solar eclipse.

Astronomer Douglas Duncan, the director of the Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado, Boulder, arranged the eclipse-viewing event, mobilizing thousands of specialized solar-viewing glasses for the occasion. About 50,000 pairs ofsolar eclipse glasses?were sold or given to schoolchildren in the days before the event, Duncan told SPACE.com.

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