Thousands of people gather in Central Park to witness the sun setting, on a sunny day despite the weather forecasts. 

This afternoon, the moon audaciously eclipsed the sun, casting a shadow even over New York City, albeit only partial due to the city’s distance from the total darkness path that stretched across the USA from southeast to northwest. The spectacle drew thousands of observers to Central Park’s Great Lawn, where they cheered and applauded the sun’s disappearance beneath the imposing lunar shadow. Among the spectators were Columbia student Parviz, originally from Bombay, who joked about the eclipse’s significance to his Parsi religion, and Emre Connors, an Iranian who settled in the Big Apple after the 1979 revolution, who believed the event held spiritual and esoteric significance. Despite the cloudy weather forecast, protective glasses were in high demand among city-dwellers who sought to witness the event from rooftops, sidewalks, or other open spaces. No organized event was held in Central Park to observe the partial eclipse, but this did not deter the city’s residents from celebrating the spectacle in their beloved park. While some New Yorkers attended the paid events held at the city’s main viewpoints, others flocked to Hoboken in New Jersey, closer to the total eclipse path, and some simply enjoyed the event after work in the city without a horizon. The eclipse marks the latest supernatural manifestation in a city periodically shaken by monsoons, smoke-filled skies, diverse weather phenomena, and occasional earthquakes.