‘Absolutely breathtaking’: Big Islanders awed by partial solar eclipse

If you were rising at dawn today in Hawai‘i, you were among those who had a chance to witness the sun and moon put on a solar show during the final eclipse of 2024.

The islands were the only place in the United States where you could get at least a partial view of the annular solar eclipse — or “ring of fire” eclipse — that swept a third of the way around the globe from the North Pacific to the South Atlantic.

Many across social media platforms posted their photos from the cosmic alignment that placed the moon between the sun and Earth, including Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

“When we aren’t chasing comets, we can be found safely chasing solar eclipses,” wrote the park in a 9:31 a.m. Facebook post. “Check out these images taken from the edge of Kīlauea volcano early Wednesday morning, Oct. 2. This event could only be observed in Hawaiʻi, American Sāmoa and other southern locations.”

The 3 photos the park shared were out of this world.

“Absolutely breathtaking!” commented Virginia Baptiste. “I took a bunch from West Oahu, but of course I don’t have a beautiful camera and vantage point like you have. Thank you for sharing it with us.”

Susan Wilmes said “mahalo nui” for sharing what she called beautiful photos from one of her favorite places in the world.

“Haha,” laughed Katie Stearns Friday, “beats my colander projections.”

Several other one-word reactions to the photos such as stunning and amazing were also offered by commenters.

One simply said, “WOW!”

It was the second partial solar eclipse to be visible in Hawai‘i this year. The first was in April during the total solar eclipse that swept across parts of the mainland, called the Great North American Eclipse.

Wednesday’s solar event started at 5:44 a.m., so it was underway as the sun rose above the eastern horizon, and ended about 2 hours later.

Rieko Barreto said in her comment on the national park’s post that it didn’t show up until 6:43 a.m. over Hualālai in Kona. She watched it from the pier in Kona and it lasted more than 30 minutes.

Mandy Braviroff and her gang drove down to the beach in Hawaiian Shores in Puna at sunrise Wednesday.

While she didn’t get any pictures of the partial eclipse, she did of day breaking.

“The eclipse was amazing,” Braviroff wrote in the email that included her photo, adding that “this sunrise was incredible!!!!”