Trumps on White House balcony join the millions watching eclipse as totality sweeps eastwards across the US in celestial event-of-a-lifetime

The First Family gathered on the White House balcony to watch the first total solar eclipse to sweep across America in 99 years.

President Donald Trump was joined on the terrace by wife Melania, his children Barron and Ivanka, and cabinet members including Jeff

Sessions, for the once-in-a-lifetime event. At one point he even risked blindness by peeking at the sun without eclipse viewer glasses before an aide instructed him to put them on, the Daily Mail reports.

Darkness swept across the US on Monday as the eclipse traveled from coast to coast, ending just before 3pm EDT in South Carolina.

The celestial event began in Oregon at just after 9am PDT, and by 10.20am, the sun was completely blocked out except for a halo-like solar corona plunging the area into twilight. Over the next 90 minutes, the total eclipse traveled through 14 different states until ending in South
Carolina. The other 36 states were all treated to a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun.

One stunning picture of the eclipse showed the International Space Station clearly visible in front of the eclipsed sun, while in another, a plane was highlighted against the darkened sun, illuminated only by the solar corona.

Millions had turned out to see the natural spectacle, including the Trumps and dozen of celebrities including the Kardashian clan, Ellen DeGeneres and Serena Williams.

In Oregon, locals ran out of their homes, with eclipse glasses or homemade contraptions in hand, to watch the moon fully cover the sun. 

“It's really, really, really, really awesome,” said 9-year-old Cami Smith as she watched the fully eclipsed sun from a gravel lane near her grandfather's home at Beverly Beach, Oregon. 

The temperature dropped and birds quieted down as the line of darkness raced across the continent. In Boise, Idaho, people clapped and whooped, and the street lights came on briefly in the middle of the day, while in Nashville, Tennessee, people craned the necks at the sun and knocked back longneck beers at Nudie's Honky Tonk bar.

The temperature dropped and birds quieted down as the line of darkness raced across the continent. In Boise, Idaho, people clapped and whooped, and the street lights came on briefly in the middle of the day, while in Nashville, Tennessee, people craned the necks at the sun and knocked back longneck beers at Nudie's Honky Tonk bar.