August 21 total solar eclipse: Watch as ISS photo-bombed the sun and many more magical moments!

Progression of a partial solar eclipse over Ross Lake, in Northern Cascades National Park, Washington. (Image courtesy: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

New Delhi: On Monday, August 21, the world witnessed a rare celestial event – one that made the us wait 99 years – the total solar eclipse.

Ever since American space agency NASA, in 2014, confirmed the occurrence of a total solar eclipse in 2017, the United States had been anticipating the experience of a lifetime.

Well, the solar eclipse finally happened and how! While people from across the country rushed to places in the US, where the eclipse was clearly visible from, those who weren't able to view it directly caught its live coverage on NASA's website as well as on YouTube.

NASA left no stone unturned and caught some of the most glorious images of the moment when the moon crossed between the Sun and Earth, blocking the face of the Sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.

The eclipse looked gorgeous and no one could get enough of the two-minute magic that left the world in awe.

It didn't take long for social media platforms to get flooded with images of the beautiful event and Twitter soon experienced an outpour of lovely photographs.

Check out some of the most incredible images of the eclipse captured by NASA as well as by people around the US:

While millions of people across the United States experienced a total eclipse, there are only six people who actually witnessed the umbra from space – no prizes for guessing – the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Viewing the eclipse from orbit were NASA’s Randy Bresnik, Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson, ESA (European Space Agency’s) Paolo Nespoli, and Roscosmos’ Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy.

Voila! The #Eclipse2017 shadow from @Space_Station, no words needed // Voilà! L'eclisse vista dalla Stazione Spaziale, non servono parole... pic.twitter.com/7kD5AYb5zj

— Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) August 21, 2017

The International Space Station also photo-bombed the sun during its eclipse phase, while a NASA photographer captured the video. The ISS can be seen as a silhouette, a small spot gliding across the giant sun.

The space station crossed the path of the eclipse three times as it orbited above the continental United States at an altitude of 250 miles.

It's the moon, sunspots AND the station in front of the sun. @NASA photographer captures station transiting sun during #Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/hAVRINz0bv

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 21, 2017

Station transits sun at 5 miles per second in video taken at 1,500 frames per second with high-speed camera from Banner, Wyoming. pic.twitter.com/x6NNvCc0Af

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 21, 2017

Here's a view of the solar eclipse as it crossed Jefferson City, Missouri:

Hear the crickets? During totality of #SolarEclipse2017 the crickets begin to chirp because they think it's night: https://t.co/cOKssim1bY pic.twitter.com/sztula7lkD

— NASA (@NASA) August 21, 2017

Below is a view of the eclipse from Oregon:

First glimpse of #SolarEclipse2017 totality in Oregon! Take a look here and watch our live stream for more: https://t.co/cOKssim1bY pic.twitter.com/g9zEbWFXfk

— NASA (@NASA) August 21, 2017

Below are images of the eclipse from the lenses of people across the US:

My dad managed to capture solar flares in his pictures from the eclipse today! pic.twitter.com/VYrbmOq0x9

— rachel (@whxsper) August 22, 2017

The #eclipse in totality from Salem, OR! #eclipse2017 #hyperlapse #totalsolareclipse pic.twitter.com/xhJJ8PkW6J

— Fiorella Ikeue (@fiorella_ikeue) August 22, 2017

The solar eclipse today was breathtaking! #SolarEclipse2017 #SolarEclipse pic.twitter.com/KGnswqc66i

— Adventures of Mitch (@Mitch_Summers) August 22, 2017

Too excited to wait to download! #rap #Philly #ECLIPSE pic.twitter.com/MqTp1NjBTI

— YASHEEN VICKERS (@blksunworld) August 22, 2017

Total #Eclipse over the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, S.C.https://t.co/2M9JVclCPt pic.twitter.com/eorwn6k793

— Jamie Lovegrove (@jslovegrove) August 22, 2017

A Total Solar Eclipse over Wyoming via NASA > the best thing about outer space is that goes great with #420 & #Beer ;) pic.twitter.com/dVKMidIHjY

— Mr Muchacho (@Mr_Muchacho) August 22, 2017