Media caption Tokyo had a spectacular view of the eclipse 
 
 An "annular eclipse" has been viewed across a swathe of the Earth stretching across the Pacific from Asia to the western US. 
 
 The eclipse occurs when the Moon is at its farthest from the Earth and does not block out the Sun completely. 
 
 Millions of people witnessed the resulting "ring of fire" phenomenon. 
 
 The eclipse passed almost directly over Tokyo before sweeping just below Alaska's Aleutian islands and making landfall in the western US. 
 
 In Japan "eclipse tours" were held at schools and parks, on pleasure boats and even private airplanes. Similar events were also held in China and Taiwan. 
 
 TV in Tokyo broadcast the event live. 
 
 Light rain fell on Tokyo as the eclipse began, but the clouds thinned as it reached its peak, providing near perfect conditions. 
 
 Image caption Schoolchildren in Tokyo enjoyed the phenomenon 
 
 "It was a very mysterious sight - I've never seen anything like it," said Kaori Sasaki, who joined a crowd in central Tokyo. 
 
 Japanese electronics giant Panasonic sent an expedition to the top of Mount Fuji to film the eclipse using solar-powered equipment. 
 
 "Our goal is to broadcast the world's most beautiful annular eclipse from the highest mountain in Japan," the company said. 
 
 However, in Hong Kong skywatchers were not so lucky. Hundreds had gathered along the Kowloon waterfront where the Space Museum had set up solar-filtered telescopes, but heavy clouds obstructed the view. 
 
 In the US, viewing parties were reported in Reno, Nevada; Oakland, California, and elsewhere. 
 
 Hundreds also travelled to the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was hailed as one of the best vantage points. 
 
 "That's got to be the prettiest thing I've ever seen," said Brent Veltri of Salida, Colorado. 
 
 The eclipse was fully visible across a 240 to 300km-wide swathe but partial views could be seen across much of east Asia and North America. 
 
 The Slooh series of space telescopes has been covering the event on its website. ||||| Story highlights Northern California gets a clear view of the ring of fire 
 
 Tokyo residents enjoy spectacular scenes, but clouds mar Hong Kong viewings 
 
 More than 80% of the sun was blocked during the eclipse 
 
 The shadow of the moon swept across the globe from Hong Kong to the Texas Panhandle as a rare annular solar eclipse began Monday morning in Asia and traversed the Pacific. 
 
 The sun appeared as a thin ring behind the moon to people in a narrow path along the center of the track, which began in southern China. Heavy clouds obscured the view in Hong Kong, but residents of Tokyo and other cities were able to get a spectacular view for about four minutes around 7:32 a.m. Monday (6:32 p.m. ET Sunday). 
 
 Events were held at schools and museums in Japan, while many more people took in the unusual astronomical event at home or on street corners. 
 
 After whizzing across the Pacific, the shadow emerged over northern California and southern Oregon, where thousands of people attended parties to watch the event, the first to appear in the United States since 1994. 
 
 Experts warned that hopeful viewers should not peer up at the sky without special viewing equipment, since looking at the sun with the naked eye can cause blindness. 
 
 Just Watched Solar eclipse 'looks like a cookie' replay More Videos ... Solar eclipse 'looks like a cookie' 01:32 PLAY VIDEO 
 
 Derek Ralston, a professional photographer, said he used a welding filter to capture a direct view of eclipse in the foothills above Oroville, California. He shared the photo on CNN iReport. 
 
 Noting "the rather slim swath of the globe who could see the impact of the eclipse," Ralston said he wanted to enable "the rest of the world to see how clear it looked to those of us who were fortunate enough to see it." 
 
 The sliver of sunshine then traveled southeast across central Nevada, southern Utah and northern Arizona, and then New Mexico. It passed over Albuquerque, New Mexico, about 7:34 p.m. (9:34 p.m. ET) before petering out east of Lubbock, Texas, according to NASA. 
 
 An annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and sun at the farthest point of its orbit, meaning it will block less than the entire sun. That leaves a large, bright ring around it as it passes. 
 
 Patrick Wiggins, a NASA ambassador in Salt Lake City, said he always looked forward to seeing people's reactions to such events. 
 
 "You get everything from stoic, staring into the sky ... to people breaking down and crying, they're just so moved," he said. 
 
 Aaron Lin, an 8th-grade student from Moraga, California, said a tree in his family's yard had served as unexpected natural viewing device on Sunday. 
 
 The leaves of the tree, whose shadow falls on the side of the family's house, broke up the light from the eclipse into scores of tiny crescents on the wall, he said. 
 
 "I was so shocked by these shadows because it looked like a painting or computer art," said Aaron, 13. 
 
 Did you view the eclipse? Share your photos with CNN iReport and they could be featured on CNN. 
 
 The next solar eclipse will be on November 13, and is expected to be visible over northern Australia, according to NASA.
– The rare "ring of fire" annular solar eclipse did not disappoint. Millions of watchers from Tokyo to San Francisco and Albuquerque stood transfixed before homemade pinhole boxes, telescope projections, live action on computers—or peered at the sky with special cardboard glasses as the moon moved into position to turn the sun into a crescent, and, finally, left a slender, fiery ring around the mega star. Heavy clouds obscured the sun in Hong Kong, but the sky was clear for minutes in Tokyo to the delight of earthlings. After sweeping across the Pacific, the eclipse was spotted in Oregon and northern California, then Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, notes CNN. "Is it the nerd in me that's beyond excited to see this solar eclipse?" asked a tweeter. "It was a very mysterious sight. I've never seen anything like it," Tokyo watcher Kaori Sasaki told the BBC. Panasonic sent an expedition to the top of Mount Fuji to film the eclipse using solar-powered equipment. "This can get people to look up from their little anthill lives, and maybe get a sense of the bigger cosmic cycles that are going on all the time over our heads," said a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.The event was last witnessed in the US in 1994, and won't be seen again until 2023.