The Des Moines area reached maximum solar eclipse at 1:08 p.m. Thanks to some breaks in the clouds, most watchers got to glimpse the eclipse.
There were thousands gathered at the Iowa State Capitol from about the noon hour through the countdown to maximum eclipse, which was 95-percent for the Des Moines metro area, at 1:08 p.m.
The crowd cheered every time the cloud cover broke to allow watchers to look up with their eclipse glasses, or to look through special eclipse telescopes set up by the Science Center of Iowa for the event.
Close to the time of maximum eclipse, it became dark, like twilight, and the temperature dropped.
Joe and Christina Luing of Ankeny were among those checking out the eclipse near the Iowa Capitol Building in Des Moines.
"Just so the kids can experience it, it's part of a little piece of science," said Joe Luing.
"The kids are both big into science, so something like this is super exciting," said Christina Luing.
Ten year old Lela Hibbert of West Des Moines, and her 13 year old brother John Hibbert were there too.
"I think it's really cool, because you can see the sun and the moon at the same time, and with these glasses you can see it without going blind," said Lela Hibbert.
Shawn Taylor brought his family from Ames to Des Moines. He says they are members of the Science Center of Iowa and didn't want to travel out of state to Nebraska or Missouri to see the total eclipse, but wanted to experience the watch party hosted by the Science Center.
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