Solar Eclipse 2012 In Colorado: CU-Boulder Sets Viewing Record (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

PHOTOS: CU-Boulder Sets Solar Eclipse Viewing Record

Despite some cloud cover and a few sprinkles, skywatchers across Colorado got some spectacular views of the rare annular solar eclipse on Sunday evening.

In Boulder, nearly 10,000 people gathered to watch the solar eclipse in Folsom Field and set a new record for the most people to view an eclipse in one place, The Daily Camera reported. Dr. Douglas Duncan, Director of Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, emceed the event, gave out prizes and talked the crowd through the science of the eclipse in the process.

The sky was cloudy in Boulder and at times blocked stages of the eclipse entirely. When clouds would block the view, the Folsom Field crowd would "boo," so to keep things entertaining, Dr. Duncan and his crew would lead the crowd in some wishful thinking by instructing the nearly 10,000 viewers to stand, face away from the eclipse and blow as hard as they could to try and make the clouds move. And whether it was due to the blowing or Mother Nature herself, the clouds did part and viewers got an eyeful as the moon eventually blocked 86 percent of the sun.

The moon began it path in around 6:23 p.m. on Sunday evening, reached maximum eclipse at 7:30 p.m. and then completed its journey just before sunset around 8:00 p.m..

In downtown Denver, a good size crowd also gathered at City Park at an event hosted by the Denver Nature and Science Museum. Viewers also gathered at an event held at Denver's Observatory Park, hosted by the Denver Astronomical Society. The Denver Post reports that a brief downpour before the eclipse began nearly dashed the hopes of skywatchers, but the rain passed and the clouds opened up.

But with the heavy cloud cover Sunday evening, some Coloradans had no luck, Westword's Michael Roberts reported that from his vantage point in Jefferson County clouds blocked the entire event.

The next eagerly anticipated celestial event to view in Colorado will be the transit of Venus across the sun on June 5 -- an event that will not occur again until 2117.

LOOK: Video and photos from the solar eclipse around Colorado

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Annular Solar Eclipse In Colorado

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