A rare solar eclipse is seen from Tokyo on Monday morning. People across the globe planned viewing parties to watch the event. 
Keith Ryan, the mayor of Bondurant, Iowa, took this image from his backyard. He said he used the lenses from a pair of 3D glasses to create a filter for his camera. "It wasn't pretty, but it did help me capture some cool pictures." 
Junior high school students observe the solar eclipse through special glasses on a playground in Tokyo. 
Tokyo residents could get a spectacular view for about four minutes Monday morning. 
CNN iReporter Scott Brown captured the solar eclipse from Albuquerque , New Mexico. 
Heavy clouds obscured the event in Hong Kong. 
A partial solar eclipse is seen at sunrise in the coastal town of Gumaca, Philippines. 
A girl and her mother observe the eclipse as it's projected onto a white background through a telescope in Tokyo. 
Derek Ralston shot this image in the foothills above Oroville, California. "I thought that it would be interesting for the rest of the world to see how clear it looked to those of us who were fortunate enough to see it," he said. 
A small bird rests on a powerline in front of the solar eclipse in Los Angeles, California. 
Joel Dykstra unexpectedly captured the ring of fire from his backyard in Roswell, New Mexico. 
In Moraga, California, eighth-grader Aaron Lin marveled at the crescent sun projected all over his backyard wall in the shadow of a tree. 
A slightly overcast sky in Eugene, Oregon provided a dramatic backdrop to the eclipse. 
The sky flamed red in Dallas, Texas. 
A spectacular view from the golf course of The Club at Sonterra, San Antonio, Texas. 
- 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
(CNN) -- 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.
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.
CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki, Tyson Wheatley and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.
