BUFFALO, N.Y. -- When Buffalo State College was designated by NASA as an eclipse official viewing location, they never thought so many people would show up to take a look in the sky.
Over 1,000 people came out to a field where the rugby team practices to view the eclipse at about 2:30 p.m.
It's also estimated around 3,500 to 4,000 attended an event at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Many people waited around two hours to get into the museum, which was handing out protective glasses to view the eclipse. All 2,500 of them were taken at one point, and many people had to share.
"This is kind of crazy," said attendee John Augustyn. "I was not expecting this." At one point the line to get into the museum stretched through MLK Park.
On the same day, the museum debuted its newest "Buffalo in Space" exhibit.
At the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium on Buffalo State College's campus, Kevin Williams, Director and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences said the interest is a lot higher than they expected.
The college distributed 26,000 eclipse glasses. The partial eclipse served as a dress rehearsal for 2024 when Buffalo will see a total solar eclipse.
Jim Zappa is a space enthusiast and volunteer with NASA solar ambassadors.
"We learned the need for better crowd control and to have more solar glasses, and better community outreach," he said.
Lisa Vesterman said the eclipse is a great lesson for her son who has been excited for months about the spectacle in the sky.
A couple of telescopes were also set up for people to get a better glimpse.