Last month , Americans turned out in horde for a once - in - a - lifetime event , as a total solar eclipse made its way across mainland US for the first fourth dimension since 1918 .

While we knew a luck of people determine it , a study from the University of Michigan has revealed just how popular the case was . And , well , it ’s pretty impressive .

accord to their study , 215 million adults watched the occultation either directly or electronically . That ’s 88 percentage of the intact universe of the US . Even more imposingly , that ’s more than twice the number of people who viewed the last Super Bowl ( 111 million ) .

“ This level of public interest and engagement with a science - oriented event is unparalleled , ” say Jon Miller , director of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy at the University of Michigan ’s Institute for Social Research , in astatement .

The finding are based on response from 2,211 adults , collected by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago . Miller conducted his research in partnership with NASA .

Of those who watched it , 61 million did so electronically – be that via the net , TV , or whatnot . Around 20 million locomote from their nursing home to another surface area to be able to watch it , with only a thin band across the US actually seeing total ( which , having been there , I can secernate you   was a wonderful and unvanquishable experience ) .

Only about 6.5 million view the eclipse as part of an organized grouping , with most opting to see it with family or friends . This is probably because it occurred Monday good morning on a regular workings day . About a third of people take word picture or video , and half of those shared those on societal medium .

pretty divertingly , on a scale leaf of zero to 10 on how much they savor it , those surveyed   have it just an average of 7.6 . Guess people are hard to please , eh . On an educational scale of measurement , they gave it a 7 .

But hey , at least it was wide seen . If you were one of the 12 percent of Americans who did n’t watch the occultation , fear not . There ’s going to be anotherin 2024that , while it wo n’t cross the whole US , it will be visible from Mexico all the way up to Maine . After that , you ’ll have to wait until 2045 .