MATTAPOISETT – Lots of eyes were on the sky during a solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.

In Mattapoisett, people gathered at the town wharf to watch the moon pass in front of the sun – an astronomical event that won’t be seen again in this part of North America until 2044, according to NASA.

Vera Squire, an eight-year-old Mattapoisett student who learned about the eclipse in school, explained that when “the moon blocks the sun, it will get dark and you can only see the light around the moon.”

From the Tri-Town, and most of Massachusetts, spectators saw a 90% eclipse, according to NASA mapping.

For Vera Squire, who watched the eclipse with her father and Center School science teacher Benjamin Squire at Mattapoisett’s town wharf, it was “exciting” to learn about something in class and then see it happen out in the world.

The Squire family was joined by Center School teachers who wore eclipse glasses provided by the Old Rochester Regional School District.

“We were talking about [the eclipse] all day today,” said Center School teacher Michelle Barry. “So hopefully [kids] went home and got their glasses on and got the full view.”

According to Mattapoisett Natural Resource Officer Thomas Gomes, who also watched the eclipse from the wharf, anyone with used eclipse glasses can dispose of them at a drop box at Mattapoisett Town Hall.

Collected glasses will be donated to groups that can distribute them to kids in South America who will see a similar eclipse on Oct. 2, he said.

Back at Mattapoisett Town Wharf, as the minutes passed, the moon creeped in front of the sun, leaving only a sliver of light visible to onlookers.

Near the end of the eclipse, spectators broke out into song, singing Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”