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All eyes pointed toward the sky as millions of people across parts of the U.S., Canada and Mexico witnessed the moon temporarily shroud the sun.

People traveled from around the country and world into the “path of totality” for this rare celestial event. Analysts projected that spending surrounding the total solar eclipse—such as booking hotels or dining out—could reach as high as $6 billion. That’s about $300 million more than Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour brought in for local economies within her path of totality during 2023, reported the Morning Brew.

For others, the eclipse offered a unique opportunity to study the environmental impacts of this temporary darkness—from unusual animal behaviors to solar power disruptions. Today, I wanted to spotlight some of these efforts and what experts have learned so far.

Solar Shrouding: For energy experts, a natural first place to look at eclipse impacts is the resource that relies on sunshine: solar. Since the U.S.’s last total eclipse in 2017, solar installations in the country have increased threefold, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Before yesterday’s eclipse, researchers at NREL used models to predict a decrease of about 35.3 gigawatt-hours in solar energy across the country during the sun-blocking event (other estimates projected around 39.9 GWh).

While the overall impact has not yet been confirmed, losses were particularly high in Texas and “a swath of the middle of the country from Minnesota to Indiana to Louisiana,” writes Matthew Zeitlin for Heatmap. To prevent widespread blackouts, grid operators likely filled in the gaps using hydropower and natural gas, according to Solcast, a solar forecasting company.

You may be wondering why this matters if total eclipses are so rare. Jin Tan, a principal investigator at NREL has the answer: “The methodology from NREL’s eclipse study is applicable to any extreme weather event.”

This includes cloudy storms and wildfires, which spread smoke across vast expanses of the sky and reduce solar output by as much as 50 percent, reports Bloomberg. Some of these extreme weather events actually eclipsed the eclipse in parts of the country, including a major celestial festival in Texas that ended early due to forecasts of high winds, tornado activity, hail and thunderstorms.

Animal Oddities: Throughout history, citizen scientists have documented a variety of quirky behaviors from animals during eclipses—from honey bees swarming to nocturnal birds tweeting their tunes in the middle of the day. This year is no exception: Zookeepers at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas saw many animals seemingly turning in early for the night by walking toward their barns and sleeping quarters as temporary darkness descended, reports CBS News.

But little research exists beyond anecdotal reports. That’s why NASA recruited an army of citizen scientists this year to be its eyes and ears on the ground during the eclipse, writes Geraldine Castro for Wired. The space agency asked people to record and make observations for how animals reacted, and to submit their findings to the “Eclipse Soundscapes” citizen science project. They will use these recordings to study different ways species perceive the eclipse in a more formal manner.

“When it comes down to it, answering our science questions about how eclipses impact life on Earth depends entirely on the data that people volunteer to contribute,” Kelsey Perrett, communications coordinator with the Eclipse Soundscapes Project, said in a statement. “Our participants, including our project partners and facilitators, allow us to span the entire eclipse path and collect way more data than would be possible for just one small team.”