Thousands view solar eclipse in Africa and Asia

DHANUSHKODI, India – Thousands of people in Africa and Asia viewed an eclipse Friday as the moon crossed the sun's path blocking everything but a narrow, blazing rim of light.

The path of the eclipse began in Africa — passing through Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia before crossing the Indian Ocean, where it reached its peak, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Web site.

The path then continued into Asia where the eclipse could be seen in Maldives, southern India, parts of Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China.

Clouds obscured the partial solar eclipse in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, disappointing residents who were up early to catch a glimpse.

"I woke up very early because I wanted to see the eclipse, but I have only been able to catch just a few seconds of it because the clouds kept blocking the view. If I weren't more observant, I would've missed it," said Monica Kamau.

The eclipse is known as an annular eclipse because the moon doesn't block the sun completely.

Annular eclipses, which are considered far less important to astronomers than total eclipses of the sun, occur about 66 times a century and can only be viewed by people in the narrow band along its path.

In Uganda, locals refer to an eclipse as a war between the sun and moon.

"It is rare to see such an eclipse. I am excited to be seeing this one. It shows how powerful God is," said Damalie Nakaja, a shopkeeper in Kampala.

Friday's eclipse was visible from a 190-mile (300-kilometer) -wide path that passes through half the globe, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Web site.

Hundreds gathered to view the phenomenon in southern India's Dhanushkodi, a tiny town at the tip of a rocky strip of land jutting out into the ocean, where the eclipse could be seen for about 10 minutes.

In the southern Indian city of Bangalore, hundreds went to a planetarium to see it.

"This is my first time viewing an eclipse through a pinhole camera at a planetarium and I'm very excited," said 12-year-old Aniruddh Kaushik.

But others in India were gripped by fear and refused to come outdoors. Hindu mythology states an eclipse is caused when a dragon-demon swallows the sun, while another myth says the sun's rays during an eclipse can harm unborn children.

In northern India's Haridwar town, hosting the Kumbh Mela — touted as the world's largest religious gathering — thousands of devout Hindus were expected to mark the eclipse by taking a dip in the frigid waters of the sacred Ganges river.

The eclipse could also be viewed in Indian capital New Delhi and Mumbai, the financial hub.

In Male, capital of Maldives, hundreds of people watched the eclipse with special glasses in an open field as it reached its peak.

The last total eclipse of the sun was on July 22, 2009, when it was visible in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and some Japanese islands.

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Associated Press writers Sinan Hussain in Male, Maldives; Aijaz Rahi in Bangalore, India; Godfrey Olukya in Kampala, Uganda and Ronald Bera in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

'Blazing ring' eclipse races across Africa, Asia

by Jeemon Jacob Jeemon Jacob – Fri Jan 15, 6:16 am ET

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (AFP) – A solar eclipse that reduced the sun to a blazing ring surrounding a sombre disk plunged millions of people in Africa and Asia into an eerie semi-darkness on Friday.

The spectacle, visible in a roughly 300-kilometre (185-mile) band running 12,900 kilometres (8,062 miles) across the globe, set a record for the longest annular eclipse that will remain unbeaten for more than a thousand years.

An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun but does not completely obscure it, thus leaving a ring -- an annulus -- of sunlight flaring around the lunar disk.

The Moon's shadow first struck the southwestern tip of Chad and western Central African Republic at 0514 GMT and then reached Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia before racing across India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

Local media in the affected areas issued warnings about the dangers of looking directly at the sun, but fascinated onlookers thronged streets to witness the celestial phenomenon.

"It's getting interesting. Birds are singing. It's actually getting cold here," said John Saitega, a 34-year-old father of six in Olte Tefi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Nairobi.

In India, where the eclipse was visible from the southern-most tip, astronomers and curious spectators watched in awe, using sunglasses and even ultra-dark welding masks as day turned into darkness.

There were cheers and applause in the city of Bangalore when clouds cleared just in time to show the Moon glide into position to cover about 85 percent of the Sun.

Veteran eclipse chaser Daniel Fischer from German astronomy magazine Interstellarum picked a vantage spot on a cliff in Varkala, 62 kilometres (38 miles) north of the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala.

"I?m thrilled. My first eclipse was Indonesia in 1983," said Fischer, who has witnessed 23 eclipses in total.

The Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched three small rockets on Thursday and another five on Friday to study the effects of the event on the atmosphere.

"We will compare the data obtained on normal days with data during and immediately after the eclipse to study the difference," project director P. Ratnakar Rao told AFP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The eclipse, which was followed live on cable television in India and China, temporarily put a halt to the world's biggest religious gathering in northern India.

Temples in Haridwar, site of the Kumbh Mela which sees millions of Hindus bathe in the holy river Ganges, were closed for the duration of the eclipse because the phenomenon is considered inauspicious, an organiser told AFP.

Residents in the Ugandan capital Kampala got a good view, although some were afraid of the intensity of the light, with many sharing dark glasses to gaze up at the sky.

"Can't it burn someone? You can't even look direct because I'm fearing for my eyes. I'm fearing it can burn me," said Angela Namukwaya, a shopkeeper in a Kampala suburb.

The maximum duration of "annularity" -- the time the moon is in front of the sun --- was 11 minutes, eight seconds at 0706 GMT, making it "the longest annular eclipse of the 3rd Millennium," according to NASA.

Only on December 23, 3043 will this record be beaten.

In China's capital, Beijing, a partial eclipse made a crescent of the setting orange sun before the lunar shadow expired over the Shandong peninsula at 0859 GMT.

"It's cool. The weather conditions are pretty good. It's really rather magnificent," said one male Beijing high school student, one of about 40 observing the eclipse from Coal Hill, overlooking the Forbidden City.

Bakunawa eats the sun behind a curtain of clouds

GMANews.TV - Saturday, January 16

A native myth tells of Bakunawa, a dragon-like snake that rises from the sea once or twice in a man’s lifetime, and reaches up to the sky to brazenly eat the sun or the moon. But this time, Bakunawa chose to consume the sun while hiding behind a curtain of clouds – at least for viewers in suburban Quezon City.

Notwithstanding the pesky cloud formations that obstructed the view, the throng of people who trooped to the Astronomical Observatory at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman got several good glimpses of the longest solar eclipse the country has seen in recent history.

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The spectacular astronomical event of the moon moving across the solar disk – which started at 3:49 p.m. Friday in Metro Manila – drew a crowd of about 50 astronomy enthusiasts including students in school uniform, employees from nearby offices, community residents, and kids as young as seven years old. [See: Cosmic Kid: Gabo’s fascination with the cosmos]

The eclipse, which lasted until 5:51 p.m. in Metro Manila, is the longest since 1992, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). It added that the eclipse was visible in various parts of the world, in a wide swath that goes across central Africa, the Indian Ocean and eastern Asia. “Annular sa ibang bansa pero as observed sa Pilipinas, partial lang ito (It's an annular eclipse for the other countries, but as observed here in the Philippines, it's just a partial eclipse)," said Renato de Leon, Pagasa specialist. In an annular eclipse, the sun appears as a bright ring when directly in line with the moon, which in turn appears to the viewer on earth as a smaller dark disk.

Obstructive clouds

At exactly 4 p.m., however, dark clouds coming from the south of Metro Manila started to cover the sun, which by then had manifested a barely noticeable outline of the moon’s edge.

The obstructive clouds elicited a collective gasp from the expectant crowd. “Wala na (It's all over)," some of the viewers remarked. Around 4:15 p.m., the clouds started to diffuse to show a partial view of the sun, which by then was already covered by the moon by 15 percent, according to de Leon's assessment.

For the most part after that, the relentless clouds proved to be a spoiler for the highly anticipated event. As if they had a will of their own, thumbing their nose at the throng of eclipse watchers, the clouds continually moved across the sun, blocking its visibility several times. According to de Leon, the clouds' movement was due to the prevailing weather condition of a northeast monsoon wind or amihan. “Mukhang wala nang pag-asa (Seems hopeless)," he said at one point. Even so, the crowd lingered at the Pagasa facility's rooftop as well as on the Observatory's front yard, tinkering with their own telescopes, cameras and the simple filters distributed by the agency's personnel.

Eclipse maximum The eclipse's maximum finally came at 4:53 p.m. and the clouds started to part, if only slightly, and allow just a few minutes of seeing the moon covering about a quarter of the sun. The crowd gathered around the two telescopes set up by the Observatory, hoping to catch a direct and projected view of the eclipse. The children started chanting, “Ayan na! Nakikita ko na! (There it is! I see it already!)" The eclipse neared its end at 5:51 p.m. just as the sun was sinking below the horizon. The crowd started thinning out. “Ok naman siya, panira lang ang clouds. Bihira lang kasi tayong makakita ng sun na lumulubog bilang crescent (The eclipse was okay, but the clouds were a spoiler. It’s just that we seldom see the sun setting as crescent-shaped)," said Edward Bornilla Jr., a member of the UP Astronomical Society, a student organization. Two Observatory telescopes

To prepare for the event and the anticipated influx of visitors wanting to view the celestial event, the Observatory set up two telescopes: one on its rooftop and another on its front yard. The one at the rooftop, a refracting telescope with a 6-inch lens, projected the view of the eclipse on a calibrated paper for indirect view. The other, a reflecting telescope with a 7-inch lens set on the front yard, provided a wider view, where visitors can look directly at the sun through a filter fitted on the eyepiece. The Observatory has two other telescopes which are used for data-gathering, according to de Leon. In instances when an astronomical event such as an eclipse is expected, the Observatory is opened to the public for free, he added. During regular days, however, a minimal fee of P25 is charged for the use of the telescopes. Four Observatory specialists were there during the eclipse to assist the viewers. A technician was also nearby to document the eclipse using a digital camera attached to a telescope. Myth and superstition

Apart from drawing in the sky-watching enthusiasts or simply curious viewers, eclipses are also known to pique the Filipino's penchant for superstitious beliefs. Revelinda Talub, a resident of Meycauayan, Bulacan who traveled to the Observatory with her family including her seven-year-old grandson, said she has heard of stories relating eclipses to disastrous events. “Ang alam ko lang, nagti-trigger daw 'yan ng earthquake (What I’ve heard is that it triggers earthquakes," she said. Louise Vincent Amante, a Humanities professor who came to watch the event, also said eclipses are believed to be harbingers of bad omen, such as wars and pestilence. “A year before the Second World War, a total solar eclipse put Europe in total darkness, and people eventually connected the eclipse with the most devastating war in world history," he said.

Amante also recounted a variation of a story in Philippine mythology, originating from the Visayan region, which told of a serpent-like creature springing from the seas to eat the sun and the moon. The creature, named Bakunawa, is described to be part-dragon and part-snake, with such features as scales, claws and fangs. “The people would then have to make noise to distract the Bakunawa and make it spit out the sun," Amante said.

This time around, at least for viewers of the eclipse along the famous Manila Bay, Bakunawa slowly went down into the sea with its solar prey still partly in its mouth. A most spectacular sight indeed. – JV, GMANews.TV

Solar Eclipse to Grace Africa and Asia Friday

Geoff Gaherty
Starry Night Education
– Wed Jan 13, 5:31 pm ET

An annular eclipse of the sun will take place on Friday Jan. 15. The solar eclipse path begins in central Africa, crosses the Indian Ocean to touch the southern tip on India, and then moves on to southeast Asia, ending in southeastern China.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible over much of Africa and Asia.

An annular eclipse is the "poor cousin" of a total solar eclipse. It occurs when the Earth is closest to the sun at the same time as the moon is farthest from the Earth, so the moon isn't quite large enough to totally cover the disk of the sun. As a result, even at maximum eclipse, a ring of the sun appears behind the moon, hence the name "annular."

Although not as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, an annular eclipse is still an interesting event. Many of the events of a total eclipse are present, including the dimming of the sun's light and the effects on wildlife.

It is perhaps more dangerous than a total eclipse because the sun is never completely covered, so that there is no time during the eclipse when it can be safely viewed without a dense filter. If a special solar eclipse filter is not available, a No. 14 welder's glass can be used. Note that this is denser than the standard No. 12 welder's glass, and can only be purchased in specialized welding shops.

One good way to view an eclipse safely is by placing a small mirror, less than an inch in diameter, on a sunny window ledge. This will project an image of the eclipsed sun into the room. The ground under a tree becomes a myriad of miniature eclipse images, as the eclipsed sun peeks between the leaves.

Computer software like Starry Night allows stay-at-home eclipse viewers to travel to any place along the eclipse path. As an example, we could virtually travel to Kampala, capital city of the landlocked African country of Uganda.

Kampala, like Rome, is a beautiful city built on seven hills. It is the home of Makerere University, the oldest university in East Africa. When the sun rises at 6:55 a.m. local time, the eclipse is just about to begin. At 7:06, the moon starts to cover the upper limb of the sun. At 8:25, the moon is centrally placed on the sun, and the full annular effect is visible.

This would be a good time to try to spot Venus. Less than one degree from the eclipsed sun, Venus is extremely bright. Use a roof edge to block the sun, and see if you can spot Venus. By 10:04, the eclipse is over in Kampala.

At the other end of the eclipse track, in Chongqing, China, the eclipse begins at 2:22 p.m. local time with the moon approaching from the lower right, and reaches maximum at 3:51 p.m.. Venus will be to the left of the eclipsed sun. The eclipse ends at 5:07 p.m., with the sun setting 10 minutes later.