The Solar Eclipse of 26 January 2009

On that day I went and became a volunteer. It wasn't planned but I liked it anyway, because I got to become a telescope assistant, because the telescopes are placed at strategic places to view the sun with, because I'm ahead of the queue for the whole duration, and because there's nothing much to do most of the time anyway, I just went around taking pictures.

The eclipse this year as seen from Singapore involves the moon covering 80% of the sun's visible surface at its worst. From a strip of the earth spanning Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan, the eclipse will be annular, which means the sun will look like a hoop as the moon passes it by. People in the queue could observe it directly through black eyeglasses, or they can see a bigger one through the telescope. Biggest of all is a picture of the crescent sun projected indoors. Clouds were marauding towards the evening, the projected time of the maximum, such that the sun was never seen clearly again that day.

The sky, however, remained bright, as if the eclipse hadn't done anything to diminish it. I have seen cloudy days that were darker. If not for the telescopes and eyeglasses and projection, most of us wouldn't have noticed it.