Widespread Enthusiasm over Solar Eclipse

The “ring of fire” solar eclipse seen in some parts in Indonesia was welcomed enthusiastically by locals. The natural phenomenon served as a medium for education, tourism and a source of gratitude.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The “ring of fire” is seen on Thursday (26/12/2019) in the sky above Bunsur Field of Sungai Apit district in Siak regency, Riau. The local people and migrant community in Siak enthusiastically welcomed the annular solar eclipse, the second eclipse that could be observed in Indonesia after the partial lunar eclipse on 17 July 2019.

SIAK, KOMPAS – Locals enthusiastically welcomed the annular, or “ring of fire”, solar eclipse seen in parts of Indonesia on Thursday (26/12/2019). Discussions on the rare phenomenon were led not only by scientists and religious preachers. It was also celebrated through cultural events involving people from various backgrounds.

At midday on Thursday, the sun turned into a ring of fire over Siak regency in Riau. The sky, which had turned red only moments before, darkened despite the lack of clouds. Thousands of locals who had gathered at the Kampung Bunsur field in Sungai Apit, Siak, witnessed the change through solar glasses and expressed their awe almost in unison. The 2019 Annular Solar Eclipse Festival organizers then asked the attendees to join in chanting the shalawat (Islamic praises).

Amazing, like a ring.

The phenomenon could be witnessed from Siak and several other regions of Indonesia on Thursday. In Sungai Apit, the solar ring of fire lasted from 12:16:02 to 12:19:40.

“Amazing, like a ring,” said Radho Apriansyah, a sixth-grader from Sungai Apit hamlet, who had come to the eclipse observation site with his father Masnur, 40. This was Radho’s first time to witness an annular eclipse.

The route of the annular eclipse on Dec. 26, 2019, was between 117 kilometers (km) and 164 km wide and spanned 12,900 km from the Arabian Peninsula to the Arab Sea, southern India, the Bay of Bengal, Indonesia, Singapore, the Sulawesi Sea, Guam and the West Pacific. In total, the eclipse lasted five hours and 36 minutes.

In Indonesia, the annular solar eclipse passed over 25 regencies and cities in seven provinces of Sumatra and Kalimantan. The longest annular eclipse at three minutes and 39 seconds was seen in Sungai Apit, around 90 minutes by car from downtown Siak Sri Indrapura.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Children use special glasses to look at the partial solar eclipse on Thursday (12/26/2019) at Al Akbar Mosque in Surabaya, East Java. The mosque’s caretakers and the East Java branch of the Lajnah Falakiyah Nahdlatul Ulama (LFNU) provided 9 binoculars and many as 99 eclipse glasses for the activity, which aimed to introduce astronomy while providing a real-life learning experience during the year-end school holiday.

Rare occurrence

On average, eclipses occur in the same location every 375 years. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. Unlike the full solar eclipse seen in Indonesia on March 9, 2016, the sun was not fully closed by the moon in the annular solar eclipse. This is because the moon is at its furthest point from the earth, resulting in its smaller appearance seen from the earth. Consequently, the moon only covers the sun’s center.

This means the edge of the sun remains visible, appearing like a “ring of fire”. Due to this remaining sunlight, the sky is not as dark as during a full solar eclipse. It is only dimmed as if during a cloudy day.

Celebrating knowledge

Kompas observation shows that the annular solar eclipse was witnessed by enthusiastic locals in various parts of Indonesia where it was visible. In Sumatra, people thronged to watch the natural phenomenon in Padang, West Sumatra; South Lampung, Lampung; and Medan, North Sumatra.

Lauwwira, 55, in Padang declined an invitation to go to Melbourne in Australia and chose to go to Kampung Bunsur in Siak to witness the annular solar eclipse.

Lauwwira had witnessed the 2016 full solar eclipse in Palembang, South Sumatra. At the time, the eclipse could not be clearly seen due to smog.

The Siak regency administration packaged the annular solar eclipse observation with a tabligh akbar (mass sermon), an eclipse prayer, a religious music event and an astronomy education center. The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) and the Siak regency administration officially named Bunsur an eclipse observation site. “This is a rare occurrence,” Lapan head Thomas Djamaluddin said.

In Medan, thousands of locals, including students, witnessed the eclipse at the Postgraduate Campus of North Sumatra Muhammadiyah University - as if joined for a massive celebration of science. Thousands witnessed the eclipse using special glasses and smiled when the yellow sun was covered by a dark sickle.

KOMPAS/AUFRIDA WISMI WARASTRI

Laila Khirunnisa Nasution (18, left) and Idri Nur Ramadhani (18, right) looked a solar eclipse on the Postgraduate Campus of Muhammadiyah University, North Sumatra, Thursday (26/12/2019).

Similar scenes were seen in Yogyakarta as well as in Sidoarjo and Malang in East Java. Locals in Tegal, Central Java, joined an eclipse prayer despite the lack of an eclipse sighting in the area.

Due to clear skies, the eclipse could be clearly seen in eastern Kalimantan, including in Tanjung Redeb, Berau regency, East Kalimantan, and in the North Kalimantan capital of Tanjung Selor.

The solar eclipse sighting in Tanjung Selor began at 12:14 Central Indonesian Time and the annular phase began at 14:09 Central Indonesian Time. “The annular solar eclipse peaked at 14:10 Central Indonesian Time and ended at 14:11 Central Indonesian Time,” North Kalimantan’s Class III Tanjung Harapan Meteorological Station head Sulam Khilmi said.

In Badung, Bali, a partial solar eclipse was seen. In Mataram and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, locals could not see the annular solar eclipse as the sky was cloudy and it was rainy.

Apart from introducing an astronomical occurrence to locals, researchers also documented the phenomenon for scientific purposes. In Siak, Lapan researchers used three telescopes to record the eclipse. “The telescopes are for live streaming and taking photos and videos,” Lapan’s Bandung Space Science Center researcher Muhamad Zamzam said.

Researchers from the Solar Eclipse Observation Team of the Indonesian Education University’s Earth and Space Laboratory also observed the eclipse. According to team member Judhistia Aria Utama, they measured the degree of the sky’s dimming and the sunlight’s changing intensity during the eclipse.

(JOL/HRS/CIP/NIK/VIO/WSI/XTI/RUL/COK/WER)