'Ring of Light' delights Asian skywatchers

PETALING JAYA (Dec 26): Skywatchers across Asia were treated to a rare annular solar eclipse today, various news agencies reported.

This rare event of the moon covering the sun's centre made the sun’s visible outer edge to be seen as a ring of light or “annulus” around the moon.

According to the National Planetarium's website, most Malaysians could at least see a partial eclipse for about two and a half minutes between 11:35am and 3pm at different locations across the country.

Only certain places such as Tanjung Piai in Johor and Serian in Sarawak were able to witness the annular eclipse.

In Kuala Lumpur, cloudy skies hampered viewing of the partial eclipse between 1pm and 1:30pm.

People looking up could only catch glimpses in between the movement of clouds.

AFP said skywatchers from Saudi Arabia and Oman to India and Singapore witnessed the event.

The international news agency reported that hundreds of amateur astronomers and photographers waited at Singapore’s harbour for what some described as a “once in a lifetime” event.

The eastern Indian state of Odisha declared a public holiday, with all government offices, courts, schools and colleges closed.

A cricket game was delayed by two hours in a first-class match between Mumbai and Rajkot.

In Indonesia, hundreds of people gathered outside Jakarta Planetarium to watch the event using protective glasses supplied by the planetarium, hoping for clear skies at the time of maximum eclipse.

AFP also said the next annular eclipse in June 2020 will be visible to a narrow band from Africa to northern Asia.

The following one in June 2021 will only be seen in the Arctic and parts of Canada, Greenland and the remote Russian far east.

Click here for more property stories.