Solar Eclipse 9 March 2016

Now that I have cooled down from the long exposure of the Sun, I would like to share my thoughts on the solar eclipse that happened yesterday.

We got quite a scare yesterday morning when we first reached Bishan Park at 6.15am. The pre-dawn sky was still heavily blanketed by clouds. I thought to myself, "Uh-oh... let's hope for the best and be prepared for the worse." We continued setting up our telescopes with a heavy heart.

Lo and behold, the clouds started to leave at about 6.45am and there stood Venus in the sky, shining brightly above, as if it was a promise by the Morning Star, that the day will not be in vain.

True enough, the eastern view was clear throughout the day!

Throngs of people started streaming in and made a beeline towards our telescopes. Some of us were busy giving out free solar glasses to the public for safe viewing, while some of us were busy explaining to the crowd about what to expect soon.

My very first solar eclipse! Woohoo! Gosh I could not contain my excitement when I spotted the Sun slowly getting devoured by the Moon until it became a crescent. I thought to myself, "Not bad for a first timer."

The whole sky turned slightly dark at the maximum point (87%) of the eclipse at 8.23am. The whole experience was eeriely surreal to me - seeing a brightly lit place turned ghostly pale for a brief time.

I only had a few moments to fully admire the eclipse as my station was jam packed by curious folks from all walks of life. Nonetheless, we had great fun bringing the experience to the general public. Many of them left with pictures of the eclipse taken with their camera phone on our telescopes. Oh, and it was also a first time for many of us amateur astronomers to witness this beautiful and stunning partial solar eclipse.

This will always be an awesome day that I will remember in many years to come.

Thanks to my astro buddies for making this event happen, you know who you are *wink*.

Thanks to Channel News Asia, Asian Scientist Publishing, and Power 98 for covering the news of the solar eclipse at Bishan Park.

I have attach a video of the coverage of the event. Credits to Alice Chia, Channel New Asia.

Next #SolarEclipse visible from Singapore will b on 26 December 2019: Sg Sidewalk Astronomy pic.twitter.com/4DjzsKJ3Ga

— Alice Chia (@AliceChiaCNA) March 9, 2016

Here's the news link from Channel News Asia. www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-captivated-by/2585324.html

Here are some pictures of the event. Photo credits to Dave Ng and Avarielle.

Just arrived.

Setting up.

Waiting.

Some photographers came as well.

Some people started coming in.

Solar eclipse!

Hot, hot, hot!!!

How the solar eclipse looked like at its maximum.

How it looked like through my ST-80 telescope.

Enthusiastic people trying to take a picture of the solar eclipse.

Crowded!

A zoom-in version of the above picture.