Total solar eclipse: thousands across Indonesia witness rare celestial event

THEGUARDIAN

As a solar eclipse arched across the skies of Indonesia on Wednesday, tens of thousands of people across Indonesia gazed upward, hoping for a glimpse of the rare natural phenomenon.

Crowds started to form at the observatory in central Jakarta as early as 3am with eclipse watchers arriving early to receive a free pair of glasses and secure the best spot.

Some brought picnics with them, while others climbed onto the observatory roof or perched on top of idle fire trucks to escape the hordes

As the moon started to pass between the earth and the sun, the skies took on an unusual twilight tone, and the first crescent became visible.

“I felt the greatness of creation when I saw it,” exclaimed Wiwi, a Jakarta resident.

“It’s so coooool,” said Fabio, aged 5, “The sun looks like the moon!”

A solar eclipse results when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow over the Earth. It is only possible during the new moon phase, when the dark side of the moon faces the Earth.

Only a partial eclipse, about 88% coverage of the sun, was visible from 
Jakarta but it did not disappoint viewers.

“I was so excited the first time I saw it!” said Yahra, a high-school student, viewing 
the eclipse through a piece of potato crisp packet.

Since the early morning, officials had distributed 4,000 pairs of eclipse glasses, butthere wasn’t enough to go around, leading to some outlandish improvisations.

One man grabbed an x-ray of his broken leg, and invited a handful of people to huddle behind it and watch the eclipse with him.

“I came for the free glasses but there weren’t any left,” said Abdul Rahman, 36, 
“Anyway, the x-ray material was very clear, better than the glasses.”

As the eclipse coincided with a national holiday for Nyepi, or Balinese New Year, 
many used the holiday to enjoy the day out with their families.

Ongko Wiyono, 45, a civil servant woke up hours before dawn to get to the observatory with his wife and two children.

“It’s so different to the last eclipse,” he said, “This time the government is giving the public the opportunity to see it and really encouraging us to learn about it. I bought my kids here so they could really experience it.”

When there was a solar eclipse in Indonesia in 1983 the government warned people to stay indoors fearing the natural phenomena would have negative health impacts, or cause blindness. Some pregnant women even hid under the covers.

But this year the authorities had been actively promoting the eclipse 
and there was a string of colorful events across the country.

Without the cloud cover a total eclipse would have been visible from 12 of 34 provinces in Indonesia.

But while Jakartans were enthralled by the planetary alignment, some viewers in other parts of the country were thwarted by the overcast weather.

Despite the intermittent rain, cultural researcher Karen Macdonald and her husband John scrambled up a muddy slope 40km from Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan hoping to witness the event.

“The sky darkened quickly and dramatically and then it was like the dimmers had
been turned back on very fast,” said Macdonald, “It was all over in two and a half minutes.”

According to Nasa the next solar eclipse will occur in 2017 and will be visible from the United States.