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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Science
Claire Phipps in Sydney

Total solar eclipse: crowds in Indonesia watch as moon blocks sun – as it happened

Time-lapse footage shows total solar eclipse passing over Pacific – video

We are wrapping up our live eclipse coverage now – thank you for reading and for sharing experiences and images.

You can read our full write-up of today’s events here:

As the eclipse period drew to an end, Kate Lamb sent this report from Jakarta:

As a solar eclipse arched across the skies of Indonesia this morning, thousands donned their rectangular eclipse glasses and gazed upward, hoping for a glimpse of the rare natural phenomenon.

Crowds started to form at the observatory in central Jakarta as early as 3 a.m. 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, and secure the best view.

As the moon started to pass between the earth and the sun the light 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, after witnessing it for the first time. “It’s so coooool,” said Fabio, age five. “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, resulting in 88 percent 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 chip wrapper. Since early morning officials had distributed 4,000 pair of eclipse glasses, but with so many eclipse goers there wasn’t enough to go around.

It made for some resourceful and hilarious improvisations. One man grabbed an x-ray of his broken leg, the entire square sheet, allowing a handful of people to huddle behind it and view the eclipse together.

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

Did you witness the eclipse today? Share your photos and videos with the Guardian here or via the blue GuardianWitness button at the top of the live blog.

Time-lapse footage sped up 3,000% shows the moon slowly blocking the sun, reaching a total solar eclipse. The eclipse swept its way across Sumatra, Indonesia and then Hawaii over the course of about three hours.

Total solar eclipse shown in time-lapse footage.

These step-by-step images shows the progression of the eclipse as viewed from Ternate, in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands:

The moon passing in front of the sun (top left to bottom right) during a total solar eclipse in the city of Ternate.
The moon passing in front of the sun (top left to bottom right) during a total solar eclipse in the city of Ternate. Photograph: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Our write-up of Australia’s partial eclipse today is here:

Readers have been sharing their own photographs of the eclipse from across the Asia-Pacific region.

You can share your own eclipse images and videos – and see more of those submitted by other readers – here, or via the blue button at the top of the blog.

The Philippines

On Wednesday March 09, 2016, we were able to witness the partial solar eclipse with several teachers and students at St. Cecilia's College - Cebu. Using only improvised pinhole projector, water basin and a pair of xray films, the students are engaged with one of the spectacular science phenomena. We are hoping that this event could further spark their curiosity in the field of sciences.

Brunei

Jerudong International School - Brunei

Vietnam

The partial solar eclipse as seen from a Saigonese townhouse, through a passing cloud.

Thailand

Taken 7.52AM local time, light cloud cover assisted in taking this shot. Underexposed 2 full stops, I was lucky to have one of the famous Krabi Birds Nest Swallows fly into the frame.

Singapore

Image of the sun using pinhole camera

A cloudy Hawaii has witnessed its peak partial eclipse and … that is almost that.

There remains just over 45 minutes of the solar eclipse to run, as the moon continues its journey and unblocks the view of the sun over the Pacific.

We’ll continue to bring you the best images of the day here.

Parts of Australia today saw up to 50% of the sun shielded by the moon.

Those near the top end of the Northern Territory had the best view in the country, with about half the sun covered after 10am. Far north Queensland saw a little less at 11.21am, and most people in Western Australia would have been able to see about 10% of the sun blocked.

In Darwin dozens of people crowded the CBD mall to hear from Geoff Carr, who described himself as “not quite an umbraphile, but pretty close to it”, and look through his variety of eclipse-viewing tools.

Others made pinhole projectors from two pieces of paper, while some had fashioned welding glass into a viewer. Passersby lined up to look at the sun through Carr’s large telescope and German solar filter.

The 50% eclipse peaked at exactly 10.17am as Carr explained to the crowd it would take about another hour and 15 minutes to completely clear.

“Every eclipse is unique,” Carr, an astronomy enthusiast and star tour operator, told the Guardian.

Lynne, a tourist visiting from Guernsey, said she liked looking at it through the cardboard framed solar glasses, rather than the – extremely expensive – telescope.

“I thought it was absolutely amazing [through the telescope], you could see all the bubbles on the outside of the sun, because I thought the sun was round, but obviously it isn’t,” she told the Guardian.

“I preferred the glasses because it sort of dulls down the image and you just get the sun as an orange shape. But it’s absolutely amazing to come from one side of the world to the other and see this. Superb.”

Kate Lamb has news from Palu province in central Sulawesi, Indonesia, where a five-day music festival is underway:

“It was emotional,” says meditation guru Skidmore, a Canadian attending the festival. “We had some pumping music and then before the eclipse it was silent. There was a reverence that fell over everyone.”

The moment of totality was incredible, said Skidmore. “For minutes we were speechless. I shed a tear, we were all in awe.”

It has been overcast at the festival for the past few days, including this morning, but the clouds moved just in time for the eclipse, and returned shortly after. “It was a God moment,” said Skidmore.

According to its website the event was inspired to create a “gathering of tribes of interconnected species from all over the planet through our Technological Cyber Reality (Internet) all the way to the mystical land of Sulawesi, where we can all witness and celebrate a magical total eclipse of the Sun”.

The solar eclipse came and went unnoticed in Japan, much of which was blanketed in cloud on Wednesday morning.

As the expected partial eclipse reached its peak in Tokyo at 11:08 am local time, office workers in the capital’s Shiba neighbourhood opened up umbrellas as a light drizzle turned to rain.

Sky-gazers took to Twitter to voice their disappointment. Tokyo-based @WT_K summed up the feelings of many of the city’s residents when he said: “So, where is this eclipse, then? Where is it?”

@takoyaki_ogre, meanwhile, claimed he had witnessed an eclipse – which translates as “sun-eating” in Japanese – of sorts while having lunch:

Wednesday’s anticlimax was in stark contrast to the dramatic solar eclipse seen in Japan in May 2012.

But people in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, where the weather was clear and sunny, did manage to get a view of the partial eclipse.

Updated

There was a partial eclipse in a cloudy Hong Kong – still an impressive sight, mind you:

Kate Lamb sends this dispatch from Jakarta:

For an insight into the Indonesian sense of humour, and the national addiction to selfies, take a look at this meme that plays on mythology and local slang.

According to mythology, the god of darkness, Batara Kala, can cause an eclipse by swallowing the sun.

The first slide in this meme shows a demon screaming ‘Lapaaar’, meaning hungry, very hungry. In the cartoon, the ravenous demon remembers that he has forgotten something very important. Ah yes! It’s that he must take a selfie first! (It is 2016 now).

But as the demon clicks away and then deliberates on what hashtag to use (“hmmm pake hestek apa ya?”), the sun, and the chance for him to eat it, has slipped away!

To mark the event this year Indonesia Post has also came out with a special edition postal stamp, with the famous sun-eating demon.

Kate Lamb writes from Jakarta:

In the city of Palangkarya in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), the eclipse was met with a traditional Dayak ceremony.

Ethnic Dayaks from Kalimantan have a long history of practising animist rituals.

This morning Dayak elders shook ceremonial bamboo instruments, making loud noises to scare the Batara Kala demon away from “eating or swallowing the sky”. There was also ritual fortune-telling.

Marko Mahin, a Dayak and anthropology professor at Palangkaraya Christian University, was in the city.

“Today even though it was cloudy, we still could see the eclipse intermittently. When the sky was dark and when the sun about to come out, we could feel the ambience for several minutes,” he said.

“The birds chirped noisily like before dawn and people beat gongs and drums noisily like it in the old times.”

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has tweeted his view of the eclipse, calling it “a sign of God’s greatness”.

The partial eclipse begins in Hawaii in the next few minutes, peaking at 5.36pm local time (on Tuesday, blame the date line).

“It was spectacular,” Daniel Orange, a tourist from California, who was watching the total eclipse on the small western island of Belitung, told AFP.

“It was very beautiful, there are a lot of people here and when the totality hit, everybody cheered. I got goose bumps.”

Osamu Kikuno, a businessman from Japan, told the Guardian he came to watch the eclipse at the request of his 10-year-old son:

He sent me an email saying, ‘Hey dad, today is the day.’

He was talking to his friends at school, he really wanted a picture of it.

Osamu Kikuno at the Jakarta Observatory.
Osamu Kikuno at the Jakarta Observatory. Photograph: Kate Lamb for the Guardian

Some striking images are coming in from Bali, which has experienced a partial eclipse in what appear to be very clear skies:

A partial solar eclipse is seen at Serangan village in Bali.
A partial solar eclipse is seen at Serangan village in Bali. Photograph: Firdia Lisnawati/AP
Children wear goggles to watch a solar eclipse over Bali.
Children wear goggles to watch a solar eclipse over Bali. Photograph: Firdia Lisnawati/AP

Today is also Nyepi, marking the new year on the Balinese calendar, and is marked as a “day of silence” by Balinese Hindus. Coconuts Bali reports that those observing Nyepi are usually not supposed to leave the house on the day:

That said, the effects of the eclipse will be visible from any window, says I Wayan Suardana, head of meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, Central Region III Denpasar.

Australia’s Northern Territory had a better view, though:

Hmm. It’s not looking promising in Tokyo:

Tokyo is due to witness a partial eclipse within the next half-an-hour – however, as my colleague Justin McCurry reports from Japan, the city has woken up to blanket cloud and light drizzle so it’s unclear (sorry) what, if anything, will be visible.

Fingers crossed.

Ternate in eastern Indonesia will be one of the last places to see the eclipse.

Nurjanah Hassan, who lives in Ternate, said:

I’m so happy that I can see this rare phenomenon in my life.

Agence France-Presse reports that among those coming to Ternate to watch is Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who recently hit the headlines after a $40,000 toilet custom-built for her visit to Cambodia went unused. Officials insist that no luxury commode has been built for her on this occasion.

Guardian reader Mark Gales shared this image from Manila, in the Philippines – thank you.

Others can share their pictures and videos with us here.

Just taken this from Manila, Mark Gales, British citizen.

The partial solar eclipse was also visible in Thailand – here’s the view from Bangkok this morning:

Associated Press has been speaking to passengers on that Alaska Airlines flight to Honolulu who are viewing the eclipse from the air:

Skygazers from around the US caught a flight from Alaska to Hawaii on Tuesday for prime viewing of a total solar eclipse that will unfold over parts of Indonesia and the Indian and Pacific oceans.

A dozen eclipse enthusiasts were among the 181 passengers on the plane that departed Anchorage for Honolulu. Joe Rao, an associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York, called Alaska Airlines last fall, explaining that the flight would be in the right place for the eclipse. The route was expected to encounter the darkest shadow of the moon as it passed over Earth.

Problem was, the plane would be passing by nearly half-an-hour too soon.

The airline said it rescheduled the flight to depart 25 minutes later, and it is expected to rendezvous with the eclipse’s sweet spot nearly 1,100km (700 miles) north of Honolulu. After the schedule tweak, Rao and a dozen other astronomy aficionados booked seats for the big show at 11,000m (36,000 feet).

Rao, like other self-dubbed “eclipse geeks”, was thrilled about setting out to witness his 11th such spectacle.

“It is an experience,” he said. “Every fibre of you gets involved in those few moments when the sun is totally eclipsed.”

Craig Small, a semiretired Hayden Planetarium astronomer, was taking off to view his 31st total eclipse. If all goes according to plan, this event will put him over the 100-minute mark in experiencing eclipses.

To mark each viewing, Small carries a special eclipse flag made in 1972.

Also on board was Dan McGlaun, who brought 200 pairs of special filter classes to distribute to other passengers. McGlaun, a project manager who runs eclipse2017.org, will be viewing his 12th total eclipse.

“It’s going to be amazing. It always is,” he said before boarding. “It’s a universal reaction when you see an eclipse. You cheer, you scream, you cry.”

I should probably point out that the Guardian can’t vouch for the safety of watching the eclipse via x-ray film, water bottle labels or crisp packets.

Welders glass is more like it.

This fabulous image comes from Wolfgang Meike in Humpty Doo, outside Darwin. He took the picture of the partial eclipse through a welding mask.

This eclipse image comes from Wolfgang Meike in Humpty Doo, outside Darwin. He took the picture of the partial eclipse through a welding mask.
The partial eclipse in Darwin. Photograph: The Guardian

Kate Lamb writes from Jakarta:

These guys are using an x ray to view the eclipse.

“The glasses are very dark but the x ray material is very clear,” says Abdul.

“It was so exciting. I came here looking for the glasses, the free ones, but no more.”

He used his own x-ray, of his broken leg!

Watching the solar eclipse in Jakarta.
Watching the solar eclipse in Jakarta. Photograph: Kate Lamb for the Guardian

Perth, Western Australia, got a little taster of the eclipse this morning:

The partial eclipse has just hit its peak in Darwin at 10:17.

Where I am, a crowd of about 40 people are peering through telescopes, filters, and cellophane-type glasses to get a good look.

Peak partial eclipse in Darwin

Darwin was – clouds permitting – hoping for a 50% eclipse this morning. My colleague Helen Davidson is there:

The first of many stunning images of the total eclipse, which has been witnessed across Indonesia.

And another perspective, this time from Micronesia:

Wiwi, viewing the eclipse from Jakarta, told the Guardian:

I felt the greatness of creation when I saw it.

Wiwi watches the solar eclipse from Jakarta.
Wiwi watches the solar eclipse from Jakarta. Photograph: Kate Lamb for the Guardian

“I was so excited. It was the first time I’ve seen it,” said Yahra, who was using a torn-off piece of a Doritos chips packets to see the eclipse.

Updated

Kate Lamb writes:

It is all happening now in Jakarta. There is a kind of strange blueish light here, like dawn.

I got my first view of the eclipse and it was stupendous – thanks to the kind man who lent me his glasses.

It is just peaking now in Jakarta.

Totality

Sadly for the viewers in Palembang, it is cloudy. But totality is happening, and others across Indonesia can currently see the moon covering the sun. Pictures coming soon, but keep watching the live stream at the top of this blog.

More gorgeous images – this is the partial eclipse in Singapore right now:

Updated

Close to totality in Indonesia now:

Kate Lamb writes:

The total eclipse will arc across 12 of 34 provinces in Indonesia, first visible from Sumatra before sweeping across Kalimantan, and the islands of Sulawesi and northern Maluku.

In central Kalimantan the event will be met with animist Dayak rituals designed to scare the demon, Batara Kala, away from “swallowing the sun”.

Meanwhile in Palu, central Sulawesi, festivalgoers have spent recent days ushering in the phenomenon with psychedelic beats. Even the president has eclipse plans, reportedly joining hundreds of observers on the island of Belitung.

In Jakarta, the observatory is the place to be to view a partial eclipse and don’t forget the remote northern tip of Maluku, in the historical Spice Islands. That’s the chosen spot for a joint team from Nasa and Indonesia’s National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan). They will be documenting the event with a new Nasa-designed polarised camera.

Singapore will witness its peak partial eclipse in around 20 minutes from now; crowds are gathering outside now to await it:

In Yogyakarta, it’s looking pretty busy too:

What an image: this one’s from Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java.

Totality is now around half an hour away in Indonesia – it’ll be visible first in Palembang, Sumatra.

Darwin, Australia’s northern-most capital city, will get the country’s best view of the eclipse – around 50%.

“50% is still going to be quite a striking sight,” says Northern Territory astronomy enthusiast Geoff Carr.

“It’s not as good as a total solar eclipse, of course, which is the line of shadow which sweeps over Indonesia and out to the Pacific Ocean. But looking up at the sky and seeing half of the sun blocked out is still quite a dramatic sight.”

Carr runs the Star Safaris sightseeing company and is “not quite an eclipse addict, but very close to it”.

He tells the Guardian there’s a misconception that eclipses are rare, but a lot of factors have to align, including positioning, weather, and cloud conditions, making them “actually rather tricky things to view”.

“Sometimes there are just partial eclipses. Sometimes there are full eclipses and sometimes there are what’s called annular eclipses. That is when the moon doesn’t appear quite big enough to block the sun out completely so you get that ring of sun effect.”

I ask Carr if it’s going to get darker today, thinking it’s a silly question.

“That’s actually a point of debate and one of the interests in eclipses. You never quite know what you’re going to see,” he says.

“The sun is a very very bright light so you actually in theory have to cut quite a lot of it before the light levels start to drop noticeably. But that’s in theory.

“In practice if there’s a little bit of cloud cover you do notice a drop in light, and sometimes the light goes to a different colour or tone. Every eclipse is unique in that respect.”

The most spectacular sight Carr has ever witnessed was a full eclipse a few years ago. “It’s the most incredible natural event you’ll ever see. Every one of them has a certain quality that just blows observers away. That picture of the eclipse will stay burned … well, I shouldn’t really use the term burned in my memory – but it is.”

Carr is set up in the Darwin Mall with a telescope and a brand new sun filter, offering passers-by a look at the eclipse.

“I want as many people to see it as possible. And just for my own enjoyment to set it up. It’s my passion so I’m quite happy to share that with people.”

Kate Lamb is in Jakarta:

It is teeming with people here at the planetarium in Jakarta. They have even run out of eclipse glasses!

It’s a public holiday here for Nyepi, the Balinese New Year, so people are out in full force.

“This is such a rare event, the next one will be decades from now,” says Devi Mayasari, a researcher.

“I can’t believe the glasses are finished, they should be more prepared!”

First contact

And here it is:

We are seconds away from first contact, which comes in Palembang, south Sumatra – but it’s a bit cloudy!

Lucky passengers on this Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Honolulu will be able to view the eclipse from the air – Hawaii will experience a partial eclipse at around 5.30pm (although, thanks to the international date line, it will still be Tuesday 8 March there).

Kate Lamb is at the planetarium in central Jakarta for the live streaming event:

The streets of Jakarta were dead, but there was a traffic jam outside and big telescopes have been set up for public viewings.

People have been queuing since 3am and the line to get in to register and pick up some free eclipse glasses is almost 1km long!

It is just past 6am in Palembang, Indonesia, where the first glimpse of the eclipse will be viewed, in a little over an hour’s time, and crowds are gathering:

Kate Lamb is in Jakarta, awaiting the start of the eclipse and sends this dispatch:

It’s interesting to reflect on how times have changed. When Indonesia witnessed a total solar eclipse on 11 June, 1983, the mood was very different. People were warned to stay indoors, in fear the solstice might have a negative effect on their health, or even cause blindness.

It meant that many ended up watching the solstice on state television, rather than stepping outside and gazing up at the sky – some pregnant women even hid under the bed covers.

But fast forward to 2016, more than 30 years later, and it is the polar opposite. In remote parts of Sulawesi tourist numbers have been so overwhelming, extra boats have been brought into house them.

Across the country more than 100,000 people are gearing up for a glimpse of the rare phenomenon – visible in totality only in Indonesia.

For unique views across the archipelago stay tuned for the Guardian’s special eclipse coverage, with live updates also in Bahasa Indonesia.

When and where can you see the solar eclipse?

Here are some guides for key centres along the route of the eclipse. All times are local.

Indonesia

The following places will experience totality:

  • Palembang, Sumatra: 07.21
  • Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan: 07.30
  • Balikpapan, East Kalimantan: 08.34
  • Palu, Sulawesi: 08.38
  • Ternate, Malaku: 09.53
  • Sofifi, North Maluku: 09.53

Jakarta will witness a partial eclipse at 07.21.

Elsewhere in Asia

These places will also see their peak partial eclipse at the following times:

  • Bangkok, Thailand: 07.32
  • Singapore: 08.23
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 08.23
  • Manila, Philippines: 08.58

Australia:

  • Perth, Australia: 08.26
  • Darwin, Australia: 10.17
  • Cairns, Australia: 11.12

United States

  • Honolulu, Hawaii: 17.36 (on Tuesday 8 March, thanks to the international date line)

The total eclipse viewing time will span an hour either side of these times.

Opening summary

Welcome to our live coverage of the total solar eclipse – sweeping its way from Sumatra, Indonesia, across to Hawaii, over the course of around three hours and more than 14,000km.

Totality – the total eclipse of the sun by the moon – will be visible to observers in Indonesia, with Palembang, Palu and Ternate all expecting to see this celestial phenomenon.

Others across southeast Asia and parts of Australia can expect to see a partial eclipse of varying degrees over the next few hours; I’ll list some of the key spots to see it shortly.

If you’re heading out to watch the eclipse, do share your experiences in the comments below or message me directly on Twitter @Claire_Phipps. And please don’t look directly at the sun!

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