It was an exciting Boxing Day for Singapore residents as they put aside their tasks at hand and rushed to get a glimpse of the rare annular solar eclipse at 1.20pm in the afternoon.
At various locations around the island, including tertiary education institutes, hundreds gathered for viewing sessions of the "ring of fire"
The viewing event at National University of Singapore (NUS) was organised by NUS Physics. Staff and student volunteers handed out 5000 solar-viewing visors. Photo courtesy: NUS
NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Asst Prof Karthik Mallilankarama and his family went down to the NUS Field to witness the eclipse. Photo courtesy: NUS
An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon covers the sun's centre, leaving the sun's visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the moon.
The next annular solar eclipse that will be fully visible in Singapore will be on 28 February 2063.
A composite photo of the annular solar eclipse above the NUS Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing's antenna at S17. Photo courtesy: NUS
There are many creative ways to experience the solar eclipse! Photo courtesy: Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
The solar eclipse through a "homemade" pinhole projector. Photo courtesy: NTU
Some cool projections on the ground. Photo courtesy: NTU
Teamwork makes the dream work. Photo courtesy: NTU
It's a crowd! Photo courtesy: NTU
NUS School of Computing undergrad and NUS Astronomical Society President Brian Arcillas showing a young visitor how to view the sun through a telescope. Photo courtesy: NUS
NUS Engineering undergrad and NUS Astronomical Society member Julian Cheung captured this image of the eclipse nearing its climax. Photo courtesy: Julian Cheung
Heads up! How often do you see throngs of people not looking at their smartphones? 😉 Photo courtesy: NUS
Below is a live stream of the annular solar eclipse by the Science Centre Observatory Singapore:
