Thanks to the selfless and dedicated work of scientists, we know that Mother Nature will threaten to throw all our body clocks into disarray on the 9th of March where Singapore will experience a partial solar eclipse.
For those who don’t know, solar eclipses are rare events that only last for a few minutes where the moon aligns perfectly in a path between the sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on the latter and creating a “ring of fire” effect since the moon is smaller than the sun.
Credit: Reddit
To put into perspective how astronomically unlikely this is for Singaporeans to witness, only a very small portion of the Earth will be eclipsed in darkness since the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun. And that little portion, by sheer chance, happens to fall on the little red dot that we call home.
What we will witness in four weeks on the 9th of March, is only a partial eclipse (90% complete) but still a rare phenomenon by any means. According to Science Centre Singapore, the partial eclipse next month can be seen at around 7.22am to 9.33am, with the highest point of the eclipse somewhere around 8.23am.
In other words, if you take the underground train lines to work, it may be worthwhile to switch to a bus route on this very special day in order to have a gander at this rare spectacle since the sky would see a low level of brightness akin to evening light unlike its usual 9am scorch that has some of us walking into office with wet shirts.
The paradox of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity however, is that it is potentially harmful to our vision if we stare at the sun directly.
The following are unsafe methods to view the eclipse:
- Sunglasses (polarised and non-polarised versions)
- Solar film for car and household windows
- Tinted glass
- Photographic negatives
- X-ray film
- CDs/DVDs
- Photographic filters
- Looking at the reflection in a bowl of water or mirror
You can go here to learn how to design your own solar filters.
If you miss this opportunity, we regret to inform you that you’ll have to wait until December of 2019 for the next one. So jot it down on your calendar.
