The annular solar eclipse that occurred yesterday, between 1.20pm and 3.30pm, seems like a fitting end to 2019, just five days away.
Often referred to as a “ring of fire”, the solar eclipse was visible in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The “sun”, said the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration, went down as a ring in Guam, in the western Pacific Ocean.
The phenomenon is particularly significant for Malaysia, as the last time the nation viewed an annular solar eclipse in full was 21 years ago, on Aug 22, 1998. It was clearly observed in Mersing, Johor.
Yesterday’s rare celestial event got Malaysians nationwide converging on rooftops of car parks and open spaces of tall buildings to glimpse that moment in time.
Never mind that solar eclipses have historically been perceived as omens that portend death and destruction because “the sun vanishes from the sky” or is “being eaten up by the moon”.
It was spectacular, said one of the viewers, a computer programmer who considers himself an umbraphile (a person who chases eclipses).
He spied, through filtered camera lens, how the ring of fire was formed when the moon moved in front of the sun and blocked out the centre, leaving the edges visible.
Even a group of the visually impaired “saw” the eclipse through a special device brought in from Harvard University.
The device converts the intensity of light to a sound frequency for the visually impaired to experience the phenomenon.
Reportedly, many people around the world still believe that eclipses are harbingers of death and destruction. In some cultures, young children and pregnant women are told to stay indoors when it occurs. In other cultures, it is believed that food cooked during an eclipse becomes poison.
Scientists and astronomers, however, have debunked most of the claims — there is no scientific evidence that they can affect human behaviour, health or the environment.
One of the earliest recorded eclipses was on March 5, 1223 BC, visible near Ugarit, an ancient port city in northern Syria, as reported in Nature in 1989.
It said that Mesopotamian historians recounted the sun was “put to shame” during the total eclipse. Another eclipse was recorded in 763 BC, when the sun was completely eclipsed for five minutes and it was visible in the Assyrian empire (now Iraq).
Whatever the eclipse may mean to people, this Leader is of the view that it should not be regarded as evil. If anything, it is to be seen as a metaphor: the solar eclipse symbolises a new beginning when the moon, in covering the sun “cleanses” it, giving birth to a “new sun”. The sun’s rays shining through the darkness give light and hope to a new world.
As we wait in anticipation for 2020, now is a time for reflection — to look at the events of the year and learn from them. It should also serve as a reminder of how vast the universe is; what lies beyond and tomorrow is a mystery.
For Malaysia, 2020 will be the year that we weather the challenges together as one people.