Annular Eclipse of 2019

It was a long time in the making. My appointment with the sun. For the annular eclipse that was to take place on December 26, 2019. With the line of maximum annularity passing right through South India where I live, though it meant I had to travel a little for the best vantage location.

My general interest in astronomy and things up in the sky had alerted me about this event as far back as the summer of 2016, a clear three and a half years before the actual occurrence. I was browsing through the maps of paths of eclipses. Many of the eclipses were a mirror image of the previous or the second previous ones, and I was wondering at this discovery I had just made. That led me to look for all the eclipses over the next ten years or so, and bingo! - there was one crossing right through my native place in South India. On looking up further, I came to understand about the annular solar eclipse of December 2019.

I have my in-laws living in Trichy, where I could comfortably stay and leave early in the morning to view the eclipse, if I had a chance. In Trichy, the duration of annularity was very less – just about a few seconds. So I scanned the map for places near Trichy which offered a duration close to the maximum one could ever get in India – that is, more than three minutes of annularity, and which was well connected on the highway so that I could reach without much of a hassle too. Of the three places the map showed, i.e. Manapparai, Thirumayam and Arantangi, Thirumayam fit the bill well and I decided on that. Having fixed the appointment, since I had lots and lots of time ahead, I had comfortably put this in the back of my mind.

One doesn’t know how life changes its course. Out of sight, out of mind, they say. Personal commitments and pressures of life have certainly changed my routine a lot. My retirement and the subsequent duty I had volunteered entailed my travel to nearby Bangalore for three days a week. A minor set back in my health added to more adjustments to be made here and there. The consequence of all this was that I had totally forgotten my appointment with the sun.

But the sun had not. A very powerful God as the sun is, things so arranged themselves that my son and daughter, with Christmas holidays in their hands and not knowing what else to do, decided to visit their grand parents (i.e. my inlaws) and asked if we (my wife and I) could join, as it is quite long since we travelled together, especially by train. And so it happened on the dot, at the right time and place, our trip to Trichy on the 25^th of December 2019.

A quick glance at Wikipedia enabled me to latch on to the Thirumayam fort for viewing the eclipse.  Bharath (my son) and I left Srirangam around 7.30 in the morning on the 26^th, and after a relaxed drive, reached the fort just on time as they opened entry. On the way, we could observe, through the translucent clouds, that the eclipse had already commenced. Dark patches of clouds on the horizon gave us a little worry in the beginning, but as we travelled further, we were relieved that the clouds slowly gave way only to a haze, through which the eclipse, even if somewhat obstructed, would still certainly be visible because of the brightness of the sun.

When we reached the fort, a few eclipse enthusiasts had already gathered there. After taking the tickets, we quickly made our way up the fort, to the peak – the altar where a cannon is kept – and sat on the south east corner of the altar, taking the solar glasses out to catch a glimpse at the sun.

Wow, what a sight it was! The moon slowly coming in sliding in front of the sun and obstructing the sun’s disc, making it, the sun, appear as a crescent moon! The elevated altar and the cool winter breeze adding to the eeriness of the situation. Both my son and I remembered scenes from the movie Apocalypse, which also centered around a total solar eclipse. All those assembled were eagerly getting ready to view the annularity and capture it on their instruments. As the moon’s disc completely came into the sun’s, the annularity started. I was surprised that the moon’s disc was apparently so small – it looked like it was just about a little more than three fourths of the sun’s disc. Therefore, the ring that formed was comparatively much thicker than what we had seen in the images of previous annular eclipses. The bright orange ring glowing through the solar filter was absolutely stunning. After watching for a minute and a little more, we shared our glasses with those who had not brought one. The village lads were especially thrilled and excited at the sun’s appearance, as they had never seen a crescent of the sun in their life!

The tech savvy photo enthusiasts started blurting instructions – set the aperture, increase the zoom, get into burst mode, so on and so forth. My humble point and shoot camera without any filter or attachment was clearly not equipped to handle the brightness of the sun. However, Bharath managed to capture a good image on his iPhone by placing the solar glasses in front of his camera’s eye. We were very happy with that. Not only that, being there at the right spot at the right moment, and helping others get a good glimpse of the eclipsed sun all added to our feeling of absolute satisfaction that day. All the travel and effort was not in vain.

The other important thing I noticed was that, as against the total solar eclipse where you get to see absolute darkness setting in when the sun is fully covered, the annular eclipse creates no such magic.  The outer world was just a degree dimly lit, that's all.  I thought the animals and birds would exhibit a little nocturnal behaviour, but it was not to be, as there was abundant shine glowing through the thick annular ring.  Had there been a small tree around, we could have seen several images of the ring cast by the eclipsed sun, but it too was not to be.

We sat there for some more time after the annularity passed, and then slowly made our way back to the ground, clicking a few shots here and there.

Come, enjoy the scenes as we witnessed there at Thirumayam.  A few more photos taken at this place can be viewed at my flickr album: Thirumayam