UAE | General

Solar eclipse sparks flurry of calls in UAE

Astronomy group president says amazing number of people interested in event.

  • By Mahmood Saberi, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 00:04 August 2, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Residents in Abu Dhabi looking through a telescopic lens provided by the Emirates Astronomical Society in the breakwater area.
  • Image Credit: Vazhisojan/Gulf News
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Dubai: People inundated the Dubai Astronomy Group with calls about the solar eclipse and some also wanted to know whether it was safe to go outdoors during that time, the head of the group said.

"They wanted to know when it could be seen here. One person said her daughter was pregnant and asked whether the eclipse would have any effect," said Hassan Ahmad Al Hariri, president of the group.

The solar eclipse was partially seen in the UAE.

"You could see about 13 per cent in the UAE," he said. "It was amazing the number of people who were interested in the event."

The event started at 2.41pm and astronomy buffs gathered at the Wellington School on Shaikh Zayed Road where the Astronomy Group has its offices.

"We sent people to observe the Sun through special glasses," he said.

Projecting image

The glasses were not darkened but had a special film which cut out 99.99 per cent of the Sun's rays.

The other safe way to see the eclipse is by projecting the Sun's image on a screen. X-ray films, photographic film and smoked glass are unsafe to watch the solar eclipse through and will damage the retina of the eye.

Unfortunately, the areas where you could see a total eclipse happened in other parts of the globe such as the north-eastern part of North America, Greenland, the North Pole, Russia, Mongolia and China.

A solar eclipse happens when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned and the shadow of the Moon touches the surface of the Earth. The oldest record of a solar eclipse sighting was made more than 4,000 years ago.

The eclipse ended at 4.11pm. Before residents could take a look at the skies, the Astronomy Group had arranged a documentary on the Sun. It also held lectures on what to expect.

"The main thing was to educate people and also tell them they had nothing to be worried about," said Al Hariri. "Solar eclipses have no effect on human behaviour," he added.

Not many queries were from Emiratis on the ill-effects of the eclipse, most of them were from people from the subcontinent, and nationals from Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran, he said.

There are various myths attached to the eclipse. One in China was that a dragon had swallowed the Sun.

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