No need for alarm

In case people are getting excited or alarmed over a message from Joey Yap that has been making its rounds in social media yesterday and today, let me say that solar eclipses are nothing out of the ordinary. Solar and lunar eclipses are natural phenomena that happens several times in a year. But we do not notice them much because the eclipses are not visible in every part of the world and if they do, the eclipses are not total but only partial, which leave a lot of people disappointed if they tried to look at them.

Interestingly, Joey Yap wrote two messages in his facebook. He's the world's foremost expert on metaphysics; so everything he says is related to his knowledge of the subject. The first was that "It's very rare for an Annular Solar Eclipse to happen on the SUMMER SOLSTICE day! Annular means there is a FIRE RING around the Moon. The areas most affected by this eclipse are Congo, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Pakistan, India, Xiamen China. The rest of the world above and below these countries, are only partially affected." And his second message said, "June 21 is an annual solar eclipse, which means at a certain angle you can see a Ring of Fire . In most tradition of metaphysics (western or eastern), solar eclipses are not a good omen. There are reasons of course. However, this June’s eclipse is not the worst (as compared to the one coming in December). I will explain fully on my voice message in telegram. Different countries will have different timings and different animal signs may be immune and or be affected if exposed."

To his second message, I had responded with a "Malaysia is not particularly affected by this solar eclipse. Only about 10% of the sun will be covered by the moon and in the context of the sun being the most dominant object in the sky, there's practically no difference in brightness over Malaysia. In the higher latitudes such as Myanmar or northern Vietnam, there may be a more significant difference. But the path of totality will pass over Taiwan and a large swath of central China." (Joey Yap gave my comment a thumbs up.)

What I wrote was true from a non-metaphysics point of view. There is nothing to be alarmed about. We won't even notice the partial eclipse. But a person living closer to the path of totality will experience a more surreal dip in temperature as well as the intensity of the sunlight. Those within the path of totality will see the ring of fire as the moon's elliptical orbit presently takes it further away from the earth and thus visually a wee bit smaller than its average size in the sky, will not completely cover the sun. There will be a narrow band of light surrounding the moon.

And the path of totality? It can be seen here from this diagram which I've obtained from the timeanddate website. The path of totality is a very narrow corridor starting from somewhere around the Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean and cutting a swath across Taiwan, central China, northern India, central Pakistan, across the southern part of the Saudi Arabian peninsula and into central Africa where it ends in northern Congo-Brazzaville. Apart from this narrow corridor, it will be a partial eclipse for everybody else. The Americas, New Zealand and much of Europe and Australia are not affected at all. So I repeat, no need for anyone to get so alarmed over nothing. It's just a regular celestial occurrence.

P.S. The last time that Malaysians witnessed a solar eclipse was last year, in November. People, especially the local astronomers, were flocking to Tanjong Piai at the southern tip of the peninsula where totality was experienced. Elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia, it was only a partial eclipse. So you see, solar eclipses are not so rare after all. But as Joey Yap said, for it to coincide with the Summer Solstice, well, that makes it rare enough. The Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere is the day when the sun, making  its apparent journey northwards, touches the imaginary latitudinal line known as the Tropic of Cancer and then reverses its path southwards towards the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere six months later. Stonehenge in England is a popular spot to watch the rising or setting sun on this Solstice day although I don't know how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect those summer revellers travelling there this time.