(20 Apr 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lautem, East Timor - 20 April 2023
1. People gather near by the beach in Lautem Municipality in East Timor
2. Unidentified eclipse chaser taking photos
3. Zahri Bin Ahmad, astronomer from South East Asia Astronomy Network (SEAAN) of Brunei telling local people about the eclipse
4. Partial solar eclipse
5. Local people looking at the eclipse wearing eclipse glasses
6. Total eclipse UPSOUND people cheering
7. Surrounding area darkening during the eclipse
8. SOUNDBTE (English) Zahri Bin Ahmad, astronomer from South East Asia Astronomy Network (SEAAN) of Brunei:
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"Timor Leste you know, one of the unique country where the experience is like less humidity, less cloudy. So we're expecting clear sky, so that's why many of international astronomers they wish to converge here. And yeah, we're hoping that is going to be a clear sky and you can see it's clear."
9. Martinho Fatima, watching the eclipse with eclipse glasses
10. Partial eclipse
11. SOUNDBITE (Tetum) Martinho Fatima, Civil protection authority officer:
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"This is a very new natural phenomenon for Timor Leste. It is very important for us to be able to watch and experience it firsthand."
12. People watching the eclipse using astronomical binocular
13. The sun
STORYLINE:
Under a cloudless sky, eclipse chasers crowded beach at Lautem Municipality in East Timor to watch a rare solar eclipse plunge part of the country into brief midday darkness Thursday.
The eclipse also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and Australia.
An international crowd had been gathering cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.
"We're expecting clear sky, that's why many of international astronomers they wish to converge here." Said Zahri Bin Ahmad, an astronomer from South East Asia Astronomy Network (SEAAN) of Brunei.
The hybrid solar eclipse tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and was mostly over water.
The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a “ring of fire” as the sun peeked from behind the new moon.
Such celestial events happen about once every decade: The last one was in 2013 and the next one isn’t until 2031.
They occur when Earth is in the “sweet spot” so the moon and the sun are almost the exact same size in the sky, said NASA solar expert Michael Kirk.
At some points, the moon is a little closer and blocks out the sun in a total eclipse. But when the moon is a little farther away, it lets some of the sun’s light peek out in an annular eclipse.
Several other upcoming solar eclipses will be easier to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a total eclipse next April will both cross over millions of people in the Americas.
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