Hunting for a solar eclipse in Indonesia in 2016
If the movies are to be believed, solar eclipses hold the secret to unlocking the golden door of a hidden temple somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
You may have heard this plot used so many times in Hollywood films, but the real importance of the phenomenon is much greater than a storyline for a film.
A solar eclipse reminds us of a fascinating feature of the universe, which manages itself, as many of us may be disinterested by the mundane change of day and night. Such an eclipse is awesome if you manage to capture a picture of it. This is why people from across the world race to places where solar eclipses are to take place.
Luckily, Indonesia has witnessed two total solar eclipses in the last 50 years; the last one adorned the Indonesian sky in 1983, and there will be another on March 9, 2016.
Looking at a two-dimensional map of our solar system, you might wonder why a solar eclipse does not happen every new moon. This is because the moon’s orbit is tilted at 5 degrees compared to the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Such a tilt makes total solar eclipses rare events, with only 22 happening between Indonesia’s total solar eclipse in 1983 and the one that will happen 33 years later.
The total solar eclipse of 2016 will pass through several places across Indonesia, namely Palembang, the Bangka and Belitung Islands, Palangkaraya, Palu and Ternate. The eclipse will be more visible further to the east as the sun stands higher in the sky, and the longest eclipse will occur for more than two minutes.
With all the hype surrounding this event, Indonesia is preparing to accommodate travelers so they can enjoy the eclipse as much as possible.
“Hopefully we can expose as many local attractions as possible besides the eclipse. Festivals and events will be held around the date,” said the CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Indonesia chapter, Poernomo Siswoprasetijo, during a travel industry conference last week in Jakarta.
That people are racing to see this phenomenon is no exaggeration.
According to a representative of Santika Hotels, more than 350 hotel rooms have been booked in Palu, Central Sulawesi, by travelers from the US, the UK and Japan who are anticipating the eclipse. Several large cruise ships have also registered their sailing plans to take in Indonesian waters around that date.
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