Armed with digital cameras, special observation glasses or even telescopes fitted with ultraviolet ray filters, thousands of people yesterday climbed rooftops, stood on streets and gathered in schoolyards to witness the century’s longest solar eclipse.
The moon began to eclipse the sun at 8:23am yesterday, covering about 85 percent of it at 9:40am and passing the solar disc completely by 11:05am.
Though only a partial eclipse was viewable in Taiwan, while other parts of Asia were treated to a total eclipse, thousands of people lined up at Liberty Square before 8am yesterday to get free observation glasses.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I came with my mother because the next time we will be able to see a ... solar eclipse in Taiwan will be in 2070, when I am 68 years old,” first-grader Jimmy Chang (張力偉) said.
Flocks of people stepped out of their offices at around 9am to gaze at the sky. While many aimed digital cameras or cellphones at the diminishing solar disc, others asked passersby to borrow their observation glasses.
“I have been reading the news about this solar eclipse for days, and it is very exciting to finally see it! It’s a miracle in the sky,” 32-year-old Taipei resident Huang Li-wen (黃麗雯) said on Heping Road.
PHOTO: AFP
Chang Hsiang-kuang (張祥光), a professor at National Tsing-hua University’s departments of astronomy and physics, who led a group of elementary school students and their parents to observe the celestial phenomenon, said one of his colleagues had gone abroad six times to view total solar eclipses.
Meanwhile, thousands of visitors packed the Taipei Astronomical Museum yesterday to watch the eclipse.
The museum filled up early in the morning, museum officials said, adding that some people had taken the day off work to watch the eclipse.
As Taiwan did not fall within the narrow corridor where a total eclipse was visible, the Taipei Astronomical Museum, in collaboration with observation stations in China’s Shanghai, Chongqing and Suzhou, streamed live Internet images of the total eclipse.
But the museum’s Web site crashed repeatedly as visitors flooded it to watch the footage.
The Central Weather Bureau said the eclipse caused temperatures to drop nationwide by between 0.5ºC and 1ºC between 9am and 10am.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHELLEY SHAN
Also See: Some celebrate, others hide during total solar eclipse
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all