Solar Eclipse 2019

On 26 Dec 2019, Singapore experienced an annular eclipse. As a service to the community, we ran a free programme open to the public. Had a good turnout with about a dozen kids, and a surprising number of adults from the nearby businesses joined in as well.

We started with the science behind solar eclipses (slides are here if you want to use it for your own eclipse activities)…

Everyone built their own pinhole viewers…

…but the one I prepared was a little bigger than the rest…

…bigger viewers produces a larger image

We mounted a few Shade 12 welding glasses to cardboard frames for direct viewing…

As well as some lenses and mirrors for projection onto a wall…

…a big hit for photo taking

A micro:bit was used to track and generate a live plot of the light level as the eclipse progresses. Didn’t take any photos of the micro:bit setup, but we wrapped it with some packing foam to diffuse and attenuate the light.

Light level reached a minimum at around 1330H, before rising again. The frequent short and steep dips are due to cloud cover.

Looking forward to the next one in 2063!

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