When the Sun-Moon duo turned into the Ring of Fire
A personal journey from classroom curiosity to witnessing the annular solar eclipse on the Kerala coast, capturing the excitement, challenges, and awe of the 'ring of fire' experience.
- Dr. Vivek Shilimkar
- 5 min read
Following article is written by one of the participants of solar eclipse expedition - Sania Rahigude. She pours out her journey and experience of Solar Eclipse Expedition through this article.
Sania Rahigude
email : saniarahigude64@gmail.com
Two years back, during an astronomy lecture, our teacher had explained to us what an eclipse is. Further, while discussing, we came across various types of eclipses, and the annular solar eclipse was one of them. We were told that it is quite rare and is visible only through certain parts of India. Days passed, and all of us forgot what we had learned. Eventually, the annular solar eclipse became one of the not so essential things in our brains, except for the two girls who couldn’t control their excitement towards the event. It was they who made me and others join the eclipse expedition.
In my life, I had never thought I would be standing on one of the beautiful coasts of Kerala, watch and feel the solar eclipse. It was a sight never to be forgotten.
We traveled by a small bus, which was a bit compressed yet a perfect home for a three-hour ride till Panvel. Carrying all the telescopes and luggage, we managed to board our train in time and had a lot of fun throughout the journey. All the coconut trees and water bodies visible through the window were adding to our excitement and HEAT.
We were covered in sweat even before we had come out of the station at Kannur - A town in Kerala. After debating for a few minutes of weather to go to the resort or have breakfast, we settled over having breakfast. Well, we were a bit late for having breakfast because of which we couldn’t get at the excellent food, but it was good enough to calm our hungry stomachs.
We were living in a resort which was nice and had a veranda kind of space in which we had a lot of fun playing on the last day. The area was beautiful- it was the cantonment area, the same as ours, just smaller. Visiting the museum, the lake covered with lotuses, the snake park was our day’s plan. The dance and seeing their worship place also was a different experience- telling a lot about the place, its culture, and people. We were stubborn over visiting the beach the day itself, and finally, after a lot of waits, we were on the beach. It was such a beautiful coast! It was probably the cleanest beach that I have seen in my life till now. What made everything fun were the toys flying up in the sky- glowing in the darkness and us catching it. After cleaning up and having dinner, we sat down for the preparation and discussion of the event we had actually come to watch. Dadas were instructing us on the time span of the eclipse and what experiments we were going to perform. We were told that no one would help you during annularity, and we have to manage the instruments, observations, data ourselves - that was quite stressful. Still, with excited hearts, we slept hoping we won’t sleep through the morning and get up just in time.
Well, we did get up and were standing in the place which was just another place I won’t find boring even if I visit it a hundred times. The vast ocean, the not so cloudy sky, and the colossal sun were making it a fantastic sight to be viewed. We started with our set up and sat prepared to wait for the eclipse to begin. The goggles allowed us to look without being blinded.
The sun slowly yet so fast started to get covered by the moon. We all were amazed seeing something so close to the size of the sun and the all-time shining sun getting covered.
The temperature dropped down, and the heat of the scorching sun reduced, making us wish that the sun should have been the same size. Finally, the totality happened, and we were at our most excited state, screaming and jumping and just staring at the ring of fire.
Excitement is clearly audible in the background audio as Annularity begins. You may not understand the language but can feel the excitement.
It was unbelievable how big the sun is - even though covered ninety-seven percent, was still giving so much sunlight. The ring of fire lasted for about three minutes, but it was just so amazing. It was good enough for us not to realize that we had been sitting in that intense heat for more than three hours waiting for the phenomenon to happen. It was worth it all. Our experiments were successful, and we got readings according to our hypothesis. It wasn’t even as difficult we thought it would be.
We boarded the train back to Pune, having the memories carved into our minds and just realized how vast the universe is and the enormity of the sun. Realizing our presence in this world and just made our urge to make our little lives worth in this place of wonder.