Assalamulaikum…
To all Astronomy fans, recently the phenomenon of Solar Eclipse is happen whether we realize or not about this situation… but the most important things here is that we should remind our self about the greatness of Allah s.w.t . While, we have the opportunity to see with our own eyes of this phenomenon, we should feel how beautiful Allah create this world. For all stargazer out there, while we are very fanatic about this Astronomy Knowledge… we always keep our self busy hunting new info about the coming phenomena, organize stargazing anywhere part of this world with maximum effort we put in into this field of knowledge but at the same time we should increase our faith and believe to the the creator of this world.
For all students in International Islamic University Malaysia this Astronomy field is like the “add on” knowledge to Islamic Students because this Astronomy field is very related in our daily life like the prayer time, kiblah direction, hijrian calendar, determine when Syawal or Ramadhan.
In Quran[ Yunus:5]
“It is he who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty), and measured out stages for her; that ye might know the number of years ant the count (of time). Nowise did Allah create but in truth and righteousness . (Thus) doth he explain His signs in detail, for thise who understand.”
“Dia-lah yang menjadikan matahari besinar dan bulan bercahaya dan ditetapkannya manzilah-manzilah (tempat-tempat) bagi perjalanan bulan itu, supaya kamu mengetahui bilangan tahun dan perhitungan (waktu). Allah tidak menciptakan itu melainkan dengan hak. Dia menjelaskan tanda-tanda (kebesaran-Nya) kepada orang-orang yang mengetahui.”
Thus here I want to remind myself and the readers that our ultimate purpose of life is Allah s.w.t . and Astronomy is one of the filed knowledge that shows many signs of the creator of this universe…
Anyway here is the latest news about the solar eclipse in Shanghai :
|
World’s Longest Solar Eclipse in Century |
|||
|
|||
 |
|||
SHANGHAI – Millions of people watched on Wednesday, July 22, the longest solar eclipse in the century.“It was a great experience, it was a lot of fun,” Tim O’Rourke, a freelance photographer from Detroit, Michigan, who was among thousands gathered in the People’s Square in Shanghai, told CNN. Starting by dawn in eastern India near the town of Guahati, the eclipse moved north and east to Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. Tourists, astronomers and residents across a swath of Asia cast their eyes towards the sky hoping to catch a rare view of the sun’s corona.Many used binoculars covered with solar filter paper or through a large rectangular block labeled “Large Solar Filter.” “Nature is incredible, and there is too much we don’t know about,” said Yee Ping, a journalist for a financial newspaper in Hong Kong.“We try to know more and see by our own eyes so we can feel the power of nature.” At the local astronomy society, school children were given a chance to gaze at the natural phenomenon through two large telescopes on the school roof. “City folks wouldn’t usually be able to see this,” said astronomy enthusiast Louis Chung, 13. “Nature is wonderful. It is awesome to know that nature can provide such spectacular sights.” A total solar eclipse usually occurs every 18 months or so, but Wednesday’s spectacle was special for its maximum period of “totality” — when the sun is wholly covered by the moon — of six minutes and 39 seconds. Such a lengthy duration will not be matched until the year 2132. The eclipse is the longest since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. It is also believed to be the most watched eclipse in history, due to its path over Earth’s most densely inhabited areas. Science Vs Superstitions The eclipse plunged millions across Asia into temporary darkness, triggering scenes of religious fervor, fear and excitement. An 80-year-old woman was killed in a stampede in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi where tens of thousands of devout Hindus had crowded the river Ganges at dawn. With Hindu priests conducting special prayers, the crowds cheered and then raised their arms in salutation as the sun re-emerged from behind the moon, before they took a spiritually purifying dip in the river. Superstition has always haunted the moment when Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned. The daytime extinction of the sun, the source of all life, is associated with war, famine, flood and the death or birth of rulers. “In ancient China, we shared the same impression with our Indian friends that a solar eclipse was not a good thing,” Bill Yeung, president of the Hong Kong Astronomical Society, told the CNN. One Chinese tradition tells a story about eclipse as a dragon eating the sun. As the story goes, people would make noise to scare off the dragon and rescue the sun. A group of Muslims came all the way from Malaysia to watch the eclipse. “It’s something so great that humans should experience it,” Dr Mahamarowi Omar, an amateur astronomer, told the Guardian. “We are Muslim and after this we will go and pray to God together. He has brought us the beautiful sky and earth and sun.” Hope you enjoy with the info =) |
