After much ado about the eclipse, enthusiasts who took pains to wake up early Wednesday morning and gathered to witness the century’s longest celestial event were in for a disappointment after the cloudy climate in Bangalore hid the eclipse.
Over 200 people including scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bharatha Vigyan Samithi, morning walkers, students and working professionals returned in annoyance over non-visibility of the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century.
Janhavi Pai, a social worker, who came to the Lalbagh botanical garden,had prepared a pin-hole camera the previous night to watch what she thought would be a memorable event:“Though I expected a cloudy climate, I was hopeful of it clearing and prepared the pin-hole camera to watch the solar eclipse. But my efforts have gone to waste.”
While the scientists expected cloudy weather as it was monsoon, the night sky which cleared up in the mid-night lent hopes that the eclipse might be visible.
“I could spot constellations clearly around 11.30 on Tuesday night and hoped to witness the solar eclipse and even went for a night halt to a hillock near Bannerghatta zoo, but the weather had decided to spoil it all. We missed the greatest event of the century,” says Brijesh Shukla, director, Kuiper Research and Educational Services.
Shukla also camped with telescopes, cameras and solar glasses along with five other members to watch the eclipse minutes before it ended at 7.22am.
KH Raveesha, a faculty member at the CMR Institute of Technology, who was accompanied by his students had brought a refractor telescope to watch the eclipse on the screen at the Lalbagh botanical garden. “The presence of thick clouds affected the visibility of the sun. But we managed to get a glimpse of it for few minutes,” he says.
While the Vishweswariah Technological Museum also saw a similar situation, Taralaya cancelled its plans of showing the eclipse to the curious and interested watchers due to cloudy climate and advised them to go to hillocks instead.
“It was expected. But this occasion is also used to break the myths that nothing can be consumed during the eclipse period. Snacks and coffee were served,” says Ebenezer Edwin, a scientist at IIA.
The members of Bharatha Vigyana Samithi sang songs on breaking the myths associated with eclipses.
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