Thousands of people in Africa and Asia viewed an eclipse Friday as the moon crossed the sun's path blocking everything but a narrow, blazing rim of light. Like elsewhere around the globe, a fair number of astronomy enthusiasts including, members of charity societies in Makkah and Jeddah and students, gathered at the International Medical Center Park here Friday morning to catch a safe glimpse of the partial solar eclipse between 7.38 A.M. and 8.45 A.M. The eclipse is known as an annular eclipse because the moon doesn't block the sun completely. The event for the sky-gazers was organized by the Jeddah Astronomy Society (JAC) in conjunction with the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology. The organizers had made arrangements for a telescope in the park and astronomy buffs were also provided with special tinted glasses to view the celestial event without harming their eyes. C.B. Toney, Management Officer at the US Consulate in Jeddah, was also among those who had come to catch a glimpse of the rare phenomenon. “It's good to see the public here in Jeddah wake up early in the morning on a Friday to see the partial eclipse of the sun. I would encourage people to take advantage of things like this because it happens once in a lifetime. The blue moon that we had last month, for example, was the first we had in twenty years. The moon was full twice in the same month. That doesn't happen everyday, so I highly recommend that people go out and learn about not only what is happening on the ground, but also about what goes on in the sky,” he said. Interestingly, Majed Abu Zahera, JAS Director, shot down rumors regarding the impact of sun rays during an eclipse on human skin, saying that there are many misconceptions about such astronomical phenomena.” “That is why we chose this location to view the eclipse, to make it easier for people to attend the event,” he said. “We need to form an official Saudi Society for Astronomy to get support for research and educate the public about such phenomena,” Zahera said. Ayman Al-Harbi, a JAS member, said: “We in the society are providing people with the latest information about things they learned years ago at their schools level.” “We have also discussed with officials the possibility of building a planetarium in the Jeddah Science Innovation Club,” he said.
