Dili, 20 april 2023 (TATOLI)– Timor-Leste witnessed the first partial solar eclipse visible in the sky on Thursday, 20 April 2023.
From Timor-Leste, especially in the Municipality of Lautém, in a village called Com, the eclipse starts at 11:43 sharp, Maximum at 13:18 with a Magnitude of 0.981, and Ends at 14:53 TLH. So it took 3 hours and 10 minutes, according to timeanddate.com.
It was highlighted that a total solar eclipse swept over the North West Cape, a remote peninsula in Western Australia. It is also visible from parts of East Timor and the Indonesian province of West Papua.
While in Timor-Leste, more than 350 international tourists arrived in Com Lautem to see the eclipse, including 500 residents from Dili and 10,000 residents from other municipalities in Lautem.
In Dili many tourists gathered at the Presidential Palace to view the eclipse including all Dili residents who came out to catch a glimpse of the moon passing in front of the sun.
Alexander Bram US astronomer said he was very happy to view this solar eclipse at close range from Com Lautém: “I am proud because so far I have only studied theory but today I can view it directly through my telescope, this is one of history for Timor-Leste and this finding will be written down and stored in an American laboratory as evidence that there has been a solar eclipse in Timor-Leste on April 20, 2023,” he said.
At the same time, the President of the Republic, José Ramos Horta, asked all residents to remain calm and don’t panic when a Total Solar Eclipse occurs.
“As you know, there is a total solar eclipse that occurs today. This phenomenon sometimes causes people to panic. So, I ask everyone don’t panic and use special glasses to view the sun,” said President Horta in a press conference at the Dili Presidential Palace.
According to Horta around 20 more scientists, including astronomers from the Astronomy Association at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, were also in Timor-Leste.
The eclipse covered 100% of the municipalities of Com, Lautem, and Viqueque. Meanwhile, in Dili, it was 0.97%.
Related News:https://en.tatoli.tl/2023/04/18/astronomers-from-asean-countries-to-conduct-solar-eclipse-research-in-lautem/20/
Journalist: Camilo de Sousa
Editor: Nelia B.
