On the 9th of March at 6am, 18 Prince of Wales Island boarders and 9 day pupils travelled to Weld Quay to observe the partial solar eclipse. With the aim of promoting Science and Mathematics, the organisers, Penang Science Cluster, arranged a few simple hands-on activities to help educate the students as well as the public to understand the natural phenomenon of a solar eclipse.
Many activities included how to use the pin-hole reflecting mirror to project the image of the sun for safe viewing, observing the sun through a properly configured telescope, and trying the experiment of standing eggs. Some students together took great photos of the eclipse which were published in some of the local newspapers.
With the collaboration of NARIT Observatory in Chiang Mai, photographs of the eclipse taken during the event were also sent for professional research in order to calculate the Earth-Moon distance. It was a great opportunity for the students to contribute to a research project by carrying out some data collection during any astronomical event.
For many of them, it was the first time ever watching an eclipse, and it was truly a valuable lesson about eclipses and how they occur. After the eclipse, the students were able to explore the Penang Science Cluster centre in Wisma Yeap Chor Ee.
This post was originally published in The Expat Magazine (May 2016) which is available online or in print via a free subscription.
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