Understanding Total Solar Eclipse

Sun. The Eye of the Day. It is the main source of natural light so that we can all see and be seen. The sun is a star; a real star. However, for us in the solar system, it is definitely a special star. It is the head of our family.

For us on Earth, it is an inexhaustible source of energy, which provides constant warmth, at least for the life span of generations of human beings considering the typical age of a star, which is billions of years.

Sunlight, as one of the forms of energy that we receive, is the main element supporting life, which living things naturally take advantage of, such as plants that photosynthesize, and we humans then participate in the food chain by taking a position in one of the links in the chain. Today, with technology, we also harvest solar energy, then convert it into electrical energy to support our various activities in modern civilization.

Many developed countries have used the sun as a renewable energy source that has minimal pollution. Germany, for example, utilizes solar energy for around 10 percent of its total electricity needs of 40 gigawatts.

Total solar eclipse and reinforcement of logic

Careful calculations showed a decrease in the contribution of solar energy by 200 megawatts during a 40-minute solar eclipse that Northern Europe passed through in 2015. This was the first time that a solar eclipse affected the lives of so many people.

Earth and major planets in the solar system were formed as a by-product of the process of the birth of a star which later became our sun. Since then, with its large and dominant mass, all the planets and various other small bodies obediently surround it. However, the detailed history of each planet is different, and that causes the features of each planet to be unique.

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> Folk Tales about the Eclipse

Our trio of Earth, Moon and Sun is definitely unique. The comparison of the distances between Earth-Moon and Earth-Sun is exactly proportional to the ratio of the diameter of the Moon compared to the diameter of the Sun.

Consequently, in our sky the projected sizes of the Moon and the Sun are the same. Therefore, every now and then, when the centers of the Earth, Moon and Sun are perfectly aligned, we may witness a total solar eclipse: the projection of the Moon's disk exactly covers that of the Sun's disk.

When a total solar eclipse occurs, the Sun reveals its crown which it hides on normal days. The sun is richer than we can see and understand.

This year, Indonesia is lucky again, part of its territory will be traversed by a total solar eclipse on 20 April 2023. On days when natural phenomena such as solar eclipses and lunar eclipses occur, people pay their attention to the sky.

We should not wait for special celestial phenomena to pay attention to the celestial bodies, especially the Sun and Moon, which have made it possible for the Earth to be home to a variety of living things from simple ones, such as amoebas, to the complex and superpowers, such as us.

This year, Indonesia is lucky again, part of its territory will be traversed by a total solar eclipse on 20 April 2023.

We make the Sun, Moon, comets, stars, galaxies, the universe our daily conversation topics, which make our thought rational and ready to be inspired by nature.

It is clear that humans have recognized solar eclipses for some thousands of years, and can even predict well when an eclipse will occur.

This ability far preceded Kepler's Laws which described the orbits of the planets, and Newton's Laws which explained their mechanics, a fundamental causal relationship. However, still, humans have no power over the motions of the Earth, Moon and Sun, so humans attribute them to something that has power beyond them.

Total eclipse of the sun and refinement of the mind

Spiritual experience, traditional narratives, mythology, have enriched various dimensions which produce separate realities that contribute to the construction of the realm of thinking, the realm of reason, the realm of morality and the realm of aesthetics in the whole human identity.

In civilization, scientific narratives based on rational causal relations began to coexist with traditional narratives toward the end of the 19th century, when newspapers and magazines became increasingly democratic sources of information.

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> Last Total Lunar Eclipse of 2022

Kartini, whose life we celebrate on every 21 April, wrote in one of her letters to her best friend, about a total solar eclipse that passed through the city of Padang in 1901, information she read in the newspapers.

She evaluated her understanding of things by elaborating them in letters. The brilliance of her mind and her very high language skills often make us forget that her formal education was only limited to elementary school.

Nature inspires humans to ask questions, as well as provides answers, so that the essence is the ability to ask questions clearly and contextually. In this way, humans can interpret nature, understand various relationships, including the relationship between humans and nature, then construct narratives. Nature by itself will be separated from human reason, until humans question their place and role in the universe.

A total solar eclipse is a natural physical phenomenon with a clear and simple configuration of geometric elements that makes it relatively easy to understand. The science education curriculum discusses this. Accuracy in predicting the location and time of occurrence of a total solar eclipse, with an accuracy of seconds that humans can sense, makes people believe in science.

That is not a trivial success given the wide and deep gap between scientific progress and public understanding of science. This gap has a negative impact on various sectors of life. Failure to understand natural objects and phenomena results in irrational decisions that deepen the problems of modern life.

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That is why, observing and understanding a solar eclipse is not just introducing scientific facts, but is deeper and broader: building and strengthening the ability to think rationally. This total solar eclipse, which only slightly precedes the transition from Ramadan to Syawal in the Hijri calendar, should also evoke both the rational and the spiritual dimensions simultaneously.

Our Earth rotates while circling the Sun, with an axis of rotation that is not perpendicular to the field of its orbit around the Sun.

As a result, the apparent position of the Sun shifts, back and forth, from north to south, and back again. This apparent annual motion causes the four seasons in the northern and southern parts of the Earth. Indonesia, which embraces the equator, does not feel much difference due to this annual movement.

That way, we can appreciate the vulnerability of this beautiful life. We can make beauty something that sustains us.

However, the Suryagrafi photo collection exhibition using a pinhole camera clearly shows, artistically too, the recording of the shift in the position of the Sun from day to day as it rises in the east and sets in the west.

These photographs elevate cultural values because the shift in the position of the sun is recorded against the foreground of various iconic locations or objects in Indonesia. The sun is too big, too energetic, too dazzling for us to ignore. We try to understand our star as a physical entity whose presence is "just right" for us on Earth.

It is our great hope that works of art such as this bring our attention to nature more thoroughly, with wonder and curiosity, and bring reason to its fullest.

That way, we can appreciate the vulnerability of this beautiful life. We can make beauty something that sustains us.

KOMPAS/NINOK LEKSONO

Premana Wardayanti Premadi

Premana W Premadi, The 2023 Solar Eclipse Team at the Bosscha Observatory on Kisar Island

This article was translated by Kurnia Siswo.