"Recently I returned from a four day expedition to northern Sri Lanka - a dream come true. The opportunity to visit the Jaffna peninsula for the first time and view an annular solar eclipse from there was a thrill for many of us. Jaffna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna) was inaccessible for many years due to the civil war that lasted over two decades. The A9 road linking Kandy in the central hills to Jaffna in the north was closed for public transport until last December due to security reasons as it goes through the former war zone. It opened for round-the-clock travel only on January 7th – just five days before our journey. With the end of the war last May, the A9 road open with no travel restrictions and an eclipse in the offering, this was a chance not to be missed.
Dr. Kavan Ratnatunga, President of the Astronomical Association of Lanka, and I joined a tour organised by Haka Sri Lanka for the Archaeological Society of Sri Lanka, based at the National Museum in Colombo. Our 40 fellow travellers were from diverse professions and ranged in age from three to eighty. We left Colombo by bus during the evening of January 12th, and after several stops en route, we reached Jaffna 17 hours later. Travelling along the A9 we passed small villages, several military checkpoints, many abandoned buildings without roofs, bullet-riddled signposts, etc. Despite the destruction caused by the war, it is heartening to note that government departments together with many local and international aid agencies operate in the area. Together, the organisations are working to provide relief and assist with the redevelopment of the area including: resettlement of displaced people, building construction, remote-controlled and manual demining operations, and infrastructure construction.
After touring several historic sites and a couple of islands off the Jaffna peninsula on the 13th and 14th, we headed mid-morning on the 15th to the Kathurugoda (Kantharodei) Ancient Temple near Chunnakkam to watch the eclipse. It is a unique Buddhist site from the third century B.C. with 60 mini dagabas (stupas) in various sizes, up to four metres in height. The eclipse had already begun when we reached our destination, so we quickly set up our cameras to photograph and video this amazing natural phenomenon. Small panels of No.13 welding glass were distributed to everyone in the group to safely view the eclipse. We shared these with several curious onlookers at the temple and a few Sri Lanka Army personnel who joined us.
We were fortunate to have good weather and clear skies. The annular phase of the solar eclipse began at 1:20 p.m. local time and lasted until 1:30 p.m. We were all quite excited to see the spectacular ‘ring of fire’ during this phase! With the sun more than 84% covered by the moon, the sunshine was not as strong as usual. We also witnessed rings formed on the ground that slowly turned into crescents as the annular phase ended.
Viewing this eclipse was a very memorable experience that I will cherish for a long time."
The next solar eclipse (also an annular) takes place on 26th December 2019 and can also be seen from Jaffna.
Yohan’s photos of the event can be viewed at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=143179&id=506201972&l=264eecc21b
Three short video clips from the event:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbJSDZjc-os
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVgvSxCvwCM
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1aC_y2TVsg
Fellow eclipse hunter, Bushana Kalhara, captured the eclipse in 17 photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=143011&id=854654733&l=501d152e44
A detailed account of the expedition by Dr. Kavan Ratnatunga is online at: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100124/Plus/plus_02.html
More information on Yohan Ferreira:
Yohan Ferreira works for the Business Analysis team of Interblocks Limited, a Sri Lankan company that develops IT solutions for the local and international banking industry. As an Associate Business Analyst, he is responsible for eliciting requirements from clients, analysing existing processes and recommending efficient solutions, creating documents such as Software Requirement Specifications, user manuals, conducting in-house training sessions and coordinating team meetings and webinars. He also works part-time as an educator for the Wendy Whatmore Academy of Speech & Drama. There he teaches English, speech & drama, verse & prose speaking, effective communication skills courses to young learners and teenagers.
Yohan is both an Associate of Trinity College London (ATCL) and an Associate of the Wendy Whatmore Academy (AWWA) in Speech & Drama (Teaching). A graduate of the 2002 International Space School summer programme at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, he has been a volunteer space education and public outreach coordinator for ten years for NASA Quest and also supports the Student Signatures in Space (S3) programme for Space Day. A very keen space enthusiast and advocate, he was awarded the 2002 Hakluyt Prize by the International Mars Society for the best student letter to world leaders advocating a humans-to-Mars mission. He serves as Internal Communications Admin of the International Space School Alumni Association in Canada. A delegate at the Space Generation Congress 2007 and the first National Point of Contact for Sri Lanka, Yohan was elected as a Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific last year for SGAC.
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