Stars and STEM Stories
Oct 3rd 2005 Sun Eclipse Report - Saudi Arabia
By Rafat Jambi
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
in Arabic (PDF)
Even though we are concentrating on our four protocols in the GLOBE program, we found ourselves focusing ourstudy on other phenomena that affect temperature in our area.
On October 3rd 2005 our coordinator Mr. Waleed Al-Garni, my students and I visited the astronomy department at King Abdul Aziz Univisity to attend a presentation and report on the eclipse. Lectures were concentrated on what the Quran revealed 1426 years ago:
"(37. And a Sign for them Is the Night: We withdraw There from the Day, and behold they are Plunged in darkness; 38. and the sun Runs unto a resting place, for him : that is the decree of (Him), the exalted in Might, the All-knowing. 39. And the Moon,-We have measured for her stations (to traverse) Till she returns Like the old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk. 40. It is not Permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, Nor can the night outstrip the day Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (According to low)" (Surah Ya-sin 36:37-40) and in another verse " And say: praise be to Allah, who will soon show you his signs, so that you shall know them, and your Lord is not heedless of the things you do." (Surah An-Naml, 27:93) the third verse was " Soon will we show them our Signs in the (farthest) regions( of the heavens and the earth), and within themselves, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord does witness all things?" (Surah Fussilat, 41:53).
With these spiritual teaching we were encouraged to study these phenomena in a modern scientific way. Using the facilities the Department of Astronomy has we reported. The Eclipse started at 9:02 UT time and ended at 3:01. The Maximum shadow covered 60% of the sun from our point of view. My student at Hamzah bin abdulmutalib secondary school took the current temperatures four times as follow:
| Time | 8:05 UT | 9:00 UT | 10:00 UT | 11:00 UT |
| Current Temp. | 39.7 | 39.8 | 37.4 | 39.6 |
We can note that at 10:00 UT the temperature decreased two degrees. Our analysis is that the shade of the moon affected the heat that comes from the sun; an animation of what happen can be seen at: http://olom.info/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=5&t=21571
"Our departments are inviting every astronomies and every person who is interested to study a full solar eclipse on Monday at one thirty PM local time (10:30 UT) Aug. 2nd; don't be late," Dr. Husan Basurah said. We asked, "When is that?" "2027 A.D. since the city of Jeddah will be in the center line of the eclipse" he replied. Some of the pictures were taken for documentation.
Solar Eclipse happened when the moon pass between the sun and earth and the shadow of the moon fall on earth. The shadow last few minutes and goes on into an other points on earth.
Read about GLOBE Students in Saudi Arabia view the Transit of Venus in 2004
04 November 2005