Bruneians Witness Partial Solar Eclipse

By Lyna Mohamad, Borneo Bulletin (June 23, 2020)

Skywatchers across Brunei Darussalam were treated to a partial solar eclipse, which began yesterday at 3.10pm.

Many used special solar glasses to witness the rare annular event at outdoor locations, while others watched it through a livestreamed session conducted from 2.45pm to 5.30pm by the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD).

A member of Brunei Darussalam Astronomical Society, Haji Mohd Azri bin Haji Ibrahim speaks to the Bulletin

The livestream for the Brunei-Muara District was carried out at the Kiarong residence of PABD member Haji Mohd Azri bin Haji Ibrahim, who had even set up viewing equipment for
eager observers.

November 24, 2019November 24, 2019

Brunei Eclipse Expedition Convoy to Sri Aman in December 2019

Bandar Seri Begawan – A solar eclipse expedition of RING OF FIRE will take place in conjunction of Dec 26, 2019 Annular Solar Eclipse in December 2019.

Join the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) for this exclusive 6-days Expedition (22-27 December 2019) to witness the annular eclipse of the sun in Sri Aman, a collaboration with Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Masjid Bandar Sri Aman.

Truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure! Register and Join the convoy at www.bruneiastronomy.org/xpdc

The road trip /convoy will bring you a rare opportunity to watch “a string of beads” (Baily’s Beads Effect) from the edges of the sun, and a very spectacular sight as a small “ring of fire” or annulus remains around the sun at greatest eclipse. This is a rare celestial event as the next annular eclipse will take place in Borneo in 2031!

Details and questions, join PABD Expedition Whatsapp group www.bruneiastronomy.org/expedition or call +673 815 8392 (Husaini)

November 11, 2019November 11, 2019

Watch Online Live Stream the Rare Transit of Mercury on November 11, 2019

Transit of Venus from Brunei Darussalam on June 8, 2004 (Photo by Pg Shahdani of PABD). The planet disk or silhouette during the transit of Mercury will be smaller than Venus as seen from the Earth.

Bandar Seri Begawan – The planet Mercury will transit in front of the sun on 11 November and ends on 12 November (Brunei Time). The passage will take for a total of 5h 28m 48s and will be visible from America, Europe, Africa and Western Asia. The phenomenon will not be visible from South East Asia including Brunei Darussalam and Australia.

Planet transit takes place in stages and the followings are the key time of contacts (Brunei Time) :
I (first external contact of Mercury with the Sun’s disk): 20h 35m 26s
II (first internal contact of Mercury with the solar disk) : 20h 37m 08s
Greatest (distance between the planet’s disk and the sun’s centre at minimum): 23h 19m 48s
III (last internal contact): 2h 02m 33s
IV (last external contact): 2h 04m 14s

Mercury transit happens about 13 or 14 per century, and this is the last one for 13 years. The next one is on November 12, 2032.

These are the live video streaming links:

Link 1: h ttps://www.pbs.org/…/watch-live-mercury-parades-between-ea…

Link 2: https://www.timeanddate.com/live/

Link 3: https://mercurytransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/2019/

Link 4: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzcmd_KQpEw

June 6, 2019

7 years ago June 2012 Transit of Venus

Exactly 7 years ago today, on June 6, 2012, Venus passed in front of the Sun from Brunei Darussalam. This phenomenon knows as Venus Transit won’t occur for more than 100 years, the next one is on 2117 Dec 11.

The rare transit of Venus through a telescope from Brunei Darussalam (Photo by Hj Mahadi bin Tahir)

Photo by Hj Mahadi, President of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam.

May 9, 2019May 12, 2019

Istiwa Adzam to check Kiblat on May 28

Bandar Seri Begawan – On May 28 every year, at 5:16 pm local Brunei time (09:16 UT), the sun will be precisely overhead (at Zenith) in Makkah and exactly above the Kaabah. At that instance, the Sun in other areas will be directly aligned to the direction of Kiblat.

This phenomenon known as istiwa adzam is useful as an easy Islamic astronomical method to determine the exact direction of prayers (Kiblat) where only half part of the world that receives the daylight can apply this method.