Perhaps no other celestial event has captured the
awe and imagination of mankind as the Total Eclipse of the Sun- a sky event that has, indeed, fascinated man since the beginning
of time.
. . .
The memory seems to appear all too hazy. . . after
all, I was just barely a year old when, consciously, I could sense that there was something strange to the color of sunlight.
. . a more "greenish" tint- as against the normally bright daylight at high noon.
That was a day in June of 1955, and the event was a
Total Eclipse of the Sun for that year- but perhaps remembered as one of the longest in duration for the
century.
The dark shadow of the moon 'walked' across the Philippines, providing
our people as well as amateur astronomers and Pinoy skywatchers of the time the rare opportunity to observe such
an event which- though pretty common each year, will not be repeated over the same, exact, geographic area for the next
350 years. And while I have personally observed several of those of 'partial' eclipses of the sun on a number of
occasions, it would not be until March of 1988 when I would be personally treated by the heavens to experience
one such event- a show of 'totality' over the City of General Santors in southern Philippines.
The Eclipse Event of 1988
A first class, highly-urbanized city, General
Santos is one of the most populous in the Province of South Cotabato in Mindanao.
And on that 18th day of March, 1988, the Moon had chosen to cast its
shadow right across the face of the City during the total solar eclipse event that transpired on that date.
A few days before, hordes of people- professional and amateur astronomers,
as well as casual observers and tourists, all flocked to this Tuna capital of the country and took possession of all the few
hotel rooms available. The exodus of eclipse chasers and enthusiasts flooded not only the City itself, but also grabbed
all available flights.
I was able to secure myself a seat on one of the last available flights-
but it was not flying directly to "GenSan" (as locals would sometimes call it), but to Allah Valley- located hours away by
public bus.
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A total eclipse of the sun is probably one
of the most awesome sights in nature. The Moon- while moving on its orbit around the Earth, occasionally comes directly
between the Earth and the Sun and its shadow is cast across the face of the Earth thus creating the phenomenon of an eclipse
of the sun- or a Solar Eclipse.
As the Moon is going around the
Earth from west to east, its eastern limb will first touch the western limb of the sun, and as the eclipse event is progressing,
one can discern the shadow of the Moon racing across the landscape with the quality of sunlight turning from from its normal
brightness at daytime then gradually diminishing until the darkness sets in during totality. And as daylight is abruptly
turned into night, animals may be observed to react quite confusingly to the phenomenon.
The shadow that is cast by the Moon over the Earth
during an eclipse event is of two parts- the UMBRA, which is the darker portion of the shadow, and
the PENUMBRA- or the lighter part of the shadow, and how the event is viewed from the Earth will
depend on which part of the Moon's shadow the observer is under. Observers who are under the penumbra will observe a
"partial"- or penumbral eclipse, while those under the umbra will experience seeing totality.
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Map of southern Mindanao (right) showing location of General
Santos City (GenSan) in the Province of South Cotabato.
Photo (below) shows the track of the Moon's shadow on the Earth's surface during
the March 1988 solar eclipse event.
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 By the time I got to GenSan, I immediately
made rendezvous with colleagues from the Philippine Astronomical Society (PAS) who
were joined-in by a team from the Physics Department of the University of the Philippines, and solar physicist
Fr. Heyden, SJ, of the Manila Observatory.
Our group stood out among the rest as we were provided with uniformed
blue T-shirts emblazoned with PAS Eclipse Team logo-design (see photo taken by Kryss Katsiavriades, an "eclipse chaser"
who was from England, and was one of the many froeigners who traveled down to southern Philippines for the event. Click
on the photo to visit his site where you can read his impressions about his Philippine experience as well as that of the eclipse
event itself. . .)
As the City by that time was already swollen with visitors eagter to
experience the sight of the upcoming eclipse phenomenon, the group opted to occupy the roofdeck of the newly-constructed City
Hall. . . I didn't mind; I brought along my own little one-man tent for this once-in-a-lifetime celestial show. . .
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