Near perfect conditions at eclipse watch in Kuching

The eclipse as seen from the Planetarium in Kuching at about 8.36am. ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star

KUCHING: About 50 people gathered at the Sultan Iskandar Planetarium here to observe the partial solar eclipse which swept across parts of Asia Pacific on Wednesday morning.

Despite some cloudy skies, observers looking through filters and solar glasses were able to watch the moon sliced off part of the sun from about 7.30am.

The "first contact" occurred at precisely 7.24am when the moon's disk touched the edge of the sun.

The moon reached its maximum contact at 8.29am, covering about 90% of the sun.

Sarawak Astronomy Society committee member Rambli Ahmad said this was the best eclipse he had seen as the conditions were "perfect".

He said on another occasion in Bintulu in the 1990s, the rain caused poor visibility during an eclipse.

Although there was some rain on Wednesday morning, it cleared by the time the eclipse occurred.

"Today was very good. The sky has been friendly, it was in the morning and we were in the shade.

"I had hoped that there would be something happening and it did. About 15 minutes before and after the maximum we had a wonderful show of the sun," Rambli said.

According to the National Space Agency's website, the partial eclipse ended in Kuching at about 9.42am.