“the Sun carrying an umbrella”

Yesterday was not the usual Friday…

No, it wasn’t Friday “The Thirteen”…

But it was definitely NOT Friday “The Usual”…

At least not in Kuching…

It was lunchbreak and I was at the office when I heard that something was up. Waaaayyy up…like, In the sky!

May: Was there a gerhana (eclipse) just now?

My colleague: I saw a rainbow circling the sun!

May (again): My collegue said she saw two SUNs! Is that even logical?

I would have gone to see it for myself but then I was in no condition to go all the way down the stairs to get out of the buliding. I tried to catch a glimpse at it through the tinted windows but couldn’t really see anything…

But everyone was talking about the weird lunchtime special so it was definitely not something they imagined seeing…

I soon forgot about it though, being swamped with work, but then Lola reminded me of it, so I went and searched through the net looking for something on the phenomenal event…

Well…take a look at this…

 This could be the moon hiding behind the sun…the opposite of an eclipse.

 Or a rainbow around the sun?

In a way, it does look like an Eclipse and two Suns doesn’t it?

So what are we to make out of this phenomenon?

It is a bad omen. That was what a local geomancer had to said about a rainbow-like ring around the sun seen by thousands of people here near mid-day yesterday.

Many people rushed out of their offices and shops to look at the awe-inspiring halo with some drivers even stopping their vehicles to observe or record the phenomenon with their mobile phones.

Fengshui master Alan Kou described the rare celestial sighting as “the Sun carrying an umbrella,” saying it was a sign of something bad.

He predicted that the weather would become erratic and the rainy season would last longer.

“It will rain and rain. In my opinion, it is not a good sign.”

Kou feared there would be more social problems and the slow economy would continue.”In general, society might be facing a hard time ahead and many problems will arise.”

He said he had come across and studied such a phenomenon many years ago, adding that it was uncommon and portended a time of ill winds.

However, Sarawak Astronomical Society vice president Jacob Sebastian explained that there was nothing supernatural about the natural occurrence.

The rainbow did not surround the sun although it looked like it did, he said.

“The rainbow formed quite low in the sky and within the atmosphere, and therefore is known as an atmospheric phenomenon. It also has nothing to do with the Summer Solstice which incidentally starts today.”

Sebastian conceded that it was uncommon to see a full-ring rainbow because rainbows normally occurred either in the early morning or late evening, thus the people could only see part of the ring.

He said a rainbow normally formed opposite the sun when it rained.

“A full-ring rainbow only occurs when the conditions are right – not too hot, not too cloudy, and there are particles of water or ice in the sky. The rainbow is reflection by these particles.”

He said it was normal for people in the olden days to believe that such rare atmospheric phenomenon was something supernatural or would bring positive or negative repercussions.

However, he said, with today’s scientific knowledge in science, the full ring round the sun was just a rainbow.

(The article and pics were taken from here.)

Personally, I’m a bit %^$%& that I didn’t get to see it with my own two eyes…

Hey! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing!

It reminds me of this though…

So maybe people around us (and ourselves) are gonna be able to regenerate or fly or bend space/time or walk through walls or hear people’s thoughts or paint the future now huh?

….But I wonder…what does it really mean?

p.s. – A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth’s view of the Sun. (Wikipedia) Meaning, the Moon blocks the Sun. Oh…and according to wikipedia, the next solar eclipse is on September 11, 2007 and the next TOTAL solar eclipse is on 1st August, 2008! Mark your calendars…