Solar eclipse a passionate celestial event for some Aborigines
Story-Date: 11:57 a.m. PST Tuesday  , February 16, 1999

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Solar eclipse a passionate celestial event for some Aborigines


By Peter James Spielmann
Associated Press Writer


SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A partial solar eclipse swept over parts of
Australia on Tuesday, an event that some Aboriginals believe is the sun
mating with the moon after a passionate courtship.

The spectacle took place, appropriately enough, two days after Valentine's
Day.

The partial solar eclipse began at about 5:40 p.m. (1:40 a.m. EST) with the
moon appearing to nip a bite out of the sun.

Hundreds of astronomers traveled north of Perth in Western Australia to
observe the dramatic "ring of fire," when more than 99 percent of the Sun
is eclipsed.

Partial eclipses usually occur every one to two years, although the next is
not expected until Dec. 4, 2002.

Australian Aborigines believe a solar eclipse is deeply significant.

Arunta Aborigines from the central desert region believe the moon is
associated with love and fertility and girls are warned not to look at it
if they don't want to become pregnant.

The Arunta believe the Sun is in love with the Moon and pursues it across
the sky each day. An eclipse happens when the sun catches its longed-for
lover and their rare union occurs, an event worthy of great celebration.

In another Aboriginal legend, the roles are reversed and Bahloo the Moon
god, suffers sexual harassment from the promiscuous Yhi, the Sun goddess.

In Perth, 90 percent of the sun was obscured, while in Sydney, the moon
covered 56 percent of the sun.

Peter Birch from the Perth Observatory traveled to the Hampton Arms bar 18
miles south of Geraldton to watch the eclipse.

He said thousands of amateur skygazers joined 300 to 400 astronomers in the
fields around the bar.

"The moon went completely inside the sun, all we could see was a ring of
light," he said. "It got quite cold, the atmosphere went an orangy, yellowy
shade."



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