Enjoy a Phenomenal Solar Eclipse Live with Panasonic

On 9 March 2016, Indonesia will witness a rare total solar eclipse lasting approximately four minutes. Panasonic’s live broadcast from Ternate island ensures you don’t need to move mountains to catch it.

Solar eclipse - How well do you know it?

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes in between the sun and the earth and casts a shadow on the latter so we’re plunged into darkness for a short while. The hot gases of the corona (a layer that surrounds the sun) create the ‘diamond ring effect’ or the ‘prominence’, making it an exhilarating moment that is usually caught using colanders, eclipse glasses and pinhole projectors. But now you can forego all that hassle and simply watch the eclipse with Panasonic.

Beaming it live

As a two-time veteran of broadcasting solar eclipses live worldwide, Panasonic has simplified matters this year with the portable, easy-to-construct Power Supply Container – a stand-alone photovoltaic power package that will be transported from Jakarta to Dodoku Ali on Ternate in eastern Indonesia.

This container, designed and developed to assure stable power supply in off-grid areas, can be added to existing ones at any time to generate more power and can be connected to devices such as water pumps to improve water supply conditions.

Equipped with 12 Panasonic HIT solar modules that have high conversion efficiency, the container can generate approximately 3kW of electricity and store this power in the 24 built-in lead-acid storage batteries. The stored energy will be supplied to a Panasonic LUMIX GH4 camera attached to a telescope to capture the astronomical phenomenon. Solar energy will also power mobile computers, production and editing equipment, internet connection and other supporting technology used.

The Panasonic HIT solar modules help the container to provide power efficiently, even in restricted spaces, while an energy management system monitors the electricity levels of the lead-acid batteries and controls supply and demand. This in turn reduces battery deterioration, life-cycle cost and maintenance man-hours of the storage batteries.

One technology, many uses

The Power Supply Container is part of the Eco Solutions suite of products that Panasonic manufactures. However, it is not making its debut here. It was installed on a remote Indonesian island in July 2014 at the National Elementary School Karimunjawa 01 to help improve the educational environment for students and teachers there.

Its success propelled Panasonic to deploy a second container inJuly 2015 at another elementary school in the mountainous region of West Java Province to enhance education and water supply. Today, Panasonic strives to extend this technology to areas that are off-grid to ensure stable power supply while mitigating social challenges to enable a better quality of life.

Panasonicoffers a wide range of solar panels and power supply solutions that use advanced technologies to create safer andmore conformable living environments while minimising the impact on the environment in Indonesia and many other countries in the ASEAN area.

Leveraging technological prowess and innovative products that try to better the best, Panasonic promises you a once-in-a-lifetime experience this Wednesday. It’s a date you can’t afford to miss!

This year’s live broadcast will be available on Ustream, YouTube Live and Periscope. The international live broadcast timings are:

Event Schedule (Indonesia time)

Live Broadcast Begins (Tentative) 03:00 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Partial Eclipse Begins 06:36 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Total Eclipse Begins 07:50 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Maximum Eclipse 07:53 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Total Eclipse Ends 07:56 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Partial Eclipse Ends 09:20 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)

Live Broadcast Ends (Tentative) 10:00 Mar 9 (UTC + 7:00)