{"id":837567,"date":"2026-08-01T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837567\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T10:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:24:11","slug":"total-eclipse-of-the-heart-family-channels-passion-for-chasing-eclipses-around-the-world-into-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837567\/","title":{"rendered":"Total eclipse of the heart: Family channels passion for chasing eclipses around the world into book"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE \u2013 When Koh Joo Beng, 66, was doing <\/a>national service<\/a> as a young man,<\/a> he was sometimes assigned guard duty outdoors.<\/p>\n

He recalls his overnight shifts on the island of Pulau Tekong during his first three months of <\/a>basic military training<\/a>: \u201cYou\u2019re looking up at the sky and you see shapes that move. But it\u2019s not the stars that are moving \u2013 you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constellations shift their positions at night throughout the year. But they appear to move because of the motion of the Earth, which rotates on its axis and orbits the Sun.<\/p>\n

Koh\u2019s star-gazing days in NS sparked an interest in astronomy and chasing solar eclipses decades later. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking all or some of the Sun\u2019s rays from reaching the Earth.<\/p>\n

The retired research and development director, who has a bachelor\u2019s degree in electrical engineering, acquired a master\u2019s degree in astronomy from Australia\u2019s Swinburne University of Technology in middle age. Around the same time, he and his wife Janet Tay ticked off his bucket-list goal of experiencing their first total solar eclipse in 2008.<\/p>\n

The couple have since spent holidays chasing 14 solar eclipses across the continents, eventually drawing their three adult sons into this celestial quest.<\/p>\n

Koh and his eldest son Jared Koh recently wrote and self-published a book titled Chasing Totality, which includes information on how to make the most of the total solar eclipse on Aug 12, which will pass over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. They will be viewing this eclipse \u2013 the elder Koh\u2019s 15th \u2013 from a cruise ship off the coast of northern Spain, in a 16-strong group comprising family and friends.<\/p>\n

Totality refers to the brief peak, lasting a couple of minutes, of a total solar eclipse when the Sun is completely blocked by the Moon, turning the sky dark as night. The entire eclipse could span several hours.<\/p>\n

The Tintin factor<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s first journey, organised by a firm that customises trips for eclipse chasers, took them to the edge of China\u2019s Gobi Desert in Gansu province in 2008. Koh became hooked.<\/p>\n

He and Tay, 70, a retired manager who used to work in the battery manufacturing industry, have since chased total solar eclipses across Chile, Kenya, the Faroe Islands, Australia, Indonesia and the US. A \u201cdiamond ring\u201d effect is seen during such eclipses, where a shining \u201cdiamond\u201d looks like it is set in a bright ring around the Moon\u2019s silhouette.<\/p>\n

They were in town for the annular solar eclipse that took place in Singapore in 2019. This kind of eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, but appears too small to cover it completely, such that a golden \u201cring of fire\u201d seems to flame around the darkened Moon.<\/p>\n

As an adolescent, Koh had read the Tintin comic book Prisoners Of The Sun, whose plot famously features a solar eclipse.<\/p>\n

Reading about the eponymous boy detective\u2019s adventures was the first time he realised the impact the celestial event could have.<\/p>\n

The closest he has come to this atavistic thrill \u2013 that the sun could be \u201cstolen\u201d \u2013 was when he heard thunderous clacking during a total solar eclipse in 2016 at Tidore Island in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

At the time, the dolo-dolo tradition \u2013 characterised by the beating of bamboo drums across the villages in the area during a solar or lunar eclipse \u2013 was showcased for foreign visitors. According to folklore, the noise drives away the dragon that is swallowing the Sun or Moon.<\/p>\n

Some of the couple\u2019s eclipse-spotting trips have been a \u201cfailure\u201d, they say.<\/p>\n

In Shanghai in 2009, the unexpected appearance of clouds meant they were in the wrong location to be in the path of totality, a mistake Koh attributes to his not paying enough attention to cloud data.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, Tay was not as keen as her husband was.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cI always go for the eclipse, while my wife goes for the travel aspects. She suffers five minutes for two weeks, while I suffer two weeks of travelling for the five minutes an eclipse might take.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a single eclipse I can go to without her. She\u2019s the organiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tay says part of the attraction is that their interest takes them to places they would not ordinarily think of going to. When they travelled to Easter Island, a Chilean territory in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean, for a total solar eclipse in 2010, they also visited Machu Picchu, the famous 15th-century Incan fortress in Peru. Husband and wife also travel frequently outside of eclipse season.<\/p>\n

Framing their jaunts as vacations, with eclipses thrown in, was how the couple \u201cgot the rest of the family involved\u201d, she adds.<\/p>\n

Inter-generational project<\/p>\n

Jared, a 37-year-old manager in the public healthcare sector, is the first of the \u201csecond-generation eclipse chasers\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

As a teenager, his parents\u2019 exotic hobby was \u201ccompletely off the radar\u201d for him. In 2012, at the age of 23, however, he found himself with a stack of unused leave days and signed up for a 21-day South Pacific cruise with his parents.<\/p>\n

The total solar eclipse viewed on deck in the ocean was part of his \u201choliday of a lifetime\u201d as he and fellow passengers visited locales like Hawaii, American Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Koh Joo Beng and his wife Janet Tay, with their sons (from left) Jordon, Jared and Justin, have spent holidays together in pursuit of total solar eclipses. Here, they are seen on one such vacation in 2017 in Idaho in the US.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JARED KOH<\/p>\n

He has since seen three other eclipses with his parents, and his brothers Jordon, 35, and Justin, 32, have also come on board.<\/p>\n

Justin Koh even proposed to his now-wife, Faith See, 28, during his second eclipse shortly after the darkness lifted. It took place on a family cruise holiday to Exmouth, Western Australia, in 2023.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cWatching an eclipse feels existential, otherworldly. It\u2019s a very difficult experience to put into words. It feels eerie, like the world is going to end, but it\u2019s completely natural. I will always remember watching Faith experience it because the awe and amazement were being reflected back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eclipse chasing has \u201cturned into a family event\u201d, he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s also a commitment \u2013 \u2018I will make time for you.\u2019 Since the planning is done more than a year in advance, the anticipation is just as much fun as the trip,\u201d says Justin, who works in cybersecurity in the banking sector.<\/p>\n

He and his wife, Jared and their parents will be joined by friends and members of their extended family on the cruise to view the Aug 12 eclipse, which departs from Southampton in Britain. The trip will cost them between $5,000 and $7,000 each, depending on flight costs from different parts of the world.<\/p>\n

From PowerPoint to book<\/p>\n

Over drinks at the end of 2025, Jared and his dad came up with the idea of writing a book together to share their knowledge of eclipses with the newbies on their upcoming cruise.<\/p>\n

Jared, whose job includes talent development and leadership training, had already self-published a book on Amazon in 2025, titled The Leadership Ladder: Ready To Lead, which is a guide on early career progression.<\/p>\n

Besides, he says, he accompanies his father as the designated \u201cPowerPoint clicker\u201d when the elder Koh does occasional presentations on eclipses to polytechnic and junior college students who take astronomy as their co-curricular activity at school.<\/p>\n

Chasing Totality: The Complete Handbook For The 2026 Total Solar Eclipse, was published in June. It is available on Amazon at $28.24 in paperback.<\/p>\n

\"Chasing<\/p>\n

Chasing Totality, a book by Koh Joo Beng and his son Jared, provides tips on chasing total solar eclipses.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG<\/p>\n

The book provides scientific and technical information, including the use of eclipse glasses, cameras, telescopes, drones and video equipment. It also delves into the mental and emotional aspects of eclipse chasing, such as the \u201cparadox of duration\u201d, where months spent planning a trip culminate in minutes of totality.<\/p>\n

Koh Joo Beng says: \u201cIt goes by so fast that there is no time to look at your camera. You can only see if you\u2019ve taken the photos properly after the eclipse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before embarking on his 15th trip, he admits to being \u201ca bit jaded\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m more into outreach and spreading the joy of chasing eclipses,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 When Koh Joo Beng, 66, was doing national service as a young man, he was sometimes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":["post-837567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}