Credits: NASA
The Great American Eclipse
An eclipse is an amazing and mystical experience, a breathtaking spectacle that humans have witnessed since the beginning of recorded history. For centuries, our ancestors attributed solar eclipses to the signs of the end of the world or drastic changes for our future. Some even believe that eclipses affect animals in peculiar ways, tricking them into acting as if it were night. An eclipse can be such a memorable and meaningful event that scientists prepare themselves to study and document them months or years in advance.
On Monday, August 21, 2017, many Americans will witness an awe-inspiring event—the first time in 38 years in fact—of the Moon blocking the Sun for over 2 minutes. There will be a total solar eclipse, which means that the Moon will pass between the Earth and Sun, the first one in 99 years that covers coast to coast in the United States and won’t happen again until seven years later on April 8, 2024.
Coined The Great American Eclipse, the Moon’s shadow will span along what is called the path of totality or the area of the Moon’s shadow from the east coast to the west, from Oregon to South Carolina. The Moon will completely cover the Sun and the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona. The shadowed area or area of totality will be approximately 70 miles wide. As the sky turns dark, planets and stars hidden by the Sun’s brilliant light will reappear, which may unveil Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Outside the path of totality in the United States people will experience a partial eclipse. Europe will not see the eclipse this time around.
A Few Facts
The shadow cast by the Moon during a total solar eclipse consists of the central umbra (associated with the area of totality) and the penumbra (area of partial eclipse). At the beginning and end of the total solar eclipse, the Moon’s rough, cratered surface creates intermediate “beads of sunlight” around its perimeter called Baily’s beads. (Dinwiddie 63)
During the eclipse, a diamond ring effect appears when sunlight peeks through where there are valleys on the lunar edge, which creates glistening bursts of light or “diamonds” on a bright ring of light around the Moon’s edges.
Total eclipses can hit anywhere in the world. In the US, Specific places like Carbondale, Illinois will see the eclipse this year and in 2024. There will be 1500 years before Los Angeles sees another. Denver, Colorado’s last total eclipse was in 1878, and won’t another until 2045. Hundreds of years can span between total eclipses in specific locations. “This difference in time happens because orbits of the Earth and moon are not perfect circles. Scientists have to use advanced math to figure out when the next eclipse will be.” (Baxter)
The Oldest Eclipse Recorded
Possibly the earliest recorded solar eclipse is documented on a clay tablet discovered in 1948. The tablet records that in Ugarit, a port city in Northern Syria, the sky darkened for 2 minutes 7 seconds on May 3, 1375, BC. This date has been disputed. For example, the journal Nature reported in 1989 that the eclipse actually occurred on March 5, 1223, BC. That new date came from a historical dating of the tablet as well as an analysis of the tablet’s text, which mentions the visibility of the planet Mars during the eclipse. “Mesopotamian historians in Ugarit recount that the sun was ‘put to shame’ during this total eclipse.” (Ghose)
Solar Eclipses in Art
Some historians believe Cosmas Damian Asam’s painting completed in 1735 is the earliest depiction of a total eclipse of the sun. In the painting, he captured the solar corona and the diamond effect mentioned above.
Prophecies and Omens
“Since ancient times, people have viewed the moon completely blacking out the sun for mere minutes—the entire solar eclipse, as the moon’s shadow moves across Earth, can take hours—as omens that indicate an impending miracle, the wrath of God, or the doom of a ruling dynasty.” (Ghose 2017)
Today many Christians believe that a total eclipse is a sign from God and warning of the end of the world taking heed from scripture. “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” Joel 2:31 “The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.” Joel 3:15
Other conspiracy theorists believe that another planet called Nibiru or Planet X, which supposedly enters the Earth’s orbit every 3000 years, will collide with Earth after the eclipse—a symbol of the apocalypse’s beginning—in September of this year. David Meade, the author of Planet X—The 2017 arrival, believes he’s found bible passages to support his claims. (Muffitt)
Scientific Discoveries
Solar eclipses allow scientists to make discoveries of the Sun that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible because they can study the Sun’s corona and chromosphere. For example, Sir Arthur Eddington verified Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity on May 29, 1919 by viewing a solar eclipse. (Eclipse History)
Historical Events and War
Eclipses were to blame for the death of King Henry I in 1135 AD, and the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London decades even though eclipses hadn’t happened during these events but years before or after. (Waxman).
Our ancestors often linked eclipses with war. In May 585 B.C., the Battle of Halys was stalled when a philosopher named Thales predicted an eclipse. The battle became known as the Battle of the Eclipse. A solar eclipse happened over Tyre, a city Alexander the Great captured during his invasion of Persia. In September 1093, the crusades—which lasted two centuries—began just after an eclipse over Jerusalem. On May 9th, 1948, violence escalated in Korea on a voting day monitored by the United Nations and by 1950 war had begun. (King)
During World War I, the eclipse on August 21, 1914, coincided with German and British troops clashing on the Western Front in Tannenberg, resulting in the death of John Parr, Britain’s first military death just minutes of the eclipse. (King)
Myths and Legends
The Sun vanishing from the sky during a total eclipse confused ancients, and they used stories to explain the anomaly. In Vietnam, they described the event as a giant frog eating the Sun. In Norse cultures, famished wolves were responsible for eating it up. A celestial dragon ate the Sun in an ancient China legend. The deity Rahu in Hindu mythology was beheaded by the gods for drinking the gods’ nectar; his head went flying into the sky, swallowing the Sun. Native Americans called Pomo in Northwestern, US, recount a legend of a bear that fights with the Sun and takes a bite out of it. They have a word for solar eclipse that translates to “Sun got bit by a bear.” The Greeks blamed angry gods, and the New Mexico, Tewo tribe, described the Sun as angry and left to the underworld. (Time and Date)
Citations:
-Baxter, Roberta. Top Ten Facts About Eclipses. 2017
-Dinwiddie, Robert. Universe, The Definitive Visual Guide. London: DK Limited, 2005
-Eclipse History. Nasa.gov. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-history
-Ghose, Tia.(February 13, 2017). The 8 Most Famous Solar Eclipses in History. https://www.livescience.com/57865-famous-solar-eclipses.html,
-King, Iain. (August 20, 2015). World War I: The Most Important Battle. Retrieved from www.iainbking.com/tag/battle-of-tannenberg/.
-Muffitt, Eleanor. (11 August 2017). Will 2017 solar eclipse cause secret planet ‘Nibiru’ to destroy Earth next month? (No, but conspiracy theorists think so). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/will-2017-solar-eclipse-cause-secret-planet-called-nibiru-destroy
– Time and Date. Myths and Superstitions Around Solar Eclipses. www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar-eclipse-myths.html, 2017
-Waxman, Olivia B. (Aug 16, 2017). Why People Used to Be Afraid of Solar Eclipses. www.time.com/4886511/total-solar-eclipse-superstition-history.