A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the Earth. According to NASA, solar eclipses only occur during a new moon phase, which occurs about twice a year, when the moon aligns itself in such a way that it eclipses the sun.
When Will be the Next Solar Eclipse
On April 20, 2023 the next solar eclipse will occur, and it will be a hybrid solar eclipse. This unusual eclipse is a hybrid of an annular eclipse and a total solar eclipse. A “ring of fire” will be visible in the Indian and Pacific oceans for a few seconds during the event, with totality in Exmouth, South Australia (up to 1 minute), Timor Leste (1 minute 14 seconds), and West Papua (1 minute 9 seconds).
On October 14, 2023, there will be another annular solar eclipse. The dazzling “ring of fire” will be visible from North, Central, and South America.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the Earth. They are only visible during the new moon phase and make a fascinating skywatching target.
Solar Eclipse
Some of the strangest solar eclipse responses were found in past centuries when the understanding of what causes these stellar abductions was less spread. But we enlightened, modern folk aren’t immune.
In her 1982 essay eclipse, Annie Dillard recalls hearing screams of terror and/or elation at the sight of an eclipse that swept across Washington state in 1979.
Types of Solar Eclipse
Solar eclipses are classified into four types based on how the sun, moon, and Earth are aligned at the moment when they occur. A solar eclipse is always two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse.
Total solar Eclipse
This is the type of Solar Eclipse when the moon completely obscures the sun.
Partial Solar Eclipse
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon does not completely block the sun, obscuring only a portion of the sun. The moon appears to be “biting” the sun in this image.
Annular Solar Eclipse
The moon passes directly in front of the sun but does not cover the entire surface (as seen in a total solar eclipse). A “ring of fire” encircles the moon.
Hybrid Solar Eclipse
This most unusual type of this eclipse is a combo of a total and annular eclipse (also known as an A-T eclipse), which occurs when the moon’s shadow moves across Earth. These begin with one type of eclipse and progress to another.
According to the interactive platform SpaceEdge Academy, solar eclipses are total 28% of the time, partial 35% of the time, annular 32% of the time, and hybrid 5% of the time.
Royal Concerns
Ancient Babylonians had an understanding of mathematics advanced enough to predict eclipses but still saw them as bad omens for their royalty. They often put a commoner on the throne during an eclipse. So, if some actual dark doings befell the king, they could regain the fake king instead.
After the eclipse, the regal stand-in was rewarded for his service by being killed. Just to require care any bad eclipse cooties died along with him.
Court astronomers in ancient China met the identical fate after they didn’t predict an eclipse, allegedly because they were drunk. The 4,000-year-old anecdote later inspired a poem that has been passed down for centuries:
Mind-Blowing Facts
After the eclipse of 647 B.C., the Greek poet Archilochus found himself considering what other tricks the gods might need future for the mortals below:
Perhaps history’s strangest response to an entire eclipse was the tiniest amount hysterical one. When the sun vanished shortly after rising early within the morning over Europe, local workers apparently thought little of it.
They solely went back to bed, to keep with historian Roger of Wendover, only to be astonished when the sun had regained its normal brightness within an hour. Still shocked to figure out the sun slip away
“More often than not, (eclipses) were a source of fear and anxiety,” Ruskin says. “Not until the quantity stated because the EU Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries do a scientific summary of the motion of the world, sun and moon tend to alleviate such anxieties, a minimum of among Europeans.”
This scientific enlightenment allowed us to want a deep breath and a look around during eclipses. Seems the event has an odd effect on animals too.
“A crow was the only animal near me; it seemed quite bewildered, croaking and flying backward and forwards near the underside in an uncertain manner,” wrote John Couch Adams about one 19th century eclipse.
Scientific curiosity around eclipses also prompted some presumably anxiety-inducing endeavors, like Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev’s use of a balloon to look at an 1887 eclipse from over 2 miles high within the air.
Conclusion
So, as we glance back now on a variety of the irrational, illogical, and downright bizarre reactions to the current trick of trigonometry, try and not judge. Even today, the parable that an eclipse is somehow a danger to pregnant women persists.
