Showing posts with label solar eclipse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar eclipse. Show all posts

August 7 - A Solar Eclipse Saved Lives?

   Posted on August 7, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on August 7, 2011:




On this day in 1869, George Davidson's knowledge of science may have saved his life.


According to historians, geographer and astronomer George Davidson led a party to Alaska to view a total eclipse of the sun. They had been warned that the native Chilkat people were angry because of earlier incidents with white people - and knowing the general sweep of history in North America - white folks taking over native lands, waging war, inflicting mistreatment - I could go on and on - I imagine the Chilkat's anger was justified.

Davidson met with some Chilkat representatives on August 6. Apparently the meeting was very tense. He told the Chilkat that he was anxious to see the total eclipse of the sun that he had predicted to occur the next day and explained that he and his group meant no harm. 

Although the Chilkat didn't seem to believe him, they left the group alone for the night. The next day, when the sun did indeed disappear as predicted, the Chilkat ended up arranging a potlatch - a ceremonial exchange of gifts. Davidson painted a view of the eclipsed sun's corona on a wooden plank, and he presented it to Kohklux, the Chilkat leader. In return, Kohklux and his wives drew a large and detailed map of their homeland and trading routes.

Nice!

The Chilkat people are known for their weaving. Check it out!







Also on this date:





(First Sunday of August)








(First Sunday of August)





(First Sunday of August)


(First Sunday of August)






(First Sunday of August)










(First Sunday of August)





Satchmo Days 
(August 6 - 7, 2022)







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July 17 - Total Solar Eclipse in China

  Posted on July 17, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on July 17, 2011:



The earliest record of a confirmed total solar eclipse happened on this date in 790 B.C. The record was written in China. The reason we can confirm the date, although we don't have any records of the event from any other civilization, is because knowledge of the movements of the sun and the moon allow us to compute eclipses of the past as well as predict eclipses of the future!


Historians give the ancient Chinese credit for being the most accurate observers of astronomical events in the world, before the medieval Islamic or Arab astronomers eclipsed them. 

(Yeah, I used the word eclipse to mean “surpass” or “outshine” in an article about astronomical eclipses!)



One of the main reasons for all this careful observation was timekeeping. The Chinese used a lunisolar calendar which indicated both the lunar phases and the position in the solar year, with the four seasons depending on day length. Because lunar phases and the solar year are independent, the Chinese had to add leap days in order to keep the seasons in sync with the calendar—and so a lot of time was spent keeping tabs on constellations and the sun and moon.


Some ancient Chinese scholars conceived of the heavens as a dome-like hemisphere or as a celestial sphere like the one conceived by ancient Greeks. However, one school of ancient Chinese astronomers (the Xuan Ye school) viewed the heavens as an infinite space with stars and other bodies floating about “at rare intervals” (in other words, far from one another),  and that each celestial body had independent speed and movement. In other words, these Chinese cosmologists thought of the celestial bodies as being not attached to anything. 

The Xuan Ye view is very close to the theories of modern astrophysicists!





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May 28 - Battle of the Eclipse

   Posted on May 28, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on May 28, 2011:


The year was 585 B.C.

The Medes and the Lydians were at war. 

The king of the Medes was fighting the king of the Lydians, and the king of the Lydians was fighting the king of the Medes - and that meant that they were both sending soldiers to fight one another.

They were fighting over land and revenge for an act that had been carried out in revenge for another act that had been carried out in revenge for... Well, you get the idea. Everybody was acting badly, and soldiers had been battling it out on behalf of their kings for MORE THAN FIVE YEARS!

Then, on May 28, 585, the gods stepped in.

The gods made day into night to show their displeasure, and the battle stopped.


The Lydians (above) looked with astonishment at...
a black hole in the sky (below)
where the Sun should have been...



Somehow the two sides managed to arrange a truce. A boundary line was agreed on. One king's daughter married the other king's son to make sure the truce lasted.

Umm....

Of course, what stopped the battle on this day almost 2,500 years ago wasn't a miracle created by the many Lydian gods or the one Median god. It was a total solar eclipse. Total solar eclipses are very rare but also completely normal and (nowadays) well understood.

Basically, the battle site just happened to be in the moon's shadow.


I hope you get to see a total solar eclipse someday.
I have! And it looks really, really WRONG, somehow,
even if you completely know how normal it is, and
the cause, and that everything will be back to normal
in just a few minutes.

Because we can very accurately calculate the dates of solar eclipses, this battle is one of the earliest events that modern historians can pinpoint with a precise date.










 Julia Pierpont Day


 (Saturday before Memorial Day)





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