An eclipse is an astronomical situation in which one celestial body blocks light from another celestial body. The most famous are lunar and solar eclipses. Today I will tell you some interesting facts about them.
Before completely disappearing behind the Moon, "rays" and various formations are clearly visible at the edge of the solar disk. This is due to the fact that the sun's rays pass almost parallel to the surface of the Moon, reflecting and lingering on the irregularities of the lunar soil - craters and mountains.
The longest eclipse in our century occurred on July 22, 2009, and was observed in India, Nepal, Bhutan and China. The duration of this eclipse was 6 minutes 29 seconds.
The shadow from the Moon during an eclipse moves along the surface of the Earth at a speed of up to 2000 meters per second.
The above-described feature is often used by young people in love to offer their hand and heart to their chosen ones, because the view in the sky is very similar to a wedding ring with a stone.
Promotional video:
The beauty and "accuracy" of a solar eclipse is due to a wonderful coincidence - the diameter of the Sun is 400 times the diameter of the Moon, while the distance to it is 400 times greater than to the Moon.
Earth is the only place in the solar system where a total solar eclipse can be observed.
The Chinese hieroglyph for a solar eclipse - Shi - means "to eat." In ancient China, it was believed that during an eclipse, a solar dog eats the Sun, so all residents began to beat drums intensively and make other loud sounds so that the beast belched the light back into the sky.
In the same China, the oldest records of a solar eclipse were found, which date back to at least 1050 BC.
Comparing data from ancient Chinese sources and modern observations, astronomers, through complex calculations, determined that over three thousand years the length of the day increased by 0.047 seconds.
Inertia of the World Ocean, in addition to slowing down the rotation of the Earth, leads to the distance of the Moon from the Earth. It is estimated that in 600 million years the Moon will move away from the Earth so far that it will not be enough to "close" the Sun, so solar eclipses will stop.
At any point on the Earth, a solar eclipse can be observed on average once every 360 years.
But there are special places on Earth, for example Carbondale in Illionois, USA - an eclipse is planned there on August 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024, that is, with an interval of only seven years!
During a lunar eclipse, a visible reddish halo forms around the moon due to the fact that the sun's rays pass through the earth's atmosphere on the way to the moon.
Canadian astronomer J. Campbell spent 50 years of his life "collecting" various types of eclipses. He strove to see 12 different types of these events, and each time the sky was covered with dense clouds icon sad 15 facts about solar eclipses
Columbus's notes describe a case in which a lunar eclipse helped a navigator. During a conflict with the local population, the sailor threatened that the moon would disappear from the sky if they did not continue to supply them with food. It was at this time that a lunar eclipse occurred, and the frightened natives decided to cooperate with the "mighty aliens". Knowledge is power!