Discoveries Made During Solar Eclipses

There is nothing beyond hope,

 nothing that can be sworn impossible,

nothing wonderful, since Zeus,

father of the Olympians,

made night from mid-day,

hiding the light of the shining Sun,

and sore fear came upon men.”

(The poet Archilochus wrote of the April 6, 647 BCE total solar eclipse)

We all take solar eclipse a general event of the universe. We concentrate on thrill and myths attached to it but do you know how much it contributed to spheres of science and literature. As Gravitational force was discovered accidentally, likewise nature also revealed its secrets in these dark moments many times.

There are many beneficial discoveries occurred during solar eclipses and literature made with universal effect. We all still like movies that have wolf and blood things in eclipses. So we can say solar eclipse is not just an eclipse, it proved a path towards discoveries and entertainment.

The second lightest and second most found element known in-universe is Helium. This name was derived from the Greek word Helios which was used for the sun. Jules Janssen was a French astronomer who discovered this element and he discovered it in the time of solar eclipse that is why he associated the word used for the sun with this discovery.  Again he proved the existence of this element on August 18, 1868, in tickles of the solar eclipse.

Well, the initial known distance of the moon from Earth was also figured out by observing and using several solar eclipses. Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer did it and estimated the distance around 268,000 mi/429,000 km. He was of course not exact but pretty close as nowadays scientists say it’s only about 11% more than we calculated now.

Paul Griffin was an archeo-astronomer, mean he was an archeologist and an astronomer. He was investigating some natural phenomenon in Ireland’s the Loughcrew Cairn L Megalithic Monument in 1999. He made a discovery that all then known celestial bodies are in a geometric relationship and the universe can see a repeated pattern of solar eclipses.  In the skies, if 1999 he found the same set of petroglyphs in a spiral shape, the same as was made in during solar eclipse of Nov. 30, 3340 BCE. This discovery covered the consistent code sun, moon, and horizon and 92 tracks of total solar eclipses.

Ancillary discoveries of various other natural phenomenons were also observed. During one solar eclipse, the physicist Maurice Allais observed unexplainable movements which later got the name of Allia’s effect on understanding. The controversial Saxl Effect is also a product of solar eclipse gravitational tides. It was observed by Saxl and Allen when they noticed the sudden change in the motion of a torsion pendulum.

It is a well-established theory that dimness during these eclipses causes restraint to manmade power systems as sun rays, beams, and heat persistence become disturbed. The first significant change in power system was recorded in solar eclipse of 20^th March of 2015. Power production decreased, the temperature of Earth lowered down and winds changed their swirl. Animals also got puzzled, the same started preparing to sleep, some took the path back to their homes and crickets started chirping. All this was amazing to see.

For a long time, Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity stayed holy for scientists as nothing in favor or against was tested or detected but only till May 29, 1919. A British astronomer and mathematician Sir Arthur Eddington got an idea. He spotted the total solar eclipse and used it to test Einstein’s theory.

For this purpose, he collected pictures of stars that were near to the sun in the duration of the total eclipse. After that, he proved and showed that nothing can escape gravity. Light bends towards the gravitational pull. Einstein said the same, his gravitational deflection theory was proved correct and cross-checked.

Solar eclipse once contributed to peace as well.  A famous ancient Greek historian Herodotus gave an interesting account of the incident in his work. He said that an awaiting war between the Medes and the Lydians was stopped due to the solar eclipse of 585 BCE. Both Armies saw the skies darken and took it as a warning. They thought of making peace with each other better and resolved the conflict.

Not only discoveries during a solar eclipse are important but discoveries about solar eclipses are also worthy of discussion. Ptolemy, a famous Greek astronomer (ca 150 CE) kept records of eclipse observations and confirmed a very sophisticated way of predicting both solar and lunar eclipses on the basis of his knowledge about the moon’s orbit details including its nodal points. He predicted up to two solar eclipses happen within seven months in the same part of the world.

From old sun have been eaten concept of the solar eclipse to real explanation of it took many long centuries. In 1605 Johannes Kepler presented the complete scientific explanation of a total solar eclipse and all old myths came to an end.

Archeologists attribute both the ancient Chinese and the Babylonians sophisticated in the study of skies as record shoes they could predict solar eclipses in 2500 BC. We find the oldest solar eclipse in human history on October 22, 2134 BCE. The initial reference of an eclipse on the clay tablets is May 3, 1375 BCE.

The first telescopic observation of an eclipse was made in France in 1706. The English astronomer Edmund Halley, in 1715, predicted the solar eclipse of May 3, 1715. It was only about 4 min late and 18 mi/30 km off from the actual path. On July 28 1851 the first photograph of a total eclipse was taken. Average about 240 solar eclipses occur in each century.

No matter whatever scientific explanations we have of the solar eclipse. It is always a favorite topic for myth, adventure, and literature lovers. We find a number of prose, verses, films, and series on it and yes we enjoy it.  JJJ

“As when the Sun,

new risen,

Looks through the horizontal misty air,

Shorn of his beams,

or from behind the Moon,

In dim eclipse,

disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.”

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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