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Last week’s solar eclipse shows us how far we have come in our understanding of nature. We now predict eclipses with precision. The calculations of modern astronomy are obviously superior to ...
On April 8, a solar eclipse will occur across North America, with a path of totality — total blockage of the sun by the moon — occurring throughout the day above several large U.S. cities in ...
As with solar eclipses, the Gregorian year of a lunar eclipse can be calculated as: year = 28.945 × number of the saros series + 18.030 × number of the inex series − 2454.564. Lunar eclipses can also be plotted in a similar diagram, this diagram covering 1000 AD to 2500 AD. The yellow diagonal band represents all the eclipses from 1900 to 2100.
Ancient astronomers were aware of these points in the sky, and by the apex of Babylonian civilization, they were very good at predicting when eclipses would occur.
Likewise, 9 years and 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 days after a total solar eclipse or an annular solar eclipse occurs, a total lunar eclipse will also occur. This 9-year period is referred to as a sar. It includes 111 + 1 ⁄ 2 synodic months, or 111 synodic months plus one fortnight. The fortnight accounts for the alternation between solar and lunar eclipse.
For solar eclipses, the Besselian elements are used to calculate the path of the umbra and penumbra on the Earth's surface, and hence the circumstances of the eclipse at a specific location. This method was developed in the 1820s by the German mathematician and astronomer, Friedrich Bessel , and later improved by William Chauvenet .
Eclipses have always brought with them a heady mix of science and superstition, but today, thanks to education and the media, nearly everyone knows what an eclipse is and how to view one safely.
If Herodotus' account is accurate, this eclipse is the earliest recorded as being known in advance of its occurrence. Many historians believe that the predicted eclipse was the solar eclipse of 28 May 585 BC. [1] [2] How exactly Thales predicted the eclipse remains uncertain; some scholars assert the eclipse was never predicted at all.