What is an Eclipse?

There are two kinds of eclipse; a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse. In lay-persons terms it is an eclipse of the Sun and an eclipse of the Moon.

A solar eclipse is when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun which can totally or partially block or obscure the Earth's view of the Sun. In other words the sun moves past a shadow of the moon. This can occur only when the Moon is full, and when the Sun, Earth and Moon are exactly on a line, or very closely so. Normally a solar eclipse does not last long as it must be remembered it only takes the time the earth is moving in his normal orbit path.

A lunar eclipse is when the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. A total eclipse of the moon is the most spectacular event of the two. At the start of the eclipse, the Moon looks like a normal bright full Moon and then it seems to get darker. The change is so small that you can just barely see it happening. As time goes by, the Moon gets darker and darker until it all of a sudden changes colours, usually to a dark purple or apricot colour and finally gets completely dark and almost disappears. After a few minutes, the whole process reverses and the Moon gets lighter and lighter until it finally goes back to being a normal Full Moon.

In ancient times, and even in today's modern age, solar eclipses were attributed to mythical properties. Total solar eclipses can be frightening events for people unaware of their astronomical nature, as the Sun suddenly disappears in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes. Remember for ancient people, the Sun was a symbol of life, of happiness and prosperity. When the Gift of Life suddenly started to disappear, people started panicking. Naturally they thought they did something wrong and were punished. It could even happen that they sacrificed someone - and suddenly the Gift of Life returned believing that sacrificing someone did the job!

Lunar and Solar eclipses were however, predictable from very early in scientific history. From the start of Mankind you had those who were interested in all scientifically phenomenon and they could advice the Emperors and Kings of such occurrences. Unfortunately communications in those days were not what we know today - the possibility was there that those living in isolation could not hear news of it coming and then were caught unaware!

With the ages there were also some interesting fables and stories linked to the phenomenon of eclipse. Some of them are:

The word "lunatic" comes from the word lunar (moon) and probably it relates to the changes of the moon which nobody could understand - just as they could not understand people changes mentally.

The first records of an eclipse date from 2134 B.C. in China. The Chinese believed the Sun was being devoured by a huge invisible dragon! When an eclipse occurred, people would go outside and start dancing, shouting and even firing arrows towards the dragon (Sun) to chase it away. Needless to say, the dragon always went away.

It is believed that Stonehenge in England was used not only for religious purposes, but also to predict seasons and even eclipses.

In 585 B.C, the Lydians and Medes were in the process of fighting a battle when an eclipse occurred. Both sides immediately stopped fighting (they probably saw it as a bad omen) and thus ended a six year war.

Today an eclipse is an once in a lifetime occurrence due to the fact that in some parts of the world it is much better to be observed than in other parts where it could even not be observed at all. It all depends on the path of the Sun or Moon. There are fanatics who are even called "eclipse chasers" as they will follow an eclipse anywhere in the world.

An eclipse is a must seen as it is one of the marvels of Nature!

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