50 Fun Facts About Eclipse

The Sun's diameter is 400 times the Moon's. By what factor is the Sun farther from Earth, which is why the two look the same size in our sky?

That coincidence gives both bodies an apparent size of about half a degree, so the Moon can just cover the Sun's disk.

What is the theoretical maximum length of totality during a solar eclipse?

The longest one between 3000 BC and 8000 AD comes on July 16, 2186 and will run 7 min 29 s.

In which kind of solar eclipse does the Moon appear too small to cover the Sun, leaving a bright ring?

It happens when the Moon is near the far point of its orbit. A hybrid eclipse shifts between annular and total along its path.

What is the name of the dark central part of the Moon's shadow, inside which a total eclipse is seen?

It is typically only 100-160 km wide on the ground, while the penumbra, where the eclipse is partial, spans more than 6,400 km.

Which part of the Sun becomes visible to the naked eye only during a total eclipse?

It is the outer atmosphere, normally drowned out by the far brighter photosphere.

How often, on average, does a total solar eclipse happen somewhere on Earth?

But any single spot on the planet waits an average of 360-410 years between total eclipses, which is why people travel for them.

How many solar eclipses of any kind occur in a typical year?

There is at least one in every eclipse season, and partial eclipses come along about twice a year.

What is the name of the roughly 18-year cycle after which a near-identical eclipse repeats?

It lasts 6,585.3 days. Each series begins with a partial eclipse near one of the poles and drifts across the globe over centuries.

What are Baily's beads, seen just before and after totality?

Francis Baily explained them in 1836, though Edmond Halley had recorded them during the eclipse of 1715. When just one bead is left you get the diamond ring.

Which astronomer made the first recorded observation of Baily's beads, during the eclipse of 3 May 1715?

He is better known for the comet, but he also produced one of the first accurate eclipse-path maps for that same 1715 event.

Which theory did Arthur Eddington's observations of the total eclipse of May 29, 1919 help confirm?

He measured how much the Sun's gravity shifted the apparent positions of stars in Taurus, and the result made Einstein a global celebrity.

Per Herodotus, a 585 BC eclipse halted a battle between the Medes and which other people?

Thales of Miletus is said to have predicted it, though modern historians doubt he could have. Isaac Asimov called it the earliest event whose date is known to the day.

A clay tablet recording an early solar eclipse was found at Ugarit, in which modern country?

Two dates are usually proposed for it: 3 May 1375 BC or 5 March 1223 BC. Chinese astronomers were predicting eclipses by the 4th century BC.

Why will total solar eclipses eventually stop happening?

Estimates for when the Moon will be too distant to cover the whole Sun range from 650 million to 1.4 billion years from now.

When is it safe to look at a solar eclipse without a certified solar filter?

Even a few seconds of looking at the photosphere can permanently damage the retina, and it is no safer during an eclipse than on any other day.

At which lunar phase can a lunar eclipse occur?

Earth has to sit between the Sun and Moon, and that only happens at full moon during an eclipse season.

Why does the Moon turn red rather than black during a total lunar eclipse?

Rayleigh scattering strips out the blues, so what reaches the Moon is the light of every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once. Without an atmosphere the Moon would go completely dark.

Roughly how long can the total phase of a lunar eclipse last?

From first to last contact with Earth's shadow the whole event can stretch to 236 minutes, and unlike a solar eclipse it can be seen from the entire night side of the planet.

Do you need eye protection to watch a lunar eclipse?

You are looking at the Moon lit by dim, refracted sunlight, not at the Sun itself.

Which five-step scale, from L=0 to L=4, rates how dark a total lunar eclipse looks?

L=0 is a Moon that is almost invisible; L=4 is a bright copper-red. Volcanic ash in the atmosphere can push an eclipse toward the dark end.

What is a selenelion?

It is possible near sunrise or sunset because refraction lifts both bodies above the horizon, and works best from a mountaintop.

According to Maya and Inca tradition, which animal was devouring the Moon during a lunar eclipse?

Cultures around the world explained eclipses as something eating the Sun or Moon; in China it was a dragon.

How many lunar eclipses will there be in the 21st century in total?

That works out to about 2.28 a year. Roughly a third of all lunar eclipses are the barely noticeable penumbral kind.

On which island did Columbus use a predicted lunar eclipse in 1504 to frighten locals into feeding his crew?

He told the cacique that God was angry with them; when the Moon darkened on cue, the provisions resumed. Columbus credited Abraham Zacuto's almanac.

The 2017 'Great American Eclipse' was the first coast-to-coast US total eclipse since which year?

Its path ran from Oregon to South Carolina across 14 states, and it was the first eclipse since 1776 whose path of totality touched no other country.

Near which Illinois city did the 2017 eclipse reach its longest totality, about 2 minutes 41 seconds?

Carbondale scored again in 2024, sitting near the crossing point of both eclipse paths.

How many US states did the path of totality cross during the 2017 eclipse?

Totality first touched land on the Oregon coast at 10:16 a.m. Pacific time.

Near which Mexican town did the April 8, 2024 eclipse reach its maximum totality of 4 minutes 28 seconds?

Totality was visible from six Mexican states, fifteen US states and six Canadian provinces, the first eclipse to cross all three countries this century.

How many US states saw totality during the April 8, 2024 eclipse?

An estimated 50 million people were in or travelled into the path, which was about 198 km wide.

After 2024, in which year will the next total solar eclipse touch the contiguous United States?

That one, on August 22, 2044, clips only Montana and the Dakotas; a much bigger coast-to-coast eclipse follows in August 2045.

Aboard which aircraft did scientists extend their view of a 1973 eclipse's totality to over 74 minutes over Africa?

The prototype outran the Moon's shadow for nearly ten times longer than any ground observer could manage. It is now displayed in Paris in its eclipse-mission livery.

What is it called when only one or two Baily's beads remain, framing the dark Moon in a circle of light?

It is still not safe to look at directly, because a sliver of the photosphere is showing.

How wide can the track of totality be, at most, when the Moon is very close to perigee?

That is the best case; a typical umbra is only 100-160 km across, which is why the path is such a thin ribbon on maps.

Roughly what share of all lunar eclipses are the faint penumbral kind?

Over 5,000 years the split is about 36% penumbral, 35% partial and 29% total.

Which is more common to see from any single spot on Earth: a lunar eclipse or a total solar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse can be seen from the whole night side of Earth, while a total solar eclipse returns to any given spot only every few centuries.

Who directed The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the 2010 third film in the vampire series?

It set a record for the biggest midnight opening in North America with $30.1 million and grossed $699 million worldwide. Bryce Dallas Howard took over as Victoria.

Who wrote and produced Bonnie Tyler's 1983 hit 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'?

He said it began life as a vampire love song called 'Vampires in Love'. Sales jumped 503% during the 2017 eclipse.

By what percentage did sales of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' jump during the August 2017 solar eclipse?

The song has sold more than 13 million copies and topped the charts in both the US and UK in 1983.

How many eclipses of all kinds usually occur in one 18-year saros period?

Roughly 29 of them are lunar and the rest solar.

A total solar eclipse is expected to recur at any single location on Earth roughly how often?

Which is why the same town seeing totality in both 2017 and 2024, as parts of southern Illinois did, was such a fluke.

What nickname, meaning 'shadow lover', is given to people who travel the world chasing eclipses?

They pack eclipse glasses and telescopes, since a total eclipse recurs at any given spot only every few centuries.

Who took the first known photograph of a solar eclipse, a daguerreotype, on July 28, 1851?

The corona had been identified as part of the Sun's atmosphere only nine years earlier, in 1842.

The 21st century's longest total solar eclipse, 6 min 39 s, fell in which year?

Its maximum fell off the coast of Southeast Asia; Shanghai, the biggest city in the path, was clouded out.

The 1999 total eclipse, the UK's first since 1927, crossed Devon and which other county?

Dense populations along the path through Europe and South Asia made it one of the most-viewed eclipses in history, though cloud spoiled much of Western Europe's view.

Roughly how often does an 'eclipse season', the window when eclipses can happen, come round?

Each season lasts about 35 days and brings two or three eclipses, so there are always at least two solar eclipses a year.

By roughly how much is the Moon's orbit tilted to Earth's, the reason eclipses are rare?

Without that tilt there would be a total solar eclipse at every new moon; instead the Moon's shadow usually misses Earth.

'Eclipse' is the closing track of which 1973 Pink Floyd album?

It runs straight on from 'Brain Damage' and ends with the same fading heartbeat that opens the record.

Per Herodotus, which Greek philosopher predicted the eclipse that halted a 585 BC battle?

If the account is accurate, it is the earliest eclipse known to have been predicted; Cicero and Pliny repeat the claim.

Baseball's first ever 'eclipse delay' happened during the 2017 eclipse in which state?

The Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes paused a morning game against the Hillsboro Hops as totality passed over.

Before 2017, when had a total solar eclipse last been seen from the contiguous United States?

That February eclipse clipped only Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, drawing crowds to the Pacific Northwest.