48 Fun Facts About Eclipse

The Sun is both wider than the Moon and farther from Earth by roughly what factor?

About 400: the two ratios match, so both discs span about half a degree in our sky and the Moon can just cover the Sun.

At most, roughly how long can totality during a solar eclipse last at one spot?

About 7 minutes: the Moon's shadow races across Earth at over 1,000 mph, so no single spot stays in darkness for long.

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

Annular: because a bright ring of the Sun stays uncovered, it is never safe to look at without eye protection, even at its peak.

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

Umbra: where it touches Earth, its path is only about 100 miles wide, and anyone just outside it sees merely a partial eclipse.

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

The corona: this outer atmosphere tops a million degrees, yet it is far fainter than the Sun's face, which normally drowns it out.

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

Every 18 months: yet the shadow's path is so narrow that any one town usually waits centuries for its next total eclipse.

Which element was first spotted in the Sun's light during an 1868 eclipse, years before it was found on Earth?

Helium: its bright yellow line in the Sun's spectrum matched no known element, and William Ramsay didn't identify it on Earth until 1895.

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

Saros: each cycle runs about 8 hours past a whole number of days, so Earth turns a third further and the repeat eclipse lands about 120 degrees west.

What are Baily's beads, seen around totality?

Sunlight shining through valleys on the Moon's edge makes the beads, and when the last one winks out, totality begins.

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

Edmond Halley is best known for predicting that the comet seen in 1682 would return in 1758, as it did, years after his death.

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

General relativity: the Sun's gravity shifted the apparent positions of background stars as Einstein predicted, and the result made him a global celebrity.

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

The Lydians: when day suddenly turned to night mid-battle, both armies stopped fighting and were eager to make peace.

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

Syria: the Ugarit tablet says the Sun went down in daytime with Mars in view, a sign the sky truly went dark in a total eclipse.

Why will total solar eclipses eventually stop happening?

The Moon is slowly drifting farther away, roughly 4 cm a year, so in hundreds of millions of years it will look too small to cover the Sun.

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

Only during totality: once the Moon hides the whole Sun you may look, but glasses go back on the moment any bright sliver reappears.

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 a totally eclipsed Moon look red?

Sunlight is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, which filters out blue light, so the Moon glows with every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once.

Why does lunar totality last far longer than solar totality?

Earth's shadow is much wider than the Moon's, so the Moon can spend well over an hour crossing its core, while the Moon's own small shadow sweeps past any one spot in minutes.

Do you need eye protection to watch a lunar eclipse?

No, it is safe to look directly: you are seeing the dimmed Moon, not the Sun, so binoculars and telescopes are fine too.

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

Danjon scale: after big volcanic eruptions fill the air with ash, eclipses tend to land at its dark end, with the Moon nearly vanishing.

What is a selenelion?

Seeing the Sun and eclipsed Moon at once: it happens just after sunrise or before sunset, and a mountaintop view of both horizons helps.

In one Inca myth, which animal attacked and ate the Moon during a lunar eclipse?

A jaguar: to drive it off before it leapt down to eat people, the Inca shook spears at the Moon and beat their dogs to make them howl.

In a Chinese legend, what happened to astronomers Hsi and Ho after they failed to predict an eclipse?

They were executed, the story goes, for being too drunk to warn the emperor, though historians suspect the tale is invented.

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

Jamaica: stranded there with his ships beached, he warned that an angry God would darken the Moon, and when it did, the locals resumed supplying food.

The Dresden Codex, a bark-paper book full of eclipse tables, was made by which people?

The Maya: its tables tracked when eclipses could occur, and some scholars argue they even point to the July 1991 eclipse over Mexico.

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.

Where did the 2017 path of totality leave the US mainland?

South Carolina: the shadow crossed the whole country from the Pacific in about an hour and a half, leaving land near Charleston.

Which Pacific beach city was the first place on mainland Mexico to see totality in April 2024?

Mazatlán: the Moon's shadow came ashore there from the Pacific, then raced northeast across Texas and on toward eastern Canada.

After 2024, roughly how long must the contiguous US wait for its next total solar eclipse?

About 20 years: the August 2044 eclipse only clips Montana and the Dakotas, but a coast-to-coast one from California to Florida follows a year later.

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

Concorde: the prototype flew at over twice the speed of sound to keep pace with the Moon's shadow, peering up through portholes cut into its roof.

What name is given to the last brilliant flash of light beside the dark Moon just before totality?

The diamond ring: keep eclipse glasses on, because a sliver of the Sun's bright surface is still showing.

In which Mark Twain novel does a man escape being burned at the stake by claiming to cause a solar eclipse?

A Connecticut Yankee: Hank convinces the terrified court that he caused it, then bargains for his release and a post as the king's perpetual minister.

Which ancient Greek device, recovered from a shipwreck in 1901, could predict eclipses?

The Antikythera mechanism: X-ray scans of its corroded bronze gears revealed dials that forecast solar and lunar eclipses using Babylonian cycles.

Why can far more people see a given lunar eclipse than a total solar eclipse?

Earth's whole night side sees it, while a total solar eclipse is seen only along a narrow path and returns to any one spot only every few centuries.

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

David Slade: Chris Weitz was still in post-production on New Moon when Eclipse had to start shooting, so the studio brought in a new director.

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

Jim Steinman: he later said he began it as a vampire love song for a Nosferatu musical, and he reused it in his stage show Dance of the Vampires.

In which Stephen King novel does a woman kill her abusive husband during the 1963 total solar eclipse?

Dolores Claiborne: while the island watches the eclipse, she lures Joe into a dry well, and 30 years later she confesses it while suspected of another death.

Which enslaved man in Virginia took the solar eclipse of February 1831 as a sign to start planning a revolt?

Nat Turner: he took it as the sign he had been promised and told four trusted men his plan, then a second sign in August launched the uprising.

Which singer's 1972 hit mocks a man who flew his own jet to Nova Scotia to see a total solar eclipse?

Carly Simon: after over 40 years of secrecy, she confirmed in 2015 that one verse is about Warren Beatty, while the rest refer to two other men.

Which inventor took a heat-sensing device he designed, the tasimeter, to the Rockies for the 1878 total solar eclipse?

Thomas Edison: he later admitted it was far too sensitive to give results, and the unstable device was soon abandoned without a patent.

Which Chinese megacity lay in the path of totality during July 2009's record-long total solar eclipse?

Shanghai: heavy rain hid the Sun from the crowds, yet the city still went dark, and its lights switched off again as daylight returned.

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?

Every six months: each season lasts about 35 days, long enough that every year brings at least two solar eclipses somewhere on Earth.

Why isn't there a solar eclipse at every new moon?

Its orbit is tilted about 5 degrees, so at most new moons the Moon's shadow passes above or below Earth instead of falling on it.

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

The Dark Side of the Moon: the album ends as it began, with a fading heartbeat that is really a specially treated bass drum.

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

Thales: Herodotus says he named only the year it would happen, and how he could have predicted even that is still uncertain.

During a partial eclipse, why does the shade under a tree fill with tiny crescents?

Leaf gaps act as pinholes, each projecting an image of the crescent Sun, so hold up a kitchen colander to cast dozens of your own.

Which part of the contiguous US did the total solar eclipse of February 1979 cross?

The Northwest: thousands of eclipse chasers packed little Goldendale, Washington, where the hilltop public observatory served as the Astronomical League's headquarters for the event.