Editing Eclipse (section)

==Earth–Moon system==
[[Image:Lunar eclipse diagram-en.svg|240px|thumb|A symbolic orbital diagram from the view of the Earth at the center, with the Sun and Moon projected upon the [[celestial sphere]], showing the Moon's two nodes where eclipses can occur.]]
An eclipse involving the Sun, Earth, and Moon can occur only when they are nearly in a straight line, allowing one to be hidden behind another, viewed from the third. Because the [[orbit of the Moon|orbital plane of the Moon]] is tilted with respect to the orbital plane of the Earth (the [[ecliptic]]), eclipses can occur only when the Moon is close to the intersection of these two planes (the [[node (astronomy)|node]]s). The Sun, Earth and nodes are aligned twice a year (during an [[eclipse season]]), and eclipses can occur during a period of about two months around these times. There can be from four to seven eclipses in a calendar year, which repeat according to various [[eclipse cycle]]s, such as a [[saros (astronomy)|saros]].

Between 1901 and 2100 there are the maximum of seven eclipses in:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moonblink.info/Eclipse/lists/stats |title=Eclipse Statistics|website=moonblink.info|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527212303/http://moonblink.info/Eclipse/lists/stats|archive-date=2014-05-27|first = Ian Cameron |last =Smith}}</ref>
* four (penumbral) lunar and three solar eclipses: 1908, [[Solar eclipse of December 26, 2038#Related eclipses|2038]].
* four solar and three lunar eclipses: 1918, [[December 1982 lunar eclipse#Related eclipses|1973]], 2094.
* five solar and two lunar eclipses: 1934.

Excluding penumbral lunar eclipses, there are a maximum of seven eclipses in:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/eclipse/eclipsecycles.htm|title=A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles|first=R.H. van|last=Gent|website=webspace.science.uu.nl|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905080517/http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/eclipse/eclipsecycles.htm|archive-date=2011-09-05}}</ref>
* 1591, 1656, 1787, 1805, 1918, 1935, 1982, and 2094.

===Solar eclipse===
{{main|Solar eclipse}}
[[File:Total_Solar_Eclipse_-_April_8,_2024_-_Mazatlan_Mexico_-_Ten_Minute_Time_Lapse_v2_1080p.webm|thumb|Ten Minute [[Time-lapse photography|Time Lapse]] Video of the [[Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024|Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024]], in [[Mazatlán]], [[Mexico]].]]
[[Image:2008-08-01 Solar eclipse progression with timestamps.jpg|thumb|The progression of a [[solar eclipse]] on August 1, 2008, viewed from [[Novosibirsk, Russia]]. The time between shots is three minutes.|alt=|left]]
As observed from the Earth, a [[solar eclipse]] occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun. The type of solar eclipse event depends on the distance of the Moon from the Earth during the event. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Earth intersects the umbra portion of the Moon's shadow. When the umbra does not reach the surface of the Earth, the Sun is only partially occulted, resulting in an annular eclipse. Partial solar eclipses occur when the viewer is inside the penumbra.<ref>{{cite web
 |first       = R.
 |last        = Hipschman
 |title       = Solar Eclipse: Why Eclipses Happen
 |url         = http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/why.html
 |access-date  = 2008-12-01
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205073238/http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/why.html
 |archive-date = 2008-12-05
|date        = 2015-10-29
 }}</ref>
[[File:Solar eclipse visualisation.svg|thumb|upright|Each icon shows the view from the centre of its black spot, representing the Moon (not to scale)]]
The [[Magnitude of eclipse|eclipse magnitude]] is the fraction of the Sun's diameter that is covered by the Moon. For a total eclipse, this value is always greater than or equal to one. In both annular and total eclipses, the eclipse magnitude is the ratio of the angular sizes of the Moon to the Sun.<ref>{{cite book 
|first=Martin V. |last=Zombeck |date=2006 
|title=Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics 
|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookspaceast00zomb_313 |url-access=limited |edition=Third |page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookspaceast00zomb_313/page/n61 48]
|publisher=Cambridge University Press 
|isbn=978-0-521-78242-5 }}</ref>

Solar eclipses are relatively brief events that can only be viewed in totality along a relatively narrow track. Under the most favorable circumstances, a total solar eclipse can last for 7&nbsp;minutes, 31&nbsp;seconds, and can be viewed along a track that is up to 250&nbsp;km wide. However, the region where a partial eclipse can be observed is much larger. The Moon's umbra will advance eastward at a rate of 1,700&nbsp;km/h, until it no longer intersects the Earth's surface.

[[File:Geometry of a Total Solar Eclipse.svg|thumb|300px|right|Geometry of a total solar eclipse (not to scale)]]

During a solar eclipse, the Moon can sometimes perfectly cover the Sun because its apparent size is nearly the same as the Sun's when viewed from the Earth. A total solar eclipse is in fact an [[occultation]] while an annular solar eclipse is a [[Astronomical transit|transit]].

When observed at points in space other than from the Earth's surface, the Sun can be eclipsed by bodies other than the Moon. Two examples include when the crew of [[Apollo 12]] observed the [[:File:Earth Eclipses Sun-ap12-s80-37406.jpg|Earth to eclipse the Sun]] in 1969 and when the ''[[Cassini–Huygens|Cassini]]'' [[Space probe|probe]] observed [[:File:Saturn eclipse.jpg|Saturn to eclipse the Sun]] in 2006.[[Image:Eclipse lune.jpg|thumb|250px|The progression of a [[lunar eclipse]] from right to left. Totality is shown with the first two images. These required a longer [[exposure time]] to make the details visible.|alt=|left]]

===Lunar eclipse===
{{main|Lunar eclipse}}Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow. This happens only during a [[full moon]], when the Moon is on the far side of the Earth from the Sun. Unlike a solar eclipse, an eclipse of the Moon can be observed from nearly an entire hemisphere. For this reason it is much more common to observe a lunar eclipse from a given location. A lunar eclipse lasts longer, taking several hours to complete, with totality itself usually averaging anywhere from about 30 minutes to over an hour.<ref>{{cite web
 |author      = Staff
 |date        = January 6, 2006
 |url         = http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/astro/suneclipse.php
 |title       = Solar and Lunar Eclipses
 |publisher   = NOAA
 |access-date  = 2007-05-02
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070512191007/http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/astro/suneclipse.php
 |archive-date = May 12, 2007
}}</ref>

There are three types of lunar eclipses: penumbral, when the Moon crosses only the Earth's penumbra; partial, when the Moon crosses partially into the Earth's [[umbra]]; and total, when the Moon crosses entirely into the Earth's umbra. Total lunar eclipses pass through all three phases. Even during a total lunar eclipse, however, the Moon is not completely dark. Sunlight refracted through the Earth's atmosphere enters the umbra and provides a faint illumination. Much as in a sunset, the atmosphere tends to more strongly scatter light with shorter wavelengths, so the illumination of the Moon by refracted light has a red hue,<ref>
{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Tony |date=February 13, 2008 |url=https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13feb_lunareclipse.htm |title=Total Lunar Eclipse |publisher=NASA |access-date=2008-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301221225/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13feb_lunareclipse.htm |archive-date=March 1, 2008 }}</ref> thus the phrase 'Blood Moon' is often found in descriptions of such lunar events as far back as eclipses are recorded.<ref>Ancient Timekeepers, {{cite web |url=http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/ancient-timekeepers-part-1-movements-of-the-earth/ |title=Ancient Timekeepers, Part 1: Movements of the Earth |access-date=2011-10-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026041145/http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/ancient-timekeepers-part-1-movements-of-the-earth/ |archive-date=2011-10-26 |date=2011-09-16 }}</ref>

===Historical record===
[[File:Les parisiens pendant l'éclipse du 28 Juillet.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|This print shows Parisians watching the solar eclipse of July 28, 1851|262x262px]]
Records of solar eclipses have been kept since ancient times. Eclipse dates can be used for [[chronological dating]] of historical records. A [[Syria]]n clay tablet, in the Ugaritic language, records a solar eclipse which occurred on March 5, 1223, B.C.,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=T. |last2=van Soldt |first2=W. H. |title=The earliest known solar eclipse record redated |journal=Nature |date=1989 |volume=338 |issue=6212 |pages=238–240 |doi=10.1038/338238a0 |bibcode=1989Natur.338..238D |s2cid=186243477 | quote=The new translation runs as follows: (Obverse) "On the ... day of the new moon in [the month] ''ḫiyaru'' the Sun went down, its gate-keeper was ''Ršp''". (Reverse) "Two livers were examined: danger". [...] As pointed out by Sawyer and Stephenson, ''Ršp'' is probably to be identified with the planet Mars. [...] Of the candidate eclipses [...], the one occurring on 5 March 1223 BC is the only one during which the plant Mars was above the horizon. }}</ref> while Paul Griffin argues that a stone in Ireland records an eclipse on November 30, 3340 B.C.<ref>{{cite web
 |last        = Griffin
 |first       = Paul
 |date        = 2002
 |url         = http://www.astronomy.ca/3340eclipse/
 |title       = Confirmation of World's Oldest Solar Eclipse Recorded in Stone
 |publisher   = The Digital Universe
 |access-date  = 2007-05-02
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070409070529/http://www.astronomy.ca/3340eclipse/
 |archive-date = 2007-04-09
}}</ref> Positing classical-era astronomers' use of Babylonian eclipse records mostly from the 13th century BC provides a feasible and mathematically consistent<ref><!--

-->See [http://www.dioi.org/vols/wg0.pdf DIO 16] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726000734/http://www.dioi.org/vols/wg0.pdf |date=2011-07-26 }} p.2 (2009). Though those Greek and perhaps Babylonian astronomers who determined the three previously unsolved lunar motions were spread over more than four centuries (263 BC to 160 AD), the math-indicated early eclipse records are all from a [http://www.dioi.org/thr.htm#ufnr much smaller span] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402105220/http://www.dioi.org/thr.htm |date=2015-04-02 }}: the 13th century BC. The anciently attested Greek technique: use of eclipse cycles, automatically providing integral ratios, which is how all ancient astronomers' lunar motions were expressed. Long-eclipse-cycle-based reconstructions precisely produce all of the 24 digits appearing in the three attested ancient motions just cited: 6247 synod = 6695 anom (System A), 5458 synod = 5923 drac (Hipparchos), 3277 synod = 3512 anom (Planetary Hypotheses). By contrast, the System B motion, 251 synod = 269 anom (Aristarchos?), could have been determined without recourse to remote eclipse data, simply by using a few eclipse-pairs 4267 months apart.<!--

--></ref> explanation for the Greek finding all three lunar mean motions (synodic, anomalistic, draconitic) to a precision of about one part in a million or better. Chinese historical records of solar eclipses date back over 3,000 years and have been used to measure changes in the Earth's rate of spin.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/HistoricalObservationsofSolarEclipses.htm
 |title       = Solar Eclipses in History and Mythology
 |publisher   = Bibliotheca Alexandrina
 |access-date  = 2007-05-02
 }}</ref>

The first person to give scientific explanation on eclipses was [[Anaxagoras]] [c500BC - 428BC].<ref>{{Citation |last=Curd |first=Patricia |title=Anaxagoras |date=2019 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/anaxagoras/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |access-date=2023-08-18 |edition=Winter 2019 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> Anaxagoras stated that the Moon shines by  reflected light from the Sun.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anaxagoras - Biography |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Anaxagoras/ |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=Maths History |language=en}}</ref>

In 5th century AD, solar and lunar eclipses were scientifically explained by [[Aryabhata]], in his treatise ''[[Aryabhatiya]].''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aryabhata {{!}} Achievements, Biography, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aryabhata-I|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> Aryabhata states that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight and explains eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on Earth. Aryabhata provides the computation and the size of the eclipsed part during an eclipse. Indian computations were very accurate that 18th-century French scientist [[Guillaume Le Gentil]], during a visit to Pondicherry, India, found the Indian computations of the duration of the [[lunar eclipse]] of 30 August 1765 to be short by only 41 seconds, whereas Le Gentil's charts were long by 68 seconds.

By the 1600s, European astronomers were publishing books with diagrams explaining how lunar and solar eclipses occurred.<ref>{{cite book|last=Girault|first=Simon|title=Globe dv monde contenant un bref traite du ciel & de la terra|date=1592|location=Langres, France|page=Fol. 8V}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hevelius|first=Johannes|title=Observatio Eclipseos Solaris Gedani|date=1652|location=Danzig, Poland}}</ref> In order to disseminate this information to a broader audience and decrease fear of the consequences of eclipses, booksellers printed broadsides explaining the event either using the science or via astrology.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stephanson|first1=Bruce |last2=Bolt|first2=Marvin |last3=Friedman|first3=Anna Felicity |title=The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images through History|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0521791434|pages=32–33}}</ref>

=== Eclipses in mythology and religion ===
{{main article|Eclipses in mythology and culture}}
The American author [[Gene Weingarten]] described the tension between belief and eclipses thus: "I am a devout atheist but can't explain why the moon is exactly the right size, and gets positioned so precisely between the Earth and the sun, that total solar eclipses are perfect. It bothers me."<ref>Gene Weingarten, '[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701536.html Me, in a Nutshell]', ''Washington Post'' (USA), 8 March 2009, Page W32 (accessed 9 March 2009).</ref>

The Graeco-Roman historian [[Cassius Dio]], writing between AD 211–229, relates the anecdote that Emperor [[Claudius]] considered it necessary to prevent disturbance among the Roman population by publishing a prediction for a solar eclipse which would fall on his birthday anniversary [1 August in the year AD 45]. In this context, Cassius Dio provides a detailed explanation of solar and lunar eclipses.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lexundria.com/dio/60.26/cy | title=Cassius Dio, Roman History 60.26 }}</ref>

Typically in mythology, eclipses were understood to be one variation or another of a spiritual battle between the sun and evil forces or spirits of darkness.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Littmann|first1=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOnH01tv078C&dq=totality+eclipses+of+the+sun&pg=PR7|title=Totality: Eclipses of the Sun|last2=Espenak|first2=Fred|last3=Willcox|first3=Ken|date=2008-07-17|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-157994-3|language=en}}</ref> More specifically, in [[Norse mythology]], it is believed that there is a wolf by the name of [[Fenrir]] that is in constant pursuit of the Sun, and eclipses are thought to occur when the wolf successfully devours the divine Sun.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lindow|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jME8hD2UO4QC&dq=norse+mythology+a+guide+to+gods&pg=PR5|title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs|date=2002-10-17|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983969-8|language=en}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2024}} Other Norse tribes believed that there are two wolves by the names of [[Sköll]] and Hati that are in pursuit of the Sun and the Moon, known by the names of Sol and Mani, and these tribes believed that an eclipse occurs when one of the wolves successfully eats either the Sun or the Moon.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morrison|first=Jessica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbq2DwAAQBAJ&dq=wolf&pg=PA4|title=Eclipses|date=2017-08-01|publisher=Weigl Publishers|isbn=978-1-4896-5814-2|language=en}}</ref>

In most types of mythologies and certain religions, eclipses were seen as a sign that the gods were angry and that danger was soon to come, so people often altered their actions in an effort to dissuade the gods from unleashing their wrath. In the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] religion, for example, people often sing religious hymns for protection from the evil spirits of the eclipse, and many people of the Hindu religion refuse to eat during an eclipse to avoid the effects of the evil spirits.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Musharraf|first1=Muhammad Nabeel|last2=Dars|first2=Dr Basheer Ahmed|title=Eclipses, Mythology, and Islam|date=2021-09-15|url=https://www.alduhaa.com/index.php/al-duhaa/article/view/77|journal=Al-Duhaa|language=en-US|volume=2|issue=02|pages=01–16|doi=10.51665/al-duhaa.002.02.0077|issn=2710-0812|doi-access=free}}</ref> Hindu people living in India will also wash off in the [[Ganges|Ganges River]], which is believed to be spiritually cleansing, directly following an eclipse to clean themselves of the evil spirits.<ref name=":0" /> In early [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]], eclipses were viewed as signs from God, and some eclipses were seen as a display of God's greatness or even signs of cycles of life and death.<ref name=":0" /> However, more ominous eclipses such as a blood moon were believed to be a divine sign that God would soon destroy their enemies.<ref name=":0" />