Kepler Close, Halley CloserĪlthough early eclipse pioneers, including Chinese astronomer Liu Hsiang, Greek philosopher Plutarch, and Byzantine historian Leo Diaconus tried to describe and explain solar eclipses and their features, it was not until 1605 that astronomer Johannes Kepler gave a scientific description of a total solar eclipse. This is only about 11% more than what today’s scientists accept as the average distance between the Moon and the Earth. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus used a solar eclipse to determine that the Moon was about 429,000 km (268,000 mi) away from the Earth. Eclipses as PeacemakersĪccording to the Greek historian Herodotus, a solar eclipse in 585 BCE stopped the war between the Lydians and the Medes, who saw the dark skies as a sign to make peace with each other. Predicting solar eclipses enabled them to seat substitute kings during solar eclipses with the hope that these temporary kings would face the anger of the Gods, instead of the real king. Like the ancient Chinese, the Babylonians believed that solar eclipses were bad omens for kings and rulers. The saros cycle relates to the lunar cycle and is about 6,585.3 days (18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours) long. They were the first people to use the saros cycle to predict eclipses. Historians and astronomers believe that the eclipse that they failed to forecast occurred on OctoBCE, which would make it the oldest solar eclipse ever recorded in human history.Ĭlay tablets found at ancient archaeological sites show that the Babylonians not only recorded eclipses-the earliest known Babylonian record is of the eclipse that took place on BCE-but were also fairly accurate in predicting them. Legend has it that 2 astrologers, Hsi and Ho, were executed for failing to predict a solar eclipse. In China, solar eclipses were thought to be associated with the health and success of the emperor, and failing to predict one meant putting him in danger. Surviving records have shown that the Babylonians and the ancient Chinese were able to predict solar eclipses as early as 2500 BCE. Because of this, it's named after the Greek word for the Sun: Helios. The first piece of evidence for the existence of the second lightest and the second most abundant element known to humans was discovered by the French astronomer Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse on August 18, 1868. This phenomenon is called gravitational deflection.Īll eclipses worldwide 1900–2199 Helium Named After the SunĪ solar eclipse is also responsible for the discovery of helium. The British astronomer and mathematician, Sir Arthur Eddington, used the total solar eclipse of to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.īy taking pictures of stars near the Sun during totality, Eddington was able to show that gravity can bend light. The word eclipse comes from ekleipsis, the ancient Greek word for being abandoned. Business Date to Date (exclude holidays).