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Solar Eclipses facts

While investigating facts about Solar Eclipse and Solar Eclipses 2020, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Concorde pilots chased a solar eclipse at Mach 2. They extended it from 7 minutes to 74.

how solar eclipses occur?

The final total solar eclipse will be in 600 million years time, as the moon will be around 30,400km further from the Earth while the sun's diameter will be around 5% larger.

What occurs in both solar and lunar total eclipses?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what do solar and lunar eclipses have in common. Here are 50 of the best facts about Solar Eclipses 2019 and Solar Eclipses In The Us I managed to collect.

solar eclipse?

  1. On Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible across the United States. The last total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. mainland happened on Feb. 26, 1979, but this one is different. The eclipse’s ‘path of totality’ is completely within U.S. soil for the first time since 1776.

  2. 563 million years from now the Earth will experience its final total solar eclipse as the moon slowly drifts away

  3. On Aug 21, 2017 there will be a complete solar eclipse that will travel the length of the US continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, in 90 minutes. This route is referred to as the Path of Totality and for 2 min and 41 seconds it will seem like night in the middle of the day.

  4. We're the only planet to experience total solar eclipses. And it's entirely coincidental, because the sun just happens to be 400 times larger than the moon while also being 400 times farther away. Making them appear the same size in the sky.

  5. Approximately once every 18 months (on average) a total solar eclipse is visible from some place on the Earth’s surface

  6. While the moon's diameter is 400 times less than that of the sun, it's also about 400 times closer to earth. That's why solar eclipses happen to work out so well on earth.

  7. The Battle of the Eclipse, the last battle in a 6 year war between the Medes and the Lydians in 6th century BC, came to a sudden halt when a solar eclipse turned day into night. Both armies halted fighting and reached a peace agreement.

  8. Helium is named after the greek god Helios because the first evidence of it's existence was found not on earth but in the sun during a solar eclipse in 1868. It was not formally identified on earth until 1895.

  9. An American group from Harvard set out to observe the solar eclipse of Oct 27, 1780, with the Revolutionary War in full swing. Though the Brits granted them safe passage (sought in the name of science) into what was enemy territory, they still failed to witness totality due to miscalculations.

  10. There is a special prayer that a Muslim is only supposed to say during a solar eclipse, as well as one during a lunar eclipse

solar eclipses facts
What causes solar and lunar eclipses?

Solar Eclipses data charts

For your convenience take a look at Solar Eclipses figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

solar eclipses fact data chart about Google search interest follows the path of the August 21, 20
Google search interest follows the path of the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse

solar eclipses fact data chart about The best Denny's locations to see the total solar eclipse
The best Denny's locations to see the total solar eclipse

Why solar eclipses are so rare?

You can easily fact check why solar eclipses happen by examining the linked well-known sources.

Thales of Miletus, a pre-Socratic individual credited with being the first philosopher ever, the first person to accurately predict a solar eclipse, and the first person in history to receive credit for a mathematical discovery.

In 2016 an astronomer convinced Alaska Airlines to shift a flight time 25 minutes so it would pass through the path of totality for a solar eclipse. They even washed all the windows on the right side of the plane. - source

The ancient Babylonians worked out that there are solar eclipses that occur 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours apart. This period, 223 lunar cycles, is called the Saros cycle. The 1999 eclipse and this year's eclipse are Saros cycle solar eclipses. - source

In 585 BCE, a solar eclipse in Greece ended a war between the Medes and the Lydians. Both sides saw it is as a portent, threw down their weapons, and negotiated a treaty.

Within 300-600 million years the moon will be too far away to create a total solar eclipse - source

When solar eclipses occur?

Babylonians believed that an eclipse foretold the death of their ruler, leading them to use these predictions to put kingly protections in place. During the period of time that lunar or solar eclipses might strike, the king would be replaced with a substitute.

How solar eclipses work?

The place with the longest totality in the 2017 solar eclipse, Carbondale, IL, is also where the 2024 eclipse will cross.

If you stand in any particular spot on Earth, you will experience a total solar eclipse on average about once every 375 years

Earth's crust under the Solar Eclipse of Aug 21 will rise about 40 millimeters, due to the combined gravitational force of the Sun and the Moon.

A total solar eclipse in 1925 had a path of totality that just grazed Manhattan. It was reported that residents below 96th St. could still see part of the Sun, while those above 96th were in total darkness.

Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses always come in pairs. There is always a lunar eclipse 15 days before or after a solar eclipse.

Solar eclipses infographics

Beautiful visual representation of Solar Eclipses numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

solar eclipses fact infographic about Air temperature in path of totality during Solar Eclipse in

Air temperature in path of totality during Solar Eclipse in Hartsville, TN


solar eclipses fact infographic about Simulating sunshine on outer planets during the total solar

Simulating sunshine on outer planets during the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017


How do scientists know when solar eclipses occur?

In 1970s, astronomers chased the shadow of solar eclipse in Concorde Jets to get ~70 minutes of observation time, far exceeding what's possible on land.

Pendulums behave inexplicably different during solar eclipses, sometimes rotating up to 13 degrees in a span of 14 minutes (as opposed to the usual rate of 3.75 degrees per 15 minutes).

About the Allais effect, which is an unexplained increase in gravity during solar eclipses

A total solar eclipse can last as long as 7 and a half minutes.

North America will have a solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.

How solar eclipses occur and describe what it looks like?

The corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun, can only be seen during a total solar eclipse.

If you are at the North or South Poles, you cannot view a total solar eclipse.

On August 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse will pass over the continental United States.

During a total solar eclipse day time looks more like twilight.

The Antikythera mechanism was used to predict solar eclipses, calculate the Ancient Olympic Games timing, and to track the Metonic calendar.

On average, there are no less than 2 and no more than 5 solar eclipses per year.

During a total solar eclipse, some animals tend to act confused or prepare for sleep.

It is not wise to look directly at a total solar eclipse and instead should be viewed through a pinhole projector.

More people on Earth can view a lunar eclipse than a solar eclipse.

He was intrigued by the solar eclipse of August 21, 1560 and he began to make his own studies and observations.

In 2017, for the first time in 99 years, a total solar eclipse will sweep the United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Nearly everyone in the 48 contiguous states can reach this total solar eclipse within one day's drive.

The oldest recorded solar eclipse (in stone) is in Co. Meath Ireland. It was a record of the November 30, 3340 BCE eclipse.

An American group from Harvard set out to observe the solar eclipse of Oct 27, 1780, with the Revolutionary War in full swing. Though the Brits granted them safe passage (sought in the name of science) into what was enemy territory, they still failed to witness totality due to miscalculations.

Solar eclipses are more dangerous to view directly than the sun itself because the eye dilates from the dark eclipse which allows remaining sunshine to cause more damage to the eye

An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far from Earth therefore causing it to appear as a black circle surrounded by sunlight

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Solar Eclipses. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Solar Eclipses so important!

Editor Veselin Nedev Editor