What are the causes of solar and lunar eclipses?

A solar eclipse is when the moon orbits the earth and rotates between the sun and the earth. If the sun, moon, and earth are exactly aligned or close to a straight line, the moon blocks the sunlight hitting the earth. The dark shadow just falls on the earth, and a solar eclipse occurs at this time. People in the moon shadow on the earth began to see the sunlight gradually weakening, and the sun's surface was covered by a round black shadow. When the sky turned dark, the brightest stars and planets could be seen in the sky. After a few minutes, from Sunlight gradually emerged from the edge of the moon's dark shadow, and began to glow and become round again. Because the moon is smaller than the Earth, only people in the moon's shadow can see the eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the sun, a partial solar eclipse occurs when it partially blocks the sun, and an annular solar eclipse occurs when it blocks the central part of the sun. The duration of a total solar eclipse will not exceed 7 minutes and 31 seconds. The longest annular solar eclipse lasts is 12 minutes and 24 seconds. In order to delay the observation of a total solar eclipse, a French astronomer flew a supersonic aircraft to chase the moon's shadow, extending the observation time to 74 minutes. Our country has the oldest records of solar eclipses in the world, with exact records of solar eclipses dating back more than 1,000 BC.

Solar and lunar eclipses are typical examples of light propagating in straight lines in celestial bodies. A solar eclipse does not occur every time the moon moves between the sun and the earth. Two conditions need to be met for a solar eclipse to occur. First, solar eclipses always occur on the first day of the new moon (the first day of the lunar calendar). Not all solar eclipses are bound to occur on new moons, because the moon's orbit (the ecliptic) and the sun's orbit (the ecliptic) are not on the same plane. The angle between the ecliptic plane and the ecliptic plane is 5°9′. If on the new moon, both the sun and the moon move near the intersection of the ecliptic and the ecliptic, and the sun is at a certain angle from the intersection (solar eclipse limit), a solar eclipse will occur. This is the second condition that must be met.

Since the orbits of the moon and the earth are not perfect circles, the distance between the sun and the moon and the earth is sometimes close and sometimes far away, so the shadow formed by the sunlight being blocked by the moon can be divided into the main shadow on the earth. , pseudo-umbra (formed when the moon is farther from the earth) and penumbra. Observers can see a total solar eclipse within the umbral range; an annular solar eclipse can be seen within the pseudo-umbral range; and only a partial solar eclipse can be seen within the penumbral range.

When a total solar eclipse occurs, based on the positional relationship between the lunar surface and the sun, it can be divided into five types of eclipses: 1. First loss. The moon moves faster than the apparent motion of the sun. The moon catches up with the sun during a solar eclipse. When the eastern edge of the moon just "contacts" with the western edge of the sun, it is called the first waning, which is the first "exocution" and the beginning of the solar eclipse; 2. Eat. About an hour after the initial waning, the moment when the eastern edge of the moon and the eastern edge of the sun are "inscribed" is called an eclipse, which is the beginning of a total solar eclipse. At this time, the moon covers the entire sun; 3. Eat very much. It is the moment when the sun is most eclipsed, and the center of the moon moves closest to the center of the sun; 4. Generate light. The moment when the western edge of the moon and the western edge of the sun are "in-cut" is called photogenesis, which is the end of a total solar eclipse. It usually only takes two or three minutes from eclipse to photogenesis, and the longest is no more than seven and a half minutes; 5. Round. About an hour after the onset of light, when the western edge of the moon "touches" the eastern edge of the sun, it is called a complex circle. From this time on, the moon completely "separates" from the sun, and the solar eclipse ends.

There are many mountains on the surface of the moon, and the edges of the moon are uneven. When the valley on the edge of the moon fails to completely block the sun at the moment of eclipse or solar radiation, the unblocked part forms a luminous area, like a crystal "diamond"; the surrounding light red aperture forms the "ring" of a diamond ring. , overall, it looks like a diamond ring inlaid with bright gems. Sometimes many particularly bright rays or light spots are formed, as if a string of pearls are inlaid around the sun, called Belly beads (Belly is a French astronomer).

Whether it is a partial solar eclipse, a total solar eclipse or an annular solar eclipse, the time is very short. The area where you can see a solar eclipse on the earth is also very limited. This is because the moon is relatively small, and its umbra is also relatively small and short. Therefore, the umbra does not sweep over a wide area on the earth and does not last long. Because the moon The average length of the umbra (373,293 kilometers) is smaller than the average distance between the Moon and the Earth (384,400 kilometers). For the entire Earth, annular solar eclipses occur more often than total solar eclipses.

Why did part of the sun disappear? This is the part of the sun that happens to be hiding behind the moon at that time. This was the first partial solar eclipse of 2005 and the last total solar eclipse observable until March 2006. During a solar eclipse, the sun, moon and earth are in a straight line. This total solar eclipse first appeared in the South Pacific, and the area where the partial eclipse can be observed spans South America and North America to the south. The scene above was captured with a handheld digital camera last Friday. After a whole day of rain in the Holly Mountains of North Carolina, the United States, the partially eaten sun temporarily broke through the dark clouds in the sky. After taking a series of images, the best photo of the eclipse was digitally combined with a less good photo that showed an airplane.

The following is the number of solar eclipses that occurred worldwide in the 20th century (1901-1999):

78 partial solar eclipses

73 annular solar eclipses

Total solar eclipse 71

Mixed eclipse 6

Total 228

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During this period, the sun will not emit any special rays. Observations of solar eclipses are often misinterpreted. The Sun does not predict an eclipse on Earth and does not emit other rays, so there is no harm in staying outdoors during an eclipse. But when watching a partial solar eclipse, should you stare or take a quick glance? Although the sunlight during a solar eclipse is much weaker than usual, it is still harmful to the eyes if you look directly at it, and it may damage the cornea. People stare or squint at the sun out of curiosity. Of course, a partial solar eclipse is still very dazzling. If you look at the sun for a long time, your cornea will be damaged before you know it. Eye damage during a solar eclipse is not due to abnormalities in the sun, but because people are curious and fail to pay attention to protective measures. Regardless of whether a solar eclipse occurs or not, do not look directly at the sun; do not use so-called "sunglasses"; do not use "sunglasses", even several stacked on top of each other; do not look at the image of the sun in a mirror or water;

Look at the Sun with a No. 14 welded mirror; look with a specially coated Mylar mirror, which can be obtained from a famous planetarium or science museum; construct an aperture projector.

To ancient people, solar eclipses were terrifying. If you can understand the impact of the sun on food cultivation and daily life, you will be concerned about why the sun in the sky suddenly disappeared. In ancient China, a solar eclipse was believed to be caused by a dragon swallowing the sun. Other civilizations also considered it an ominous sign and had many "solutions": playing drums, shooting arrows into the sky, offering sacrifices of objects or people, etc. Rumor has it that there was once a fatal eclipse reporting error. This means that two Chinese astronomers in the second century BC did not report the solar eclipse for some reasons. At that time, the Chinese emperor believed that he was the emperor and attached great importance to celestial phenomena, believing that they were hints from God. Therefore, he invited a group of astronomers to observe the celestial phenomena regularly. Comets and meteors could not be predicted at that time, but solar eclipses could. The two astronomers did not tell the emperor about the occurrence of a major celestial event such as a solar eclipse. The emperor was furious and beheaded the two in public. Astronomers back then were much more dangerous than they are now.

Solar prominence

Solar prominence is a solar activity phenomenon that protrudes outside the edge of the sun. When a solar prominence appears, the chromatic sphere in the atmosphere resembles a burning grassland, and the rose-red tongue-shaped gas rises like a fire. It has various shapes, some are like floating clouds, some are like arch bridges, some are like fountains, and some are like clumps of grass. , some are as beautiful as holiday fireworks, and overall their shape is just like earrings attached to the edge of the sun, hence the name "solar prominences". The rising height of a solar prominence is about tens of thousands of kilometers. Large solar prominences can be hundreds of thousands of kilometers above the sun. They are generally about 200,000 kilometers long, and some can reach 1.5 million kilometers. The brightness of the solar prominence is much dimmer than the solar photosphere, so it cannot be observed with the naked eye at ordinary times. It can only be seen directly during a total solar eclipse. Solar prominence is a very peculiar solar activity phenomenon. Its temperature is between 5000 and 8000K. Most of the solar prominence materials slowly fall to the sun after rising to a certain height, but there are also some solar prominence materials floating in the sun with temperatures as high as 2 million K. The lower layer of the corona neither attaches nor disintegrates. It is as strange as a piece of ice that does not melt in a blazing steel-making furnace. Moreover, the density of the material in the prominence is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than that of the corona. The two are actually the same. It is really puzzling that it can be stored for several months.

Corona

The outermost atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona. The corona extends from several to dozens of times the diameter of the sun. During solar maximum years, the corona is nearly circular; during solar quiet years, it is elliptical.

b] There are large irregular dark areas in the corona, called coronal holes. A coronal hole is a region of lower gas density in the corona. There are three types of coronal holes: polar coronal holes, isolated coronal holes, and extended coronal holes. Solar energy loses matter in the form of the solar wind - a stream of matter particles. Coronal holes are an important source of high-speed solar wind. A coronal mass ejection is a very macroscopic and huge material and magnetic field structure that occurs in the corona. It is a sudden explosion of large-scale dense plasma. Nothing has the greatest impact on the planet. When there are strong explosions and coronal mass ejections on the sun, the powerful plasma flow carried by the solar wind may reach the Earth's polar regions. At this time, auroras appear at both poles of the earth. The forms of the auroras are ever-changing. Auroras also occur on some planets in the solar system that have magnetic fields. Flares that occur in the corona are called X-ray flares, and their wavelengths are only 1 to 8 Angstroms or shorter. It directly causes disturbance in the earth's ionosphere, thereby affecting earth's shortwave communications.

Solar wave

An ejection phenomenon of material in the solar photosphere. It usually occurs over sunspots and has a strong ability to reappear. When a surf falls along the ascending path, it will trigger a new surf to rise into the sky. This repeats, but its scale and height are smaller each time. , until it disappears.

The surf at the edge of the sun appears as a small, bright hummock with a sharp spike-shaped top that grows outward. The height of ascent varies from person to person. A small wave can only reach a few hundred kilometers, a large wave can reach 5,000 kilometers, and the largest one can reach 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers. The maximum ejection speed can reach 100-200 kilometers per second, which is more than 100 times faster than the fastest reconnaissance aircraft. When they reach their highest point, they begin to fall under the influence of the sun's gravity until they return to the sun's surface. People have found from high-resolution observation data that surfing is composed of a very small bundle of fibers. The distance between each fiber is very small, and they shine and move together as a whole.

Solar Activity Forecast

Changes in the environmental conditions of the sun and the earth are increasingly important to the modern cutting-edge technologies on which modern life and production depend. As mentioned earlier, X-ray flares directly cause disturbance in the earth's ionosphere, thereby affecting earth's shortwave communications. Solar proton events can endanger sensors and control equipment on astronauts and spacecraft, and also pose a radiation threat to passengers and crew flying in high latitudes. In addition, some statistics show that intense solar activity is related to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts and floods, heart and nervous system diseases, and traffic accidents. Therefore, solar activity and solar-terrestrial physics forecasts are very important. Solar activity forecasts are divided into long-term, medium-term, short-term forecasts and warnings. The solar-terrestrial space environment as a systematic scientific research object began in 1957 when humans entered space. The period from the 1950s to the 1970s was the exploration stage, and people gradually realized the importance of the space environment. Based on a large number of detections, a static model describing the environment was established, and safety predictions were made for some major aerospace activities. After the 1980s, driven by demand, research on the solar-terrestrial space environment has developed rapidly. The International Sun-Terrestrial Forecasting Conference, held every four years since 1979, has been held as scheduled, and its scale has been gradually expanded. In order to unite and coordinate the work of major countries, a joint forecast center was established. Headquartered in the United States, there are 10 regional alert centers located around the world. Our Beijing Regional Warning Center is one of them. After entering the 1990s, scientists vividly called it “space weather”.

Solar activity cycle

This cycle averages 22 years, and it contains two 11-year sunspot cycles. In each cycle, the magnetic poles of sunspots are opposite in polarity. The changes of various other solar surface phenomena also have two high tides and two low tides like sunspots. These solar phenomena include fluctuations in the frequency of solar prominences, flares, and magnetic effects, which include auroras and increased radio interference on Earth. The 11-year basic cycle of sunspots (sometimes called the solar cycle) was discovered by Schwabe in 1843. Some people try to link the solar activity cycle to changes in various other phenomena, such as small changes in the diameter of the sun. Even changes in tree rings are related to solar activity cycles.

Sun spots [sunspot] are sunspots.

On the photosphere of the sun, there are some swirling airflows, like a shallow disk with a concave middle that looks black. These swirling airflows are sunspots. The sunspot itself is not black. The reason why it looks black is because its temperature is one to two thousand degrees lower than the light ball. Against the brighter light ball, it looks like there is no light. , the dark sunspot.

Sunspots are a type of solar activity that occurs on the photosphere of the sun. They are the most basic and obvious activity phenomenon in solar activity. It is generally believed that sunspots are actually huge vortices of hot gas on the surface of the sun, with a temperature of about 4,500 degrees Celsius. Because it is cooler than the surface of the sun's photosphere, it looks like dark spots. Sunspots rarely move alone. Often appear in groups

[Edit this paragraph] The earliest solar eclipse record

On May 26, 1217 BC, people living in Anyang, Henan Province, my country were engaged in various activities. All kinds of normal activities, but something amazing happened. People looked up at the sky, and suddenly there was a gap in the radiant sun, and the light dimmed. However, after missing a large part, it began to recover again. This is the earliest record of a solar eclipse in human history. It is engraved on an oracle bone.

The observation of solar eclipses in ancient my country maintained the continuity of records. For example, the chronicle "Spring and Autumn" finally recorded 37 solar eclipses in 244 years from 770 BC to 476 BC. The recording of solar eclipses began in the 3rd century AD and continued into modern times for 1,600 to 700 years.

[Edit this paragraph] The longest solar eclipse

The longest duration of a solar eclipse (the moon is between the sun and the earth) is 7 minutes and 31 seconds. The 1955 solar eclipse in West Philadelphia lasted 7 minutes and 8 seconds, the longest in recent history. It is predicted that a solar eclipse lasting 7 minutes and 29 seconds will occur in the mid-Atlantic region in 2186. A mother and child are photographed during a 1995 solar eclipse in Bangkok, Thailand, which was a total solar eclipse in some parts of the country. The maximum duration of a lunar eclipse (the Moon's movement into the Earth's shadow) is 1 hour and 47 minutes. On July 16, 2000, people saw this scene on the west coast of North America.

Since the orbits of the moon and the earth are not perfect circles, the distance between the sun and the moon and the earth is sometimes close and sometimes far away, so the shadow formed by the sunlight being blocked by the moon can be divided into the main shadow on the earth. , pseudo-umbra (formed when the moon is farther from the earth) and penumbra. Observers can see a total solar eclipse within the umbral range; an annular solar eclipse can be seen within the pseudo-umbral range; and only a partial solar eclipse can be seen within the penumbral range.

This year’s solar eclipse in my country

On August 1, a spectacular solar eclipse occurred in our country that has never been seen in a century

The occurrence of a total solar eclipse mainly includes the following periods Node: First waning, when the moon is close to the sun, the moment when the moon's apparent circle is external to the sun's apparent circle for the first time, that is, the beginning of the solar eclipse; eclipse, the moment when the center of the moon is closest to the center of the sun, when the sun is seen The covered part is the largest. During a total solar eclipse, the eclipse is when the sun is completely covered; the eclipse is the moment when the apparent circle of the moon is tangent to the apparent circle of the sun for the second time, which is when the eclipse ends at that location.

The following is the timetable for visible solar eclipses in major cities in my country, where the time is Beijing time, and "—" represents the specific time point when the total solar eclipse cannot be seen in the city. The public who cannot see the eclipse will be able to see the wonderful scene of the eclipse sunset, while the public who can see the eclipse will be relatively lucky, they can see the scene when the sun is completely blocked by the moon. Of course, the luckiest people are the public who can see the full circle, because they can watch the entire solar eclipse take place.

Solar eclipse

A solar eclipse is when the moon revolves around the earth and rotates between the sun and the earth. If the sun, moon, and earth are exactly aligned or close to a straight line, the moon blocks the eclipse. When the sun's rays reach the earth and the dark shadow behind the moon falls on the earth, a solar eclipse occurs. People in the moon shadow on the earth began to see the sunlight gradually weakening, and the sun's surface was covered by a round black shadow. When the sky turned dark, the brightest stars and planets could be seen in the sky. After a few minutes, from Sunlight gradually emerged from the edge of the moon's dark shadow, and began to glow and become round again. Because the moon is smaller than the Earth, only people in the moon's shadow can see the eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the sun, a partial solar eclipse occurs when it partially blocks the sun, and an annular solar eclipse occurs when it blocks the central part of the sun. The duration of a total solar eclipse will not exceed 7 minutes and 31 seconds. The longest annular solar eclipse lasts is 12 minutes and 24 seconds. In order to delay the observation of a total solar eclipse, a French astronomer flew a supersonic aircraft to chase the moon's shadow, extending the observation time to 74 minutes. China has the oldest records of solar eclipses in the world, with exact records of solar eclipses dating back more than 1,000 BC.

Solar Eclipse

The formation of a solar eclipse. The so-called "eclipse" refers to an astronomical scene in which one celestial body is completely or partially obscured by another celestial body or its shadow. There are three main types of solar eclipses: total solar eclipse, partial solar eclipse and annular solar eclipse. The principle of solar eclipse is that some areas on the earth are covered by the shadow of the moon. The solar eclipse must occur on the first day of the new lunar month (Shuo). This is because only on that day will the moon appear on the line between the sun and the earth, making it possible for the moon to block the sun and form a solar eclipse. Similarly, the lunar eclipse must occur on Wangri, which is the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar.

There will be a solar eclipse on the first day of every month, but not a lunar eclipse on the fifteenth day of every month. This is because in addition to the above conditions, there are other factors that affect the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses. We call the Earth's orbit around the Sun the ecliptic, and the Moon's orbit around the Earth the ecliptic. The ecliptic plane and the ecliptic plane are not the same. There is an average angle of 5°09′ between them, and it changes at any time. A solar eclipse only occurs when the moon moves near the ascending and descending nodes of the ecliptic and ecliptic. The process of a solar eclipse can be divided into five stages, and only a total solar eclipse has the entire process. Partial solar eclipses and annular solar eclipses do not have both eclipse and light generation. First waning: the moment when the sun and the moon first cut outward, and the west side of the sun's photosphere just cuts into the east side of the moon. Eclipse: The moment when the sun and the moon come in contact for the first time and the sun's photosphere is completely obscured by the moon. Eclipse: The moment when the distance between the center of the moon and the center of the sun is smallest. Photogenesis: The second involution between the sun and the moon, the moment when the sun's photosphere just emerges from the west side of the moon. Compound circle: the second circumcision between the sun and the moon, the moment when the sun's photosphere has just completely left behind the moon. The initial loss, eclipse, birth of light, and re-circulation are also called the first, second, third, and fourth contacts respectively.

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Solar eclipse

There are three types of solar eclipses, namely: partial solar eclipse, solar annular eclipse and total solar eclipse. When the moon covers part of the sun, it's called a partial solar eclipse. The moon only covers the central part of the sun, and a ring of solar surface is exposed around the sun, which is like a halo, which is called an annular solar eclipse. When the sun is completely covered, it is called a total solar eclipse. The occurrence of these three different solar eclipses is related to the changing positions of the sun, moon and earth, and is also determined by the changing distance between the moon and the earth.

The moon is much smaller than the sun, its diameter is about one-fourth of the diameter of the sun, and the distance between the moon and the earth is almost one-fourth of the distance between the sun and the earth, so Seen from the Earth, the moon is almost the same size as the sun, so it can cover it up and cause a solar eclipse.

The orbits of the earth and the moon are ellipses. The distance between the sun and the earth, or the distance between the moon and the earth, is not fixed. Sometimes it is farther away, sometimes it is closer, so The length of the moon's umbra is also different. The longest umbra of the moon is 379,660 kilometers and the shortest is 367,000 kilometers. The distance between the earth and the moon is 356,700 kilometers at the shortest and 406,700 kilometers at the farthest. If the moon's umbra is larger than the distance between the earth and the moon at a certain moment, a total solar eclipse can be seen on the earth swept by the moon's umbra. If the Moon's umbra is smaller than the distance between the Earth and the Moon, and the tip of the Moon's umbra cannot reach the Earth's surface, then an annular solar eclipse can be seen in the area swept by the small shadow cone (called the pseudo-umbral) extended from the shadow tip. . A partial solar eclipse can be seen in the area swept by the lunar penumbra. The closer to the total eclipse area in the partial eclipse area, the greater the degree of partial eclipse. Edit this paragraph and return to the table of contents

Solar Eclipse

The effects and phenomena of a solar eclipse When a total solar eclipse occurs, light passes through the gaps in the leaves and projects the shadow of the crescent moon. During a total solar eclipse, animals often prepare to sleep or behave abnormally. When a total solar eclipse occurs, the local temperature usually drops by at least 20 degrees. The twilight shadow phenomenon that can be seen when 99% of the sun's surface is covered. During a total solar eclipse, there is a narrow band of light around the horizon. This is because the observer is not standing directly under the moon's shadow; the Earth and the moon are some distance away. Before the advent of modern atomic clocks, astronomers studying ancient records of solar eclipses found that the Earth's rotation period slowed by 0.001 seconds every century.

Rules and cycles Edit this section and return to the table of contents

Solar eclipses

The laws and cycles of solar eclipses are due to the rotation of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth and the yellow and white The movement of the nodes is regular, so a roughly similar solar or lunar eclipse will occur at a certain interval. As early as ancient times, based on long-term statistics of solar and lunar eclipses, the Babylonians discovered that the cycle of solar and lunar eclipses is 233 synodic months, which is 11 and 1/3 days in 18 years, which is the Saros cycle. The longest duration of a solar eclipse (where the moon is between the sun and the earth) is 7 minutes and 31 seconds. The 1955 solar eclipse in West Philadelphia lasted 7 minutes and 8 seconds, the longest in recent history. It is predicted that a solar eclipse lasting 7 minutes and 29 seconds will occur in the mid-Atlantic region in 2186. A mother and child are photographed during a 1995 solar eclipse in Bangkok, Thailand, which was a total solar eclipse in some parts of the country. The maximum duration of a lunar eclipse (the Moon's movement into the Earth's shadow) is 1 hour and 47 minutes. On July 16, 2000, people saw this scene on the west coast of North America. Since the orbits of the moon and the earth are not perfect circles, the distance between the sun and the moon and the earth is sometimes close and sometimes far away. Therefore, the shadow formed by the sunlight being blocked by the moon can be divided into the umbra and the pseudo umbra (the distance between the moon and the moon) on the earth. (formed when the Earth is farther away) and the penumbra. Observers can see a total solar eclipse within the umbral range; an annular solar eclipse can be seen within the pseudo-umbral range; and only a partial solar eclipse can be seen within the penumbral range.

Observation Methods Edit this paragraph and return to the table of contents

Solar Eclipse

When observing a solar eclipse, do not look directly at the sun with your eyes. Decades ago, dozens of people in Germany went blind just because they looked at the solar eclipse with their eyes! Why can watching a solar eclipse directly with your eyes hurt your eyes or even cause you to go blind? It turns out that sunlight and its invisible infrared rays contain a large amount of thermal energy, which will generate a large amount of heat when absorbed by objects. Everyone has this experience. If you look directly at the sun with your eyes, even if you only look at it for a short moment, your eyes will be greatly stimulated. Your eyes will be dim for a long time, and it will be difficult to recover. This is because there is a crystal in the eye. It can act as a condenser. If you look at the sun, the sun's heat energy will be concentrated on the retina at the bottom of your eyes, which will make your eyes dazzling; if some time passes, the retina will be burned and you will lose your vision. When a solar eclipse occurs, it is a partial eclipse most of the time. The moon only blocks part of the sun, and the remaining part remains the same as usual. Therefore, if you look directly with your eyes for a long time, it will also burn your eyes. Usually a piece of blackened glass can be placed in front of the eyes (or the glass can be placed on fireworks to blacken it). The thickness of the ink layer should be uniform so that the eyes can see the sun through it and turn it into a bronze color. It does not look dazzling but can be seen clearly. Sometimes they also pour water with ink into a basin and watch the sun reflected in the water. Some also took fully exposed photo negatives and stacked them together to look at them. People who use telescopes to watch must add a filter in front of the lens. The principle is also to weaken the sun's rays so that it does not burn the eyes. But in any case, you must not put your eyes close to the telescope to look directly at the sun, otherwise your eyes will be burned. When not observing, do not point the telescope or camera at the sun, and cover the lens with a cap to prevent the lens from absorbing excessive heat and causing it to burst.

Mythology Edit this paragraph and return to the table of contents

Solar eclipse

For ancient people, solar eclipses were very scary. If you can understand the impact of the sun on food cultivation and daily life, you will be concerned about why the sun in the sky suddenly disappeared. In ancient China, a solar eclipse was believed to be caused by a dragon swallowing the sun. Other civilizations also considered it an ominous sign and had many "solutions": playing drums, shooting arrows into the sky, offering sacrifices of objects or people, etc.

Rumor has it that there was once a fatal eclipse reporting error. This means that two Chinese astronomers in the second century BC did not report the solar eclipse for some reasons. At that time, the Chinese emperor believed that he was the emperor and attached great importance to celestial phenomena, believing that they were hints from God. Therefore, he invited a group of astronomers to observe the celestial phenomena regularly. Comets and meteors could not be predicted at that time, but solar eclipses were. The two astronomers did not tell the emperor about the occurrence of a major celestial event such as a solar eclipse. The emperor was furious and beheaded the two in public. Astronomers back then were much more dangerous than they are now.

Historical recordsEdit this paragraphReturn to table of contents

Solar eclipse

Solar eclipse, especially total solar eclipse, is one of the most eye-catching celestial phenomena. The ancient Chinese recorded the phenomenon of solar eclipses more than 3,000 years ago. The earliest record is in "The Book of Books: Yin Zheng Chapter". According to research, this solar eclipse probably occurred in the first year of Zhongkang in the Xia Dynasty. On May 26, 1217 BC, people living in Anyang, Henan Province, China were engaged in various normal activities, but something amazing happened. People looked up at the sky, and suddenly there was a gap in the radiant sun, and the light dimmed. However, after missing a large part, it began to recover again. This is the earliest record of a solar eclipse in human history. It is engraved on an oracle bone. The observation of solar eclipses in ancient my country maintained record continuity. For example, the chronicle "Spring and Autumn" finally recorded 37 solar eclipses in 244 years from 770 BC to 476 BC. The recording of solar eclipses began in the 3rd century AD and continued into modern times for 1,600 to 700 years.

In the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Shang Dynasty, there are five confirmed solar eclipse records. This is a chronicle of solar eclipses that occurred between the 14th and 12th centuries BC.

In the ancient book "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya", there is also a record of the solar eclipse: "At the turn of October, the first day of the lunar month is Xinmao, and the sun will be eclipsed." According to research, this solar eclipse occurred on the sixth day of King You of the Zhou Dynasty. Year, September 6, 776 BC.

In the Han Dynasty, not only the time when a solar eclipse occurred was recorded, but also the position of the sun during the solar eclipse, the start and end times, the eclipse time, and the eclipse portion (that is, the proportion of the eaten part of the sun to the entire sun) As well as the position of the first solar eclipse, etc., more clear records should also be made.