October 13, 2023
Solar Eclipses |
This Saturday, October 14, 2023 will be the first of two solar eclipses to take a path over areas of the United States. The second a total solar eclipse will take place April 8, 2024, and will be able to be seen in parts of New England. This Musings takes a closer look at solar eclipses.
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A solar eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth are all in alignment. The extent of the alignment and the distance of the moon from the earth, determines the type of eclipse. |
- Total
- Annular
- Partial
- Hybrid
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| This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse
over Madras, Oregon, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. image courtesy of NASA |
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During total, annular and hybrid solar eclipses the Sun, Moon and Earth are in perfect alignment. The difference comes in how far from the Earth the Moon are from each other. If the Moon is closer to the Earth it will appear bigger and thus block out the entire Sun leaving only the Sun's corona visible. This causes a total solar eclipse. |
From left to right, these images show a total solar eclipse, annular solar eclipse, and partial solar eclipse.
A hybrid eclipse appears as either a total or an annular eclipse (the left and middle images), depending on the observer’s location. Credit: Total eclipse (left): NASA/MSFC/Joseph Matus; annular eclipse (center): NASA/Bill Dunford; partial eclipse (right): NASA/Bill Ingalls |
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Move the Moon back farther away from the Earth and it will appear smaller and block a smaller portion of the Sun. This created an annular eclipse and the Moon will appear as a dark disk moving across the brighter and larger disk of the Sun. According to NASA's website sometimes an eclipse can shift between annular and total as the Moon’s shadow moves across the globe. This is called a hybrid eclipse and is a result of the curve of the Earth's surface.
A partial eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth are not perfectly lined up. Only a part of the Sun will appear to be covered, giving it a crescent shape. |
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Before humans gained enough scientific knowledge of the cosmos to explain what was happening when a solar eclipse occurred, they used their imaginations, and most humans imagined terrible, violent things were causing the sky to go dark. |
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Edwin Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, recounted one of the more gory myths in an Atlantic Journal Constitution article leading up to the Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017.
"Seeking immortality, the Hindu demon Rahu, stole a magic potion disguised as a god. As described in ancient Indian mythology, both the sun and moon watch the crime unfold and warn the god Vishnu. Eventually, as the tale goes, Vishnu decapitated Rahu so that his head would live forever, but his body would wither away and die. To get even, a scorned Rahu chases the moon and sun and 'every now and then he catches them and swallows them,' Krupp said. But without a throat, the sun and the moon fall right through his head."
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Depiction of Rahu from the 1842 book The Complete Hindoo Pantheon by E. A. Rodrigues inage courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
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Image of the surface of the Sun courtesy of NASA |
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According to a 2017 article in the Washington Post, "The Bella Coola tribe of Canada figured that the sun was merely a little clumsy and occasionally dropped its torch." The same article goes on to say that, "the Chippewa of North America shot flaming arrows into the sky to rekindle the sun." (It's nice that someone thought to lend the Sun a hand.) |
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This Saturday's annular solar eclipse will travel a path that takes it directly across the desert lands of Navajo Nation. “Navajo look at the universe as holistic,” said David Begay, a cultural astronomer and vice president of the Indigenous Education Institute in a recent New York Times article. "The alignment of the planet, moon and sun during eclipses is understood as one cycle within an interconnected cosmic order, said Dr. Begay, who is Diné (which Navajo people call themselves)".
“Some will see it as a rebirth, a rebalancing,” said Nancy Maryboy, a Cherokee and Navajo cultural astronomer who is the president of the Indigenous Education Institute. “When an eclipse begins," says Dr. Maryboy in the same New York Times article, "Navajo elders strongly instruct their community to go inside the hogan, a traditional dwelling, to ensure they don’t look up at the sun." |
| Image of Navajo Solar Eclipse Basket Set by Navajo basket weaver Elsie Holiday. |
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On Sept. 15, Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation announced that all parks would be closed during the eclipse to accommodate traditional beliefs. You may not be able to observe the eclipse on Navajo land and it certainly won't be observable in New England but for those who want to be amazed at this celestial phenomenon the Exploratorium website will be live streaming it. (And you won't need special glasses to protect your eyes.)
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Sources used for this Musing are listed below.
Berkowitz, Bonnie, The Strangest, Scariest Eclipse Myths Throughout History, Washington Post, August 16, 2017, accessed October 13, 2023.
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Lee, Jane, Solar Eclipse Myths From Around the World, National Geographic, November 2, 2013, accessed October 13, 2023.
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NASA website.
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Miller, Katrina, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Ana Ionova, A Solar Eclipse Shines Light on Traditions That Still Matter Today, New York Times, October 10, 2023, accessed October 13, 2023.
Pirani, Fiza, Sun-eating demons? 7 bizarre (but brilliant) myths and superstitions about solar eclipses, The Atlantic Journal Constitution, August 20, 2017, accessed October 13, 2023.
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