In the shadow of the Moon—An informative guide to solar eclipses Totality: Eclipses of the Sun

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-319
Author(s):  
Mark Littman ◽  
Ken Willcox ◽  
Edward Pascuzzi
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Solar Eclipses

4. On the Red Prominences seen during Total Eclipses of the Sun. Part I.

1857 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 135-136
Author(s):  
William Swan
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Total Phase ◽  
Solar Eclipses ◽  
The Rose

The object of this communication is to discuss the evidence afforded by various observations of the eclipse which occurred on the 28th July 1851, as to the nature of the rose-coloured prominences which are seen round the moon during the total phase of solar eclipses.In order to render the inquiry into the nature of the red prominences as complete as possible, the author has not confined himself to the consideration of such hypotheses only as have been formally stated regarding them; but has also included in his examination such other views as he thought might probably be entertained regarding those remarkable objects.

scholarly journals XXIX.—On the Red Prominences seen during Total Eclipses of the Sun. Part I

1853 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-459
Author(s):  
William Swan
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Total Eclipse ◽  
Total Phase ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Solar Eclipses

The red prominences seen during total solar eclipses, are conspicuous rose-coloured objects which appear round the dark edge of the moon, as soon as the last rays of the sun have disappeared. In preparing my account of the total eclipse of the 28th July 1851, it was at first my intention to have stated some hypothetical views which I had formed regarding those remarkable objects, and other appearances I had observed during the total phase of the eclipse. I found, however, that the mere description of phenomena extended to so great a length, as to render such a course inexpedient; and I have since delayed resuming the subject, in order that by comparing a number of other observations with my own, I might be enabled, either to confirm or to modify my views.

Commentary On Graham

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-73
Author(s):  
Alexander P. D. Mourelatos
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lunar Phases ◽  
Planar Model ◽  
Solar Eclipses ◽  
Two Stages

The comment endorses and reinforces Daniel W. Graham’s highly original and attractive proposal that early Greek cosmology develops in two stages. In what Graham calls the “meteorological stage” of the sixth century BCE, celestial objects are explained as formations either from fire or from watery exhalations in a roughly planar model of the cosmos. In the “lithic stage” of the mid- and late fifth century introduced by Anaxagoras, the model is that of a central earth around which solid stone-like celestial objects revolve held aloft in a vortex. The change to the lithic stage comes about, according to Graham, as the implications of Parmenides’ epoch-making discovery that the moon is illuminated by the sun (heliophotism) come to be understood and are then theoretically exploited. The present comment also proposes that the false explanations of lunar phases and lunar and solar eclipses in the meteorological-stage cosmologies, respectively, of Xenophanes and of Heraclitus may have played a helpful heuristic role in the theoretical breakthrough to heliophotism.

scholarly journals Geodetic Applications of Grazing Occultations

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 592-600
Author(s):  
D. W. Dunham
Keyword(s):  
Short Wave ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Apparent Position ◽  
Wave Radio ◽  
Solar Eclipses ◽  
Flash Spectrum

Up to about a century ago, occultations were often used to measure differences in geographical longitude. Extensive geodetic surveys, accurate chronometers, telegraphic communications, and later short-wave radio time services obviated the geodetic need for occultation observations, which are affected by geodetically severe uncertainties of stellar and lunar positions, lunar limb irregularities, and observers’ personal equations. More sophisticated methods of observation would be needed before the Moon could again be useful to geodesy.During this century, cinematography of Bailey’s beads and the flash spectrum during total solar eclipses have been used to obtain the relative apparent position of the Sun and Moon to an accuracy which could be useful to geodesy. But observational opportunities were rare and few results of geodetic significance have been obtained.

Modelling Lunar Extremes

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fisher ◽  
Lionel Sims
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Celestial Mechanics ◽  
Computer Modelling ◽  
Landscape Context ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon

Claims first made over half a century ago that certain prehistoric monuments utilised high-precision alignments on the horizon risings and settings of the Sun and the Moon have recently resurfaced. While archaeoastronomy early on retreated from these claims, as a way to preserve the discipline in an academic boundary dispute, it did so without a rigorous examination of Thom’s concept of a “lunar standstill”. Gough’s uncritical resurrection of Thom’s usage of the term provides a long-overdue opportunity for the discipline to correct this slippage. Gough (2013), in keeping with Thom (1971), claims that certain standing stones and short stone rows point to distant horizon features which allow high-precision alignments on the risings and settings of the Sun and the Moon dating from about 1700 BC. To assist archaeoastronomy in breaking out of its interpretive rut and from “going round in circles” (Ruggles 2011), this paper evaluates the validity of this claim. Through computer modelling, the celestial mechanics of horizon alignments are here explored in their landscape context with a view to testing the very possibility of high-precision alignments to the lunar extremes. It is found that, due to the motion of the Moon on the horizon, only low-precision alignments are feasible, which would seem to indicate that the properties of lunar standstills could not have included high-precision markers for prehistoric megalith builders.

Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon. Gold and Silver in Pre-Columbian Art

1967 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Earle R. Caley ◽  
Andre Emmerich
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon

scholarly journals How dim is dim? Precision of the celestial compass in moonlight and sunlight

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1565) ◽  
pp. 697-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dacke ◽  
M. J. Byrne ◽  
E. Baird ◽  
C. H. Scholtz ◽  
E. J. Warrant
Keyword(s):  
Dung Beetle ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Polarization Pattern ◽  
Animal Group ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Celestial Orientation ◽  
Polarization Compass ◽  
Celestial Compass ◽  
Diurnal Species

Prominent in the sky, but not visible to humans, is a pattern of polarized skylight formed around both the Sun and the Moon. Dung beetles are, at present, the only animal group known to use the much dimmer polarization pattern formed around the Moon as a compass cue for maintaining travel direction. However, the Moon is not visible every night and the intensity of the celestial polarization pattern gradually declines as the Moon wanes. Therefore, for nocturnal orientation on all moonlit nights, the absolute sensitivity of the dung beetle's polarization detector may limit the precision of this behaviour. To test this, we studied the straight-line foraging behaviour of the nocturnal ball-rolling dung beetle Scarabaeus satyrus to establish when the Moon is too dim—and the polarization pattern too weak—to provide a reliable cue for orientation. Our results show that celestial orientation is as accurate during crescent Moon as it is during full Moon. Moreover, this orientation accuracy is equal to that measured for diurnal species that orient under the 100 million times brighter polarization pattern formed around the Sun. This indicates that, in nocturnal species, the sensitivity of the optical polarization compass can be greatly increased without any loss of precision.

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