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Thinking About the Solar Eclipse

Like everyone else in the U.S., I'm thinking about the solar eclipse tomorrow so I'm blogging about it today.

We were on our way home this afternoon from our house in the country. The traffic on the north side of the freeway was stunning. Bumper to bumper for miles.

I guess everyone was headed to the Dallas area to get a good view of the solar eclipse.

Unfortunately, according to the weather forecast, we're expectiving 100% rain tomorrow. I guess the eclipse will look like a rainy dark night.

Of course, the computerized signs on the freeway flashed warnings: "Don't stop on the highway to watch the eclipse." That seems odd that the public must be told a common sense bit of advice like that, but we seem to be living in an era when common sense isn't exactly common.

Oddly enough, according to Leroy Chiao said, "An eclipse is one phenomenon that is actually more impressive from the ground."

8 ECLIPSE FACTS

1. A solar eclipse only happens in the New Moon lunar phase.

2. The ancient Chinese believed that eclipses were caused by a dragon devouring the Sun.

3. Everyone in the continental U.S. will see a part of the eclipse.

Image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay.
4. The Vikings believed that eclipses were caused by a wolf devouring the Sun.

5. In Hindu mythology, eclipses are caused by the severed head of a demon swallowing the Sun.

6. The earliest known record of a solar eclipse was made in ancient Ireland over 5,000 years ago.

7. Antikythera mechanism, built over 2,000 years ago and discovered in Antikythera, Greece in 1901, could predict eclipses. (I couldn't find anything that said how that was known since the mechanism looks like a giant rusty disk.

8. If you want to see lots of solar eclipses, live in Alaska. Alaska will get 48 more solar eclipses this century, more than any other state.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Use common sense, be safe, carry an umbrella just in case, and enjoy the show.



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