AaS! 108: What do we learn from eclipses?
Ask a Spaceman!
Paul M. Sutter
4.8 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2019
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why is it so hard to predict solar eclipses? How did Newton and Halley team up to solve it? What have we learned from solar eclipses since then? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
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Music by Jason Grady and Nick Bain. Thanks to Cathy Rinella for editing.
Hosted by Paul M. Sutter, astrophysicist at The Ohio State University, and the one and only Agent to the Stars (http://www.pmsutter.com).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's summer. |
| 0:16.0 | It's summer. |
| 0:18.0 | It's been a dry week. You've been wondering when the rains will come again. |
| 0:24.6 | Still you attend to the fields. |
| 0:28.6 | Working through the day, you're looking forward to dinner at home this evening. |
| 0:32.6 | The sun is high in the sky, beating down on you, sweat stings your eyes, what you would give for a moment of respite. |
| 0:43.3 | As you work, you notice a shift. You realize it's been happening for a while, but you only just noticed it. |
| 0:52.3 | Your shadow looks strange, a little unfamiliar. |
| 0:57.0 | Like it's more in focus, more real. |
| 1:00.0 | Like your shadow is taking on a reality of its own. |
| 1:04.0 | Still, you shake it off. It must be your imagination. |
| 1:08.0 | You continue to work. |
| 1:10.0 | A while later you track over to the nearest tree |
| 1:13.0 | taking a moment in the shade. As you look at your feet though, it seems as if your eyes |
| 1:18.7 | are playing tricks on you. In the dappled sunlight falling between the leaves you noticed |
| 1:25.2 | on the ground countless crescent shapes |
| 1:27.5 | repeated over and over and over and over. |
| 1:31.7 | As you watch, the crescents slowly become thinner and thinner. |
| 1:37.8 | When they are razor thin, that's when you begin to notice. |
| 1:42.0 | It's not hot anymore. The sunlight is getting dimmer. A cool evening breeze |
| 1:49.0 | picks up. You feel the familiar nighttime chill in the air. You're confused. How long were you |
| 1:56.8 | under this tree? Did you fall asleep? You look to the distant horizon. It's not nightfall. |
... |
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