Thursday, April 27, 2006

"Earth's Moon: Best in the Solar System"

But, I already knew that.

However, Seth Shostak is talking about solar eclipses here, and what makes them so cool on Earth.

Mercury and Venus would be dandy places to see an eclipse (ignoring the lethal weather) since the Sun would loom large in the sky, showing up well in point-and-shoot photos. But neither has a moon. Other planets are saddled with satellites that generally appear either too large in the sky or too small. For example, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) are all hefty enough to block the Sun. Unfortunately, they block too much. The prominences and inner corona that are so spectacular during earthly eclipses quickly disappear behind one of these massy moons. ...

Mark yourself lucky to live on a planet where a solar eclipse is both possible and spectacular. And even luckier to be around when jet engines and cruise ships make it easy for thousands of people to journey to any eclipse’s narrow shadow path. For our grandparents and all their ancestors, who mostly died in the villages of their births, the chances of catching a total solar eclipse during a lifetime was about one in seven. Seeing as many as two was about as common as giving birth to quints.

I've never seen a total solar eclipse, but I have seen a couple of partial ones. They are definitely awesome, and, given the way darkness suddenly spread across a bright, sunlit day during an eclipse, I can see how the ancients would have been quite freaked out.

Ain't astronomy cool?

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