This year, eclipses are major news. On October 14th there will be an annular eclipse (that is, one where the moon is too far away to completely block out the sun, and you can still see the outer ring of it). On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be happening. For about four minutes, the sun will be completely blotted out of the sky, and only the solar corona will be visible. Many events are being planned locally around the eclipses, and special filtered glasses that allow people to look directly at them without damaging their eyes will be available from several organizations in our region, including IU East and the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library.
Eclipses are academically important and of interest to many disciplines. While science is most obviously impacted – observation of previous eclipses has even helped prove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and inspired inventions as far back as the Antikythera mechanism to track them – other fields have been affected. Eclipses have motivated artwork, as they are highly dramatic visual subjects.
Eclipses (both solar and lunar) factor into music as well, such as David Bowie’s “Blackstar” or Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Films like “Apocalypto” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” use eclipse imagery powerfully, and books like H. Rider Haggard’s “King Solomon’s Mines” and Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” turn on the protagonists’ ability to predict them.
History is another discipline that has been improved by eclipses. The ancient world looked at eclipses as strange or even terrifying portents and understanding them was a driver of science and math. As civilization developed the complicated mathematics necessary to understand the movement of the sun, moon, and Earth, and predict when future eclipses would occur, it also coincidentally gained the ability to precisely date eclipses that had already happened. Because eclipses were significant enough to be written about in ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, and Middle Eastern texts, many historical events that would otherwise be difficult to date can be pinpointed precisely beyond all doubt. Eclipses have helped historians develop a coherent chronology of history.
At IU East, many events are planned celebrating the upcoming eclipses. For the National Day On Writing, we are featuring the October 14th annular eclipse – everyone is invited to fill out the writing prompt and send it to Dr. Kelly Blewett at keblewet@iu.edu – these should be turned in by the end of September. Author Phil Plait, the affectionately nicknamed ‘Bad Astronomer’, will come to campus on February 27th to discuss his book Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe. A book group will be hosted by the Center for Faculty Development to read it. Everyone who participates in the book group will receive a free copy.
The library also offers many tools for understanding eclipses. Databases like ProQuest Science, Science & Technology, Wiley Online Library, AccessScience, and AAAS/Science feature scholarly articles, and the library includes several books on eclipses like Astrotourism: Star Gazers, Eclipse Chasers, and the Dark Sky Movement by Michael Marlin, Total Eclipses of the Sun: Expanded Edition by Jack B. Zirker, David Levy’s Guide to Eclipses, Transits, and Occultations by David H. Levy, Sun Moon Earth : The History of Solar Eclipses From Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets by Tyler Nordgren, In the Shadow of the Moon: The Science, Magic, and Mystery of Solar Eclipses by Anthony Aveni, or No Shadow of a Doubt : The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein’s Theory of Relativity by Daniel Kennefick.
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