Solar Eclipse - December 4 2002

The darkening of the Sun during the day was for ancient people an omen, usually evil. In China people would beat drums and...

The darkening of the Sun during the day was for ancient people an omen, usually evil. In China people would beat drums and set off firecrackers, hoping to chase away the evil dragon that has swallowed the Sun. Great riches and power were bestowed on those who were able to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Failing to predict them accurately had dire consequences as two Chinese astronomers found out they had their heads cut off! The Sun (diameter 1 400 000 km) is very much larger than the Earth (diameter 13 000 km). The Sun is also far away from the Earth, about 150 million km. So in its orbit around the Sun the Earth casts a cone shaped shadow pointing away from the Sun. Fig. 1 below shows the Earth in four different positions in its orbit around the Sun with the shadow pointing away from the Sun.