If you’ve been reading the news, or if you’ve been waking up at the crack of dawn to watch the moon, you’ve probably heard about the two eclipses we’ve had this month. Eclipses are among the better-known astronomical events, mostly because we can see them with the naked eye.
Eclipses don’t come too frequently — there were only four in 2014, and the 21st century as a whole will only see about 450. This being said, the fact that we’ve had two this month alone is pretty extraordinary.
There are two types of eclipses — solar and lunar. A solar eclipse, like the one we saw on Oct. 23, is when the moon perfectly situates itself between the Sun and the Earth to cast a shadow across the Earth. A lunar eclipse, like the one we saw on Oct. 8, is when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. Both types of eclipse can be either partial or total.
A great thing about eclipses is that we can predict them. Very accurately, too. Eclipses don’t just happen unexpectedly. The next solar eclipse will take place on March 20 at 3:41 a.m., and the next lunar eclipse will take place on April 4 at 5:03 a.m. You know how busy the spring gets, so set your alarms now.
Here’s all of the eclipses that will occur over the next 10 years.
Eclipses are especially interesting because of the role they’ve played in mythology over time. The sun and the moon have been constant, unchanging beings in the sky for as long as history has existed. Except sometimes, seemingly unexplainably, they’d briefly disappear from the sky. Many cultures viewed this as a time when demons were eating the sun or moon. For others, it is a fight between the sun and the moon. Some myths told people — such as pregnant women — they couldn’t look at an eclipse.
One thing is for sure — whether your beliefs are rooted in myths or in science, eclipses are an unbelievable sight to behold.
