On this episode of Our Island Universe: Anticipating the lunar eclipse on Sunday, September 27 and looking back at how our ancestors treated these lunar events.
Shanil Virani, Director of the John C. Wells Planetarium in Harrisonburg, VA.
Follow on Twitter as shanilv
Transcript:
On the evening of Sunday, September 27 most of North America will witness a total lunar eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon — in that order — form a straight line. When that happens, the Earth casts a shadow on the Moon so it receives no sunlight. This shadow covers the entire Moon and causes a total lunar eclipse. On September 27, this eclipse will start at 9pm, last for just over 3 hours, with the Moon totally eclipsed for about 1 hour and 12mins.
This eclipse is actually the 4th and last in a tetrad, a series of 4 consecutive total lunar eclipses that began in 2014. While today we understand that the total eclipse of the Moon is simply a result of the geometry of the Sun, Earth, and Moon in their orbits, to many cultures the disappearance of the Moon was seen as a time of danger and chaos. The Inca believed a jaguar attacked and ate the Moon. The assault explained the “blood-red” color that is often seen during a total lunar eclipse. They feared that after the attack, the jaguar would land on Earth to eat people! To avoid that fate, they would drive away the big cat by waving their spears at the moon, making a lot of noise, including beating their dogs to make them howl and bark! Even the ancient Mesopotamians saw a total lunar eclipse as an assault on the moon! The twist is that we know they had the ability to predict lunar eclipses! Because they linked what happened in the sky to circumstances on Earth, they would install a surrogate king to bear the brunt of any attack! After the eclipse, the substitute king “disappeared” and the actual king would resume his command!
Hmmmm….. on second thought, you know that may not be such a bad idea!