The use of solar eclipse timings to compare the reference systems of Newcomb's Tables of the Sun and of the Improved Lunar Ephemeris

Solar Physics ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Duncombe ◽  
R. F. Haupt ◽  
J. S. Duncombe
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Reference Systems ◽  
Lunar Ephemeris

2. Solar Eclipse, 31st December 1880

1882 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 18-19
Author(s):  
E. Sang
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Actual Observation ◽  
Lunar Ephemeris ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Ascension ◽  
Nautical Almanac

The elements for the compution of eclipses are given in the “Nautical Almanac” with precision sufficient for all ordinary purposes; but, when we wish to compare the lunar ephemeris with actual observation for the purpose of verifying or of improving our data, we must go somewhat more minutely into the investigation.Thus, in the List of Elements, p. 403, the changes in the right-ascension and declination of the sun and moon are supposed to be proportional to the times, while the moon's geocentric semidiameter, as well as the horizontal parallax, is supposed to be constant during the eclipse. In this way some exceedingly small errors are introduced into the calculation.

scholarly journals Gamma Astrometric Measurement Experiment: testing General Relativity with a small mission

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 290-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vecchiato ◽  
M. G. Lattanzi ◽  
M. Gai ◽  
R. Morbidelli
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Measurement Experiment ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time ◽  
Bending Of Light

AbstractGAME (Gamma Astrometric Measurement Experiment) is a concept for an experiment whose goal is to measure from space the γ parameter of the Parameterized Post-Newtonian formalism, by means of a satellite orbiting at 1 AU from the Sun and looking as close as possible to its limb. This technique resembles the one used during the solar eclipse of 1919, when Dyson, Eddington and collaborators measured for the first time the gravitational bending of light. Simple estimations suggest that, possibly within the budget of a small mission, one could reach the 10−6level of accuracy with ~106observations of relatively bright stars at about 2° apart from the Sun. Further simulations show that this result could be reached with only 20 days of measurements on stars ofV≤ 17 uniformly distributed. A quick look at real star densities suggests that this result could be greatly improved by observing particularly crowded regions near the galactic center.

Decapitated Lunar Goddesses in Aztec Art, Myth, and Ritual

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Milbrath
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Full Moon ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Seasonal Transition ◽  
The Earth ◽  
New Moon ◽  
The Demonic

AbstractAztec images of decapitated goddesses link the symbolism of astronomy with politics and the seasonal cycle. Rituals reenacting decapitation may refer to lunar events in the context of a solar calendar, providing evidence of a luni-solar calendar. Decapitation imagery also involves metaphors expressing the rivalry between the cults of the sun and the moon. Huitzilopochtli's decapitation of Coyolxauhqui can be interpreted as a symbol of political conquest linked to the triumph of the sun over the moon. Analysis of Coyolxauhqui's imagery and mythology indicates that she represents the full moon eclipsed by the sun. Details of the decapitation myth indicate specific links with seasonal transition and events taking place at dawn and at midnight. Other decapitated goddesses, often referred to as earth goddesses with “lunar connections,” belong to a complex of lunar deities representing the moon within the earth (the new moon). Cihuacoatl, a goddess of the new moon, takes on threatening quality when she assumes the form of a tzitzimime attacking the sun during a solar eclipse. The demonic new moon was greatly feared, for it could cause an eternal solar eclipse bringing the Aztec world to an end.

Helium

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Emission Spectrum ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Atomic Structure ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Bright Light ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
First Time

Today we learn at such a young age about the periodic properties of the elements and their atomic structure that it seems as if we grew up with the knowledge, and that everyone must always have known such basic, simple stuff. But till nearly the end of the nineteenth century no one even suspected that such things as the noble gases, with their filled electronic orbits, might exist. Helium was the first one we at Brookhaven looked for in our mass spectrometer, and the first one discovered. This was in 1868, but the discovery was ignored and the discoverer ridiculed. He didn’t care; he had other things on his mind. His name was Pierre Jules César Janssen, and he was a French astronomer who sailed to India that year in order to take advantage of a predicted solar eclipse. With the overwhelming brightness of the sun’s disk blocked by the moon, he hoped to observe the outer layers using the newly discovered technique of absorption spectroscopy. Nobody at the time understood why, but it had been observed that when a bright light shone through a gas, the chemical elements in the gas absorbed the light at specific wavelengths. The resulting dark lines in the emission spectrum of the light were like fingerprints, for it had been found in chemical laboratories that when an element was heated it emitted light at the same wavelengths it would absorb when light from an outside source was shined on it. So the way the technique worked, Janssen reasoned, was that he could measure the wavelengths of the solar absorbed lines and compare them with lines emitted in chemical laboratories where different elements were routinely studied, thus identifying the gases present in the sun. On August 18 of that year the moon moved properly into position, and Janssen’s spectroscope captured the dark absorption lines of the gases surrounding the sun. It was an exciting moment, as for the first time the old riddle could be answered: “Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.” The answer now was clear: the sun, a typical star, was made overwhelmingly of hydrogen. But to Janssen’s surprise there was one additional and annoying line, with a wavelength of 587.49 nanometers.

scholarly journals Public Information Project of the Total Solar Eclipse of November 3, 1994 in Paraná State, Brazil

1998 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 197-201
Author(s):  
R.H. Trevisan
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Science Classroom ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Rio Grande Do Sul ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
The World ◽  
Information Project

This project had two principal objectives: to communicate safe methods to observe the Sun, so as to prevent ophthalmological accidents to people during the total solar eclipse of 3rd November 1994, and to collaborate with the primary school teachers in the science classroom, illustrating the classes, motivating the students to observe sky phenomena.In January 1993, a commission called “ECLIPSE 94“Executive Commission, of the Brazilian Astronomical Society was created to coordinate assistance with arrangements for observing the total solar eclipse of 3rd November 1994, that in Brazil was total in the western part of Paraná State, in Santa Catarina State and in a Rio Grande do Sul zone. Professional astronomers from Brazil and from several parts of the world were mobilized to observe this eclipse.

The Planets in Aztec Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Milbrath
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
Morning Star ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
Solar Rays

The Spanish chronicles do not mention planets other than Venus, although they compare certain Aztec gods with classical gods such as Jupiter and Mars. Creation myths recorded by the Spanish chroniclers frequently name Venus gods, most notably Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. The focus on Venus seen in these texts is also mirrored in colonial period Aztec codices, which feature several Venus gods as rulers of calendar periods associated with the 260-day calendar. The famous Aztec Calendar Stone represents Venus symbols prominently in an image showing the predicted demise of the Sun in an eternal solar eclipse, to be accompanied by earthquakes. Venus is apparently seen as the cause of a total solar eclipse in the Codex Borgia, a pre-conquest codex from Tlaxcala, a community neighboring the Aztecs in central Mexico. Although no pre-conquest Aztec codices survive, the painted screenfold books attributed to neighboring communities in central Mexico provide evidence of the kinds of almanacs that were probably also found in Preconquest Aztec screenfold books. The Codex Borgia has two Venus almanacs associated with heliacal rise events and another focusing on dates that coordinate with events involving Venus and possibly other planets. A unique narrative in the Codex Borgia traces Venus over the course of a year, representing different aspects of the synodical cycle. The transformation of Venus in the narrative is evidenced by subtle changes in the Venus god, Quetzalcoatl, who represents the planet Venus throughout the synodical cycle. Another god, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (“lord of dawn”), appears in the narrative associated with Venus as the morning star and also is represented in a death aspect during superior conjunction. This is in keeping with Aztec legends that tell how the Sun killed Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with his solar rays. The Borgia narrative also helps identify Xolotl as the planet Mercury and provides hints about other planets that may be linked with different aspects of Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec god who ruled the night sky.

scholarly journals II. Note on a possible ultra-solar spectroscopic phenomenon

1872 ◽  
Vol 20 (130-138) ◽  
pp. 136-136
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Far East ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Zodiacal Light ◽  
The Far East

One great object with the solar-eclipse expeditionists at work to-day in the far East is to trace spectroscopically the existence of any faint solar luminous appendage to a further distance from the sun than the brighter parts of the corona hitherto so identified. But much further they cannot go, on account of the large amount of general atmospheric illumination during every lunar-solar eclipse. The matter may, however, be taken up again during a terrestrial solar eclipse, i. e . an ordinary sunset below the horizon, if the sun be sufficiently far below to terminate all aërial twilight. Under such circumstances, too, it is that the zodiacal light, historically called the sun’s atmosphere, is occasionally seen stretching away to distances of 60, 90, and even more degrees from the sun.

scholarly journals The Nasa Solar Probe Mission: In Situ Determination of Interplanetary Out-of-The Ecliptic and Near-Solar Dust Environments

1991 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
Bruce T. Tsurutani ◽  
James E. Randolph
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Orbital Period ◽  
High Velocity ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Probe Mission

AbstractThe NASA Solar Probe mission will be one of the most exciting dust missions ever flown and will lead to a revolutionary advance in our understanding of dust within our solar system. Solar Probe will map the dust environment from the orbit of Jupiter (5 AU), to within 4 solar radii of the sun’s center. The region between 0.3 AU and 4 Rshas never been visited before, so the 10 days that the spacecraft spends during each (of the two) orbit is purely exploratory in nature. Solar Probe will also reach heliographic latitudes as high as ~ 15 to 28 above (below) the ecliptic on its trajectory inbound (outbound) to (from) the sun. This, in addition to the ESA/NASA Ulysses mission, will help determine the out-of-the-ecliptic dust environment. A post-perihelion burn will reduce the satellite orbital period to 2.5 years about the sun. A possible extended mission would allow data reception for 2 more revolutions, mapping out a complete solar cycle. Because the near-solar dust environment is not well understood (or is controversial at best), and it is very important to have better knowledge of the dust environment to protect Solar Probe from high velocity dust hits, we urgently request the scientific community to obtain further measurements of the near-solar dust properties. One prime opportunity is the July 1991 solar eclipse.

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