by Toppin' Up
A phenomenon which does gather the attention of a lot of people across the globe, with many observing from various vantage points in their own country… Today we’ll dive into the universe of solar eclipses.
While we won’t have enough time (and space) to discuss the entire history of solar eclipse records which, by the way, spans back to more than 4,000 years ago, we will try to highlight why these kinds of events are popular and also include some of the recent major observations.
Various rituals around the world reacted to these eclipses differently, namely the ancient Chinese population who happens to be one of the first to record such events.
It’s worth noting that they reacted by making a lot of noise on the ground, when they believed the Dragon came out to eat the Sun and thus by creating noise, they would eventually scare away the said Dragon. More recently the Chinese shot cannons when they thought the dragon came back to eat none other than the moon.
However, those who care enough to experience a solar eclipse would often feel a sense of weirdness, due to the strange sensation it may elicit. Ah, yes, while not in complete darkness, some of the recent 21st century partial eclipses in Malta might have created quite an eerie and unique situation whereby sunlight was partially blocked for a few minutes.
In fact, Europe got to enjoy two partial eclipses on the 3 October 2005, and on 29 March 2006, being just a few months apart from each other.
Other partial observations were noted in 2008, 2011, 2015 and as recent as 2020, while more solar eclipses happened in between which were observed by a smaller portion of the European continent.
When will we be able to view the next set of solar eclipses in Malta?
Well, the next partial eclipse can be experienced this year, more specifically on the 25 October 2022. The next bigger event, an annular eclipse, will be up next, on the 1 June 2030.
However, we’re still a bit far off from the next total solar eclipse visible locally… This is expected to occur on the 21 April 2088…
And you? Do you remember any solar eclipse events?
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