During the Last Great Wyoming Eclipse, James Craig Watson made claims to a fantastic discovery that rose him to immediate fortune, fame, and . . . a new planet? In 1859, it had been discovered that there were discrepancies in Mercury’s orbit. It was noted that Mercury’s point of perihelion, or closest approach to the […]
Tag: 2017 Total Solar Eclipse
100 Days Until Totality! 60 Days Left – The Last Great Wyoming Eclipse: Part 2
The total solar eclipse of 1878 also brought the first professional female astronomer out west, Maria Mitchell. Maria grew up learning astronomy from her father and helped him calculate the exact time of an annular eclipse when she was only 12 years old. Maria’s first solo accomplishment was the discovery of a comet at the […]
100 Days Until Totality! 61 Days Left – The Last Great Wyoming Eclipse: Part 1
Out on the east coast in 1878, a great and renowned inventor by the name of Thomas Edison was developing a new project to test. What he lacked was the perfect opportunity to perform an experiment on his temperature-measuring device, the tasimeter. With a little bit of good news and encouragement from a friend, Edison […]
100 Days Until Totality! 62 Days Left – The Discovery of Helium
In 1868 French astronomer Pierre-Jules-César Janssen was studying a total solar eclipse in India with a device called a spectrograph. A spectrograph is used to figure out what something is made out of based off of the colors of light it gives off. The spectrograph uses a prism to split a beam of light into […]
100 Days Until Totality! 63 Days Left – Eclipses and a British General
In the 19th century a civil war broke out in China. The war started from the Qing dynasty persecuting members of a sect of Christianity.. The rebellion started in the province of Guangxi. The rebels gained significant ground but by 1860 the main Chinese government had contacted Britain for support. Major General Charles Gordon was […]
64 Days to Totality Podcast
This week’s looking up is all about important eclipses that shaped historical events or effected famous historical figures from ancient Greek astronomers to Columbus.
100 Days Until Totality Blog Series: 64 Days Left – Adams’ Joy of Discovery
Astronomy is no doubt, a humbling area of study. Once the human mind is able to even slightly comprehend the vast distances, speeds, and warping of time and space, there are still many factors that interest folks in the subject. One such factor is the joy of discovery. Astronomers and observers look to the sky […]
100 Days Until Totality Blog Series: 65 Days Left – The Rebellion Eclipse
Before he became a man fighting for freedom, Nat Turner was a religious and studious child that had been born into slavery. When Turner was young and growing up, his mother and grandmother had instilled in him that he was born for greatness, and that he was not destined to spend his life under the […]
100 Days Until Totality! 66 Days Left – Sir Edmond Halley’s Maps and the Moon’s “Atmosphere”
Sir Edmond Halley was a British astronomer with many great achievements starting early in his career. At only 22 years of age he journeyed to the southern hemisphere and cataloged 341 stars in the sky with great accuracy. This brought him great fame in the sciences and he was elected to the Royal Society, a […]
100 Days Until Totality Blog Series: 67 Days Left – The Black Hour
Since the beginning of Astronomical history, humans have been fascinated with patterns and phenomena from the sky. During the Middle Ages, astrologers looked to the stars to satisfy that feeling of control and understanding by seeing routine motions as stars rose and set in the same direction each night. Moreover, they formed recognizable constellations in […]
100 Days Until Totality Blog Series: 68 Days Left – One Man’s Fate and Another Man’s Victory
What did an eclipse mean in the first thousand years of the Common Era? For some kingdoms it meant a strong and happy age of rule, and for others it meant ill will and terrible disasters to follow. In the case of the solar eclipse known as King Henry I’s Eclipse, it meant both! In […]
100 Days Until Totality Blog Series: 69 Days Left – Emperor Louis’ Eclipse
Often rulers thought solar eclipses were signs of trouble for the kingdom or that their own lives were in danger. One solar eclipse coincidentally fulfilled this prophecy, and shaped the future of modern day Europe. The son of Charlemagne, Emperor Louis the Pious, came to rule most of Europe when his father died. His reign […]
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