Eclipse Facts and Fancies

When the Moon moves between the Earth and Sun then comes a rare happening that can stun, above all a syzygy alliance, the term from the Greek in astro-science. Once solar eclipses in history were viewed as a frightening mystery. Cultural superstitions abounded as rumors spread far and wide unfounded. Many imagined the light was devoured by dragons or beasts super empowered. Herodotus wrote of one that brought peace and made warring factions their battle cease. The Chinese of old took drastic measures against stargazers for drunken pleasures that altered their senses though being skilled; hence they failed in prediction and were killed. A poem was penned to commemorate the court officials’ miserable fate, which stated, ‘though sad, it was risible that they could not spy the invisible’. The death of England’s King Henry the first prompted the notion of omens accursed for rulers; ‘twas just after one had passed described as that “hideous darkness” vast. There are tales and legends to tell galore. But later on, researchers learned much more. Curiously, helium was revealed because of our star’s disk being concealed. Yet the one that is “most important” called, made Einstein famous, and left him enthralled, was the shadowing of nineteen nineteen when theory entered the proven scene. Eddington relativity tested— which to this day has never been bested as general cosmic model supreme— showing warped spacetime through bent starlight scheme. In the total umbra it’s black as night till the exiting shroud sets the Sol right. At starting and finish as it proceeds occurs the spectacle of Baily’s beads with a ‘diamond ring’ that’s an extra boon resulting from the terrain of the moon; thereupon that stellar phenomenon is gone, though its memory lingers on. Thus, solar eclipses provide a chance to astronomical knowledge advance as well as to witness a great event, one that is literally heaven-sent! Then it’s back to our grinds and muddled minds wherever our personal path unwinds… ~ Harley White * * * * * * * * * Poem composed for the occasion of the total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21,2017…