M. Guillaume thinks that the ninth Egyptian plague, the thick “darkness” (Exodus x. 21-23), may perhaps be explained by a total eclipse of the sun which occurred in 1332 B.C. It is true that the account states that the darkness lasted “three days,” but this, M. Guillaume thinks, may be due to an error in the translation.[478] This explanation, however, seems very improbable.
According to Hind, the moon was eclipsed on the generally received date of the Crucifixion, A.D. 33, April 3. He says, “I find she had emerged from the earth’s dark shadow a quarter of an hour before she rose at Jerusalem (6h 36m p.m.); but the penumbra continued upon her disc for an hour afterwards.” An eclipse could not have had anything to do with the “darkness over all the land” during the Crucifixion. For this lasted for three hours, and the totality of a solar eclipse can only last a few minutes at the most. As a matter of fact the “eclipse of Phlegon,” a partial one (A.D. 29, November 24) was “the only solar eclipse that could have been visible in Jerusalem during the period usually fixed for the ministry of Christ.”
It is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that a total eclipse of the sun took place in the year after King Alfred’s great battle with the Danes. Now, calculation shows that this eclipse occurred on October 29, 878 A.D. King Alfred’s victory over the Danes must, therefore, have taken place in 877 A.D., and his death probably occurred in 899 A.D. This solar eclipse is also mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. From this it will be seen that in some cases the dates of historical events can be accurately fixed by astronomical phenomena.
It is stated by some historians that an eclipse of the sun took place on the morning of the battle of Crecy, August 26, 1346. But calculation shows that there was no eclipse of the sun visible in England in that year. At the time of the famous battle the moon had just entered on her first quarter, and she was partially eclipsed six days afterwards—that is on the 1st of September. The mistake seems to have arisen from a mistranslation of the old French word esclistre, which means lightning. This was mistaken for esclipse. The account seems to indicate that there was a heavy thunderstorm on the morning of the battle.
A dark shade was seen on the waning moon by Messrs. Hirst and J. C. Russell on October 21, 1878, “as dark as the shadow during an eclipse of the moon.”[479] If this observation is correct, it is certainly most difficult to explain. Another curious observation is recorded by Mr. E. Stone Wiggins, who says that a partial eclipse of the sun by a dark body was observed in the State of Michigan (U.S.A.) on May 16, 1884, at 7 p.m. The “moon at that moment was 12 degrees south of the equator and the sun as many degrees north of it.” The existence of a dark satellite of the earth has been suggested, but this seems highly improbable.
The sun’s corona seems to have been first noticed in the total eclipse of the sun which occurred at the death of the Roman emperor Domitian, A.D. 95. Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius says, with reference to this eclipse, “In the heavens there appeared a prodigy of this nature: a certain corona resembling the Iris surrounded the orb of the sun, and obscured its light.”[480] In more modern times the corona seems to have been first noticed by Clavius during the total eclipse of April 9, 1567.[481] Kepler proved that this eclipse was total, not annular, so that the ring seen by Clavius must have been the corona.
With reference to the visibility of planets and stars during total eclipses of the sun; in the eclipse of May 12, 1706, Venus, Mercury, and Aldebaran, and several other stars were seen. During the totality of the eclipse of May 3, 1715, about twenty stars were seen with the naked eye.[482] At the eclipse of May 22, 1724, Venus and Mercury, and a few fixed stars were seen.[483] The corona was also noticed. At the eclipse of May 2, 1733, Jupiter, the stars of the “Plough,” Capella, and other stars were visible to the naked eye; and the corona was again seen.[483]
During the total eclipses of February 9, 1766, June 24, 1778, and June 16, 1806, the corona was again noticed. But its true character was then unknown.
At the eclipse of July 8, 1842, it was noticed by observers at Lipesk that the stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse (α Orionis), which are usually red, “appeared quite white.”[484]
There will be seven eclipses in the years 1917, 1935, and 1985. In the year 1935 there will be five eclipses of the sun, a rare event; and in 1985 there will be three total eclipses of the moon, a most unusual occurrence.[485]