Solar eclipse of May 1, 1185

The solar eclipse of May 1, 1185 was a total solar eclipse visible in Central America, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Kazakhstan. The eclipse is number 30 in the Solar Saros 115 series. The eclipse shadow on the Earth's surface was at its greatest at 13:18:02 Universal Time. The sun was in Taurus at this time.[1]

Solar eclipse of May 1, 1185
Solar eclipse of May 1, 1185
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.5264
Magnitude1.0736
Maximum eclipse
Duration310 s (5m 10s)
Coordinates46.000°N 37.200°W / 46.000; -37.200
Max. width of band280 km (170 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse13:30:57
References
Saros115 (30 of 72)

Eclipse path

The shadow axis passed between the Earth's center and the north pole. The minimum distance from the center of the Earth to the Moon's shadow cone axis was 3,357 kilometers.[2] The average length of the Moon's shadow was 373,320 kilometers. The distance from the Earth to the Moon on 1 May 1185 was 347,727 kilometers.[2] The apparent diameter of the Moon was 1.0736 times that of the sun.[2] The shadow had a maximum width of 280 kilometers.[3] It began on the west coast of Central America and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a northeasterly direction. The shadow passed through present-day Nicaragua and Haiti. The maximum duration of the eclipse occurred in the middle of the North Atlantic at coordinates 46°N, 37.2°W.[1] The maximum duration of totality was 5 minutes and 10 seconds.[4] The eclipse magnitude is 1.0736.[1] The eclipse was preceded two weeks earlier by a partial lunar eclipse on April 16.[1]

A partial eclipse came ashore in Scotland, crossed the North Sea, and entered Norway. According to astronomer Sheridan Williams, there was probably a drop in temperature at the time of the eclipse, around 2 pm in Scotland.[5] He says that it was Scotland's fifth longest total eclipse at 4 minutes and 40 seconds.[5] Williams also notes that some older observers in Scotland may have also witnessed the previous eclipse, 52 years earlier.[5]

After passing through present-day Sweden, the eclipse touched a part of Finland and covered the northern part of the Baltic Sea at the Gulf of Finland. The eclipse then entered Russia. The eclipse's shadow touched part of what would be St. Petersburg, as well as Novgorod and Rostov. As the shadow journeyed in a southeasterly direction, it passed through the modern sites of Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa, and Magnitogorsk. The eclipse shadow started diminishing when it entered present-day Kazakhstan and extinguished completely about 30 miles before reaching Astana.[6][7][8][9]

In literature

Study of eclipse occurrences can create a precise timetable for historical events that are elusive and could not otherwise be accurately dated.[upper-alpha 1]

The eclipse was mentioned in the Kievan Rus' epic poem Lay of the Host of Igor.[12] It was seen by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich and his army whilst on their campaign against the Polovtsians,[13] and was interpreted as a message from God prophesying trouble,[14] hence frightening Igor's men who thought it a bad omen.[15][16] According to the Lay, after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his retinue to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign.[17]

The eclipse is mentioned in the 14th-century Laurentian Chronicle with the first detailed description of solar prominences.[10][18][19] They were described as flame-like tongues of live embers:[20][21]

On the first day of the month of May, on the day of the Saint Prophet Jeremiah, on Wednesday, during the evening service, there was a sign in the Sun. It became very dark, even the stars could be seen; it seemed to men as if everything were green, and the Sun became like a crescent of the Moon, from the horns of which a glow similar to that of red-hot charcoals was emanating. It was terrible to see this sign of the Lord.[22][23]

The Melrose Chronicle claims that "stars appeared" at Melrose in Scotland during the eclipse of 1185, but this is doubted by the writer Thomas Cooper who points out that scientific calculations indicate that the eclipse was not total at Melrose.[24]

The Brut y Tywysogion, the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes, says of the solar eclipse of 1 May 1185 Yn y ulwyddyn honno dyw Calan Mei y sumudawd yr heul y lliw; ac y dywat rei uot anei diffyc, which translates as: In that year on the day of the Calends of May the Sun changed its colour; and some said that it was under an eclipse. Bryn Jones believes there was a total solar eclipse across the Scottish Highlands, the Western Isles and Orkney.[25][26]

References

Notes
  1. "Total eclipses of the Sun are undoubtedly one of the most spectacular of natural events and leave a lasting impression on their viewers. Perhaps then it is not too surprising that these magnificent events are often recorded in the surviving writings of ancient civilizations."[10][11]

Citations
  1. Espenak, Fred (September 19, 2014). "Total Solar Eclipse of 1185 May 01". EclipseWise.com. Fred Espenak. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  2. "Catalog of Solar Eclipses/The total solar eclipse of May 1, 1185". Russian. 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  3. Espenak, Fred (2015). "Path of the Total Solar Eclipse of 1185 May 01". EclipseWise.com. Fred Espenak. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  4. "The total solar eclipse of May 1, 1185". Catalog of Solar Eclipses. Totality Dive. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  5. Williams 1996, p. 5.9.
  6. "Total Solar Eclipse of 1185 May 01 path". NASA Eclipse Website. NASA. 15 Jan 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  7. Williams 1996, p. 5–9.
  8. Svyatskiy D.O. "Astronomical Phenomena in Russian chronicles with scientific and critical perspective" in Svyatskiy D.O. Астрономия Древней Руси (Astronomy in Ancient Russia). Moscow: Panorama, 2007, pp. 45–49 (in Russian).
  9. Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (2006). "NASA Technical Publication TP-2006-214141". FirstGov. Heliophysics Science Division, Code 670 / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  10. "Solar Eclipses – Past, Present and Future" (PDF). 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  11. Herbermann, Pace & Pallen 1909, p. 335.
  12. Sviatoslav Hordynsky; Marko Robert Stech (2004). "Slovo o polku Ihorevi". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  13. Terras 1985, p. 425.
  14. V. V. Medvedev (1986). Сцена солнечного затмения в "Слове о полку Игореве" [Scene of the Solar Eclipse in the "Lay of the Host of Igor"] (in Russian). feb-web.ru. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  15. Ushinskiĭ 1978, p. 543.
  16. "The examination of the text of The Lay of Igor's Host". History of Russian Literature. WordPress Theme by WPZOOM. 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  17. Nabokov 2009, p. 71.
  18. "History of Solar Physics: A Time Line of Great Moments". National Center for Atmospheric Research. National Science Foundation. 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-01-02. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  19. "1185: The first description of solar prominences" (PDF). History of Solar Physics: A Time Line of Great Moments. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  20. "1185: The first description of solar prominences". Great Moments in the History of Solar Physics. Université de Montréal. 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  21. Sanderson & Harrington 2006, p. 41.
  22. Poitevin, Patrick; Edmonds, Joanne (2003). "Solar Eclipse Newsletter" (PDF). 8 (5). Patrick Poitevin. Retrieved March 30, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Original text cited at "Лаврентьевская летопись". Izbornik. Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences. 1927. p. 396. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  23. Stephenson 2008, p. 395.
  24. Steneck, Nicholas. "Review of 'Robert R. Newton, Medieval Chronicles and the Rotation of the Earth'". Speculum. Cambridge University Press. 49 (April, 1974) (2): 365–368, 367. doi:10.2307/2856073. JSTOR 2856073.
  25. Jones, Bryn (2008). "The History of Astronomy in Wales". References to eclipses in ancient manuscripts. Bryn Jones. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2015.. The translation is cited there from Jones, Thomas (1955). Brut y Tywysogyon, or, the Chronicle of the Princes: Red Book of Hergest version. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
  26. "Eclipses in ancient Welsh manuscripts". Mesopotamia. AncientWorlds LLC. 2013. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2015.

Sources
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