What you didn’t know about the solar eclipse

The Moon will partially cover the Sun for several hours in parts of the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. At times, Europe, Northeast Africa and the Middle East will be affected. The solar eclipse in Switzerland will be visible at 11:15 – for about two hours. The maximum value of the eclipse will be reached at 82.2% over Kazakhstan.

That’s not enough for the pitch-black feeling, astronomer Florent Deleflie said. The upcoming solar eclipse is the 16th partial solar eclipse of the 21st century.

Nine facts about the phenomenon

1. In Switzerland today the sun is only partially covered. It takes an average of 375 years for a place to see a total solar eclipse again. Only at the North and South Poles you have to wait longer, which means forever. There the blackout is always only partial. However, the next total eclipse is calculated as September 3, 2081.
2. In ancient China, the solar eclipse was a disaster. People believed that a dragon ate the sun. With screams and noise they tried to persuade him to spit out the celestial body again. The Chippewa Indians shot flaming arrows into the sky to rekindle the extinct sun.
3. Solar eclipse has no effect on humans. Only certain esoteric or spiritual people warn against fatigue, nausea, or mood swings.
4. However, darkening has an effect on animals. The birds stop chirping because they think it’s getting dark again. Nocturnal animals such as bats wake up and search for food. The phenomenon should not affect pets.
5. Ophthalmologists strongly recommend against taking a souvenir selfie. As British physician Daniel Hardiman-McCartney said in “The Daily Mail,” there’s an increased risk of accidentally looking directly at the sun. This can cause fatal and irreparable eye damage.
6. French fashion designer Paco Rabanne predicted the collapse of the Russian space station Mir during the 1999 solar eclipse. He was wrong. All other apocalyptic heralds who prophesied disasters until the end of the world were also lied to.
7. The solar eclipse occurs only at the new moon and can only be seen from Earth. If we were on Jupiter, we could observe three lunar eclipses!
8. The eclipse affects the tides. Therefore, flooding of the century is expected in the Atlantic. A tidal range of 16 meters is expected in the Canadian Bay of Fundy.
9. Einstein’s theory of relativity was proved by a solar eclipse in 1919. According to him, masses bend space and with it the light that enters it. Two research expeditions in northern Brazil and the Gulf of Guinea succeeded in proving that light from stars immediately adjacent to the sun deflects from the sun twice as much as previously assumed. (lex)