Jul

12

Solar eclipse

July 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment

July 11: The moon passes between the sun and the earth during a solar eclipse in Valparaiso City, 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Santiago. The effect was created by shooting part of the image through a piece of exposed X-ray film.

See the full FOX news slide show of the eclipse on Sunday, and in 2009.

Today we may know what causes an eclipse but in ancient times, the explanations were perhaps more inventive or fantastic.

Animals and the reigning mythology of the time and area made for startling tales. In Argentina it was said that a jaguar ate the sun while in Vietnam, it was thought that a giant frog swallowed the fiery ball. A dragon took the honours in India, Indonesia and China, while in Siberia the tales were of sun-swallowing vampires.

More remarkable images, like the one above taken by Alejandro Tombolini in Argentina, can be seen at Spaceweather and National Geographic.

Finally, to see the full version of spectacular image (left) taken by Dennis L. Mammana, go to National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, showing the “ring of fire,” so called for the central view of an annular eclipse of the Sun by the Moon.


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