Solar eclipse day ------ Google Doodle...

A History of eclipses

Records show that the Babylonians and the ancient Chinese were able to predict solar eclipses as early as 2500 BC, but it was a phenomenon that confounded ancient civilisations for centuries.

The Greeks believed that the solar eclipse was a sign that the gods were angry and death and destruction were on their way. In fact, eclipse comes from ekleipsis, an ancient Greek word that means obscured, or abandoned. A fragment of a lost poem by Archilochus (c680–645 BCE) depicted a solar eclipse as such:

“Nothing there is beyond hope,nothing that can be sworn impossible,nothing wonderful, since Zeus,father of the Olympians,made night from midday,hiding the light of the shining sun,and sore fear came upon men.”

How often does a solar eclipse take place?

A solar eclipse can only happen at new moon, when the moon directly blocks sight of the sun from certain places in the world. It can take place up to five times a year, though according to Nasa, only 25 years in the past 5,000 have had five solar eclipses.

Where can you see it?

The solar eclipse will take place at around 8.45am GMT and is due to last for a few hours. Most of it will go unnoticed because its path falls over the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. It will start in Greenland and move counterclockwise towards the northeast, passing over Iceland and the UK.

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