dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/22/84)
There used to be some pretty dire consequences for astronomers who failed to predict an eclipse of the sun. We'll talk about it -- right after this. October 22 An Early Solar Eclipse Today's date goes down in astronomical history as the anniversary of the first solar eclipse on record. The eclipse seems to have been in the year 2137 B.C. It was seen in China. An eclipse of the sun takes place when the moon moves in front of the sun -- and blots it from view. But in two thousand B.C., in ancient China, eclipses were believed to be an attack on the sun by a hungry dragon. The strategy was to scare away the dragon by making as much noise as possible. It always worked -- the sun always returned to normal. There's a story -- probably not true, but famous anyway -- concerning two royal astronomers on eclipse day, October 22, 2137 B.C. According to the story, the two astronomers were called Hsi and Ho -- and they not only failed to predict the eclipse -- they also were "too drunk in excess of wine" to perform the rites of shooting arrows and beating drums to chase away the dragon who was eating the sun. As punishment, they were beheaded. Even if it's not a true story, it does show how seriously people used to take solar eclipses. Even today, though it's well known that the moon in the normal course of things often passes in front of the sun, a total solar eclipse calls up primitive emotions -- when the sun goes black -- and daytime turns into darkness. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin