National Eclipse

ECLIPSE TRIVIA

The subject of solar eclipses seems tailor-made for trivia. The seemingly random combinations of dates on which elipses occur and places in which eclipses are visible, in addition to the vast amount of historical and cultural anecdotes related to eclipses, result in an endless supply of factoids and minutiae. Below you'll find a collection of eclipse-related trivia organized by category, curated from the @NationalEclipse Twitter account.

GENERAL ECLIPSE TRIVIA

PAST ECLIPSES

FUTURE ECLIPSES

ECLIPSE HISTORY

MYTHS AND SUPERSTITIONS

POP CULTURE

2017 ECLIPSE

2024 ECLIPSE

HOLIDAYS

CITIES

GENERAL ECLIPSE TRIVIA

• It's been calculated that, on average, a total solar eclipse is seen from the same place only once every 375 years.
• The greatest possible duration of a total solar eclipse is about 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
• During a total solar eclipse, the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth at more than 1,000 mph, or faster than the speed of sound.
• At least two, and up to five, solar eclipses occur each year, but no more than two can be total.
• The diameter of the Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon, but it's also 400 times farther away, making total solar eclipses possible due to the apparently identical sizes of the Sun and the Moon in the sky.
• The word "eclipse" comes from "ekleipsis," the Ancient Greek word for abandonment.
• An eclipse moves from west to east because the Moon orbits the Earth from west to east and its shadow moves faster than the rotation of the Earth.
• Based on 5,000 years of eclipse data, the most likely month for a total solar eclipse to occur is May. The least likely is November.
• A totally eclipsed Sun is about as bright as a full Moon, which is about 400,000 times less bright than a non-eclipsed Sun.
• A solar eclipse can occur on every planet in our solar system except for Mercury and Venus (because they have no moons).
• On Jupiter, a total solar eclipse occurs once every 42 hours and three total solar eclipses can occur at the same time.
• A solar eclipse can only occur during a new Moon and a lunar eclipse can only occur during a full Moon.
• If the Moon's orbit wasn't tilted five degrees to the Earth's orbit, solar eclipses would occur every month.
• It's been estimated that only about one in every 10,000 people will see a total solar eclipse in their lifetime.
• The temperature can drop 20 degrees or more during a total solar eclipse.
• An "annular" eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth in its orbit to fully cover the Sun, resulting in a "ring of fire" instead of totality.
• A "hybrid" eclipse occurs when a solar eclipse morphs between an annular eclipse and a total eclipse. Only about five percent of all eclipses are hybrid.
• During a solar eclipse, the Moon makes first contact on the right side of the Sun in the northern hemisphere and the left side of the Sun in the southern hemisphere.
• The egg cream is a traditional post-eclipse celebratory drink.
• Even during a 99 percent partial solar eclipse, the Sun is still 10,000 times brighter than during totality.
• A "total solar eclipse" is always a partial eclipse most of the time inside the path of totality and all of the time outside the path of totality.
• People who travel around the world to observe total solar eclipses are called "eclipse chasers" or "umbraphiles."
• A solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse will always precede or follow the other by about two weeks.

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PAST ECLIPSES

• Over the last 3,000 years, there have been 7,112 solar eclipses, including 1,892 total eclipses.
• The maximum number of solar eclipses that can occur in any given year is five. Over the last 3,000 years, this has happened only 13 times.
• A total solar eclipse itself isn't particularly rare. Over the last 3,000 years, a total solar eclipse has occurred at least once on all 366 calendar days.
• A total solar eclipse hasn't occurred on May 21 since 975 BCE, the longest amount of time of any calendar day.
• Over the last 3,000 years, two solar eclipses have occurred in the same month only 24 times.
• The last total solar eclipse with a duration of totality of at least 7 minutes occurred in 1973.

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FUTURE ECLIPSES

• 75 more solar eclipses will occur in the U.S. this century, including eight total eclipses.
• Eight more total solar eclipses will occur in the U.S. this century: 2033, 2044, 2045, 2052, 2078, 2079, 2097, and 2099.
• This millennium, there will be 11 total solar eclipses with durations of totality of at least 7 minutes.
• The next total solar eclipse with a duration of totality of at least 7 minutes will occur in 2150.
• Alaska will get 47 more solar eclipses this century, more than any other state.
• Georgia and Texas will both get four total solar eclipses this century, more than any other state.
• Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, and Washington are the only U.S. states that won't get a total solar eclipse this century.
• The next total solar eclipse with a path of totality that will cross the U.S. from coast to coast will occur in 2045.
• The next total solar eclipse with a path of totality exclusive to the U.S. will occur in 2316.
• A total solar eclipse will be visible from Walt Disney World for over 6 minutes on August 12, 2045.
• A total solar eclipse will occur simultaneously with a transit of Mercury in 9966 and a transit of Venus in 15232.
• Since the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, total solar eclipses will no longer be possible in about 500 to 600 million years.

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ECLIPSE HISTORY

• The earliest known record of a solar eclipse was made in ancient Ireland over 5,000 years ago.
• During the American Revolution, a Harvard scientist was granted free passage into British-controlled Maine to observe a solar eclipse.
• Over 4,000 years ago, two Chinese astronomers were executed because they failed to predict an eclipse for the emperor.
• The undefeated British racehorse Eclipse was so named because he was born during an annular eclipse in 1764.
• Thomas Edison traveled to Wyoming in 1878 to see a total solar eclipse.
• The Antikythera mechanism, built over 2,000 years ago and discovered in a Greek shipwreck, could predict eclipses.
• The unincorporated community of Eclipse, Virginia, was named for a total solar eclipse that crossed over the area in 1900.
• In 1887, a Russian chemist used a hot air balloon to ascend above the clouds to observe a total solar eclipse.
• In ancient China, the word for eclipse was "chih," which also meant "to eat."
• Legend holds that a total solar eclipse so terrified Louis the Pious in 840 that he literally died of fright.
• A total solar eclipse in 1919 was used to help confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity.
• In an era before color photography, artists were often recruited to paint what they saw during totality.
• In 1503 Christopher Columbus earned the help of hostile natives on the island of Jamaica by "predicting" a lunar eclipse.
• In 603 BCE, a truce was called between the Lydians and the Medes when a total solar eclipse was interpreted as a sign from the heavens.
• From 1882 to 1884 there was a major league baseball team called the Louisville Eclipse.

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MYTHS AND SUPERSTITIONS

• The ancient Chinese believed that eclipses were caused by a dragon devouring the Sun.
• The Vikings believed that eclipses were caused by a wolf devouring the Sun.
• The ancient Vietnamese believed that eclipses were caused by a giant frog devouring the Sun.
• In Hindu mythology, eclipses are caused by the severed head of a demon swallowing the Sun.
• Korean folklore tells of eclipses being caused by mythical dogs biting the Sun.
• In the language of the indigenous Pomo people of California, the word for "eclipse" means "Sun got bit by a bear."
• In Italy, some people believe that planting flowers during a solar eclipse will produce more colorful blooms.
• Even today, some cultures believe that eclipses are dangerous to pregnant women.

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POP CULTURE

• A total solar eclipse came to Springfield on episodes of The Simpsons from 1993 and 2009.
• The first commercial eclipse cruise set sail in 1972 and the first commercial eclipse flight took off in 1974.
• Mark Twain combined time travel and a solar eclipse in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to create a unique plotline.
• In Little Shop of Horrors, the man-eating plant named Audrey II is discovered during a total solar eclipse.
• A solar eclipse was featured in the plotline of a motion picture as early as 1907.
• Mount Gay Eclipse Barbados Rum was named for the concurrence of a total solar eclipse and the passage of Halley's Comet in 1910.
• The total solar eclipse referenced in Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King was a real eclipse that crossed over Maine in 1963.
• The hit 1972 song "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon references a real eclipse from 1970 with the lyrics "Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia / To see the total eclipse of the Sun."
• Bonnie Tyler's 1983 hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was voted the most popular eclipse-related song in a 2022 NationalEclipse.com Twitter poll.

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2017 ECLIPSE

• The 2017 eclipse was the first total solar eclipse seen in the U.S. since 1991 and the first seen in the contiguous U.S. since 1979.
• The 2017 eclipse was the first total solar eclipse with a path of totality to cross the U.S. from coast to coast since 1918.
• The 2017 eclipse was the first total solar eclipse with a path of totality exclusive to the U.S. since before the nation's founding.
• Before 2017, it had been 760 years since the last total solar eclipse with a path of totality exclusive to the present-day U.S.
• The 2017 eclipse had a maximum duration of totality of 2 minutes and 40.2 seconds.
• The centerline of the 2017 eclipse entered the U.S. in Lincoln Beach, Oregon, at about 9:04am PDT and exited the U.S. near McClellanville, South Carolina, at about 4:10pm EDT.
• The path of the 2017 eclipse was about 8,600 miles long from beginning to end.
• Even though the path of the 2017 eclipse crossed the entire U.S. from coast to coast, that only represented about 29 percent of its total length.
• The 2017 eclipse belongs to a "series" of eclipses called "Saros 145" that includes 77 eclipses occurring about every 18 years from 1639 to 3009.
• The eclipse series of which the 2017 eclipse belongs will peak in duration at 7 minutes and 12 seconds in 2522.
• Eclipses have "twins." The total solar eclipse of September 23, 2071, is a "twin" of the 2017 eclipse.
• The path of the 2017 eclipse crossed over Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, and tiny parts of Montana and Iowa.
• It was estimated that about 12 million people lived within the path of the 2017 eclipse.
• The magnitude of the 2017 eclipse was 1.0306. Any eclipse with a magnitude of at least 1.0 is a total eclipse.
• All total eclipses have points of greatest duration and greatest eclipse. For the 2017 eclipse, those points were located in Illinois and Kentucky, respectively.
• For the 2017 eclipse, no other state had a longer path of totality than Nebraska, with 467 miles of shadow coverage.
• Before 2017, it was estimated that only .001 percent of Americans had seen a total solar eclipse.
• The path of the 2017 eclipse crossed over five state capitals.
• The 2017 eclipse occurred on a Monday, conveniently used as part of a three-day weekend by many observers.
• The centerline of the 2017 eclipse crossed into Illinois a total of three times.
• The partial phases of the 2017 eclipse lasted for a total of about two to three hours.
• From coast to coast, the 2017 eclipse traveled about 2,498 miles in approximately 90 minutes and 30 seconds at an average speed of about 1,656 mph.
• Before 2017, the last time a total solar eclipse crossed the U.S. from coast to coast, Woodrow Wilson was president and World War I was raging.
• Before 2017, never in the 241-year history of the country had a total solar eclipse been seen exclusively in the U.S.
• For the 2017 eclipse, the smallest partial eclipse in the U.S. and contiguous U.S. occurred in Hawaii and Maine, with only about 19 percent and 40 percent of the Sun obscured, respectively.
• Before 2017, the last total solar eclipse to occur on August 21 was in 1914. The next total solar eclipse to occur on August 21 will be in 2734. Neither in the U.S.
• All of North America got at least a partial solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, and a partial eclipse could be seen in some parts of South America, Europe, and Africa.
• The path of the 2017 eclipse crossed the future path of the 2024 eclipse, making it possible to see two total solar eclipses from the same spot in the span of only seven years.
• The path of the 2017 eclipse had a maximum width of about 71.5 miles.

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2024 ECLIPSE

• The 2024 eclipse occurred in the U.S. only seven years after the last total solar eclipse occurred in the U.S., a relatively short timeframe for eclipses.
• The 2024 eclipse had a maximum duration of totality of 4 minutes and 28.0 seconds.
• The centerline of the 2024 eclipse entered the U.S. near Radar Base, Texas, at about 12:10pm CDT and exited the U.S. in Monticello, Maine, at about 4:41pm EDT.
• The path of the 2024 eclipse was about 9,200 miles long from beginning to end.
• From Texas to Maine, the path of the 2024 eclipse was about 2,142 miles long, representing only about 23 percent of its total length.
• The 2024 eclipse belongs to a "series" of eclipses called "Saros 139" that includes 71 eclipses occurring about every 18 years from 1501 to 2763.
• The eclipse series of which the 2024 eclipse belongs will peak in duration at 7 minutes and 29 seconds in 2186.
• Eclipses have "twins." The total solar eclipse of May 11, 2078, is a "twin" of the 2024 eclipse.
• The path of the 2024 eclipse crossed over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and tiny parts of Tennessee and Michigan.
• It was estimated that about 31 million people lived within the path of the 2024 eclipse.
• The magnitude of the 2024 eclipse was 1.0566. Any eclipse with a magnitude of at least 1.0 is a total eclipse.
• All total eclipses have points of greatest duration and greatest eclipse. For the 2024 eclipse, those points were located in Mexico.
• For the 2024 eclipse, no other state had a longer path of totality than Texas, with 478 miles of shadow coverage.
• The path of the 2024 eclipse crossed over four state capitals.
• As with the 2017 eclipse, the 2024 eclipse occurred on a Monday.
• The partial phases of the 2024 eclipse lasted for a total of about two to three hours.
• From Texas to Maine, the 2024 eclipse traveled about 2,142 miles in approximately 64 minutes and 29 seconds at an average speed of about 1,993 mph.
• For the 2024 eclipse, the smallest partial eclipse in the U.S. and contiguous U.S. occurred in Alaska and Washington, respectively, with only about 16 percent of the Sun obscured in Washington and with Alaska directly on the dividing line between partial eclipse and no eclipse at all.
• Before 2024, the last total solar eclipse to occur on April 8 was in 2005. The next total solar eclipse to occur on April 8 will be in 2722. Neither in the U.S.
• Most of North America and Central America got at least a partial solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, and a partial eclipse could be seen in small parts of South America and Europe.
• The path of the 2024 eclipse crossed the path of the 2017 eclipse, making it possible to see two total solar eclipses from the same spot in the span of only seven years.
• The path of the 2024 eclipse had a maximum width of about 125.9 miles.
• Compared to the 2017 eclipse, the 2024 eclipse had a duration of totality that was about 68 percent longer and a path of totality that was about 76 percent wider at its widest point.

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HOLIDAYS

Sometimes, by mere chance, a total solar eclipse coincides with a major U.S. holiday or observance. The following table details the year in which a total solar eclipse last occurred on a particular holiday and the year in which it will happen again. (Note that UTC time is used to determine the date on which an eclipse occurs and no consideration is given to whether an eclipse is actually visible in the U.S. or not.)