Solar Eclipse of 1671

Last night a season finale of a popular TV series featured a scene based outside Kyoto in 1671. The scene involved a total solar eclipse. Considering that the series constantly ignores such cornerstones of physics as conservation of energy and momentum I didn't expect the solar eclipse to have actually happened. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that there was indeed a solar eclipse visible from Kyoto in 1671 on September 3rd. The eclipse was not total however, but a pretty unimpressive partial eclipse taking place just as the sun was setting.

Solar Eclipse 1671
The partial Solar eclipse of 1671 seen just above the horizon from Kyoto, Japan CREDIT: Stuart/Stellarium
The show also bizarrely, and presumably for dramatic purposes, had the shadow of the Moon moving only a few tens of metres in a few seconds. The real shadow "travels" at thousands of kph! Of course, that problem can be solved by invoking the slowing down time super power (the one "get out of physics free" card I'll allow them).

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Posted in astro blog by Stuart on Thursday 06th Dec 2007 (15:13 GMT) | Add a comment | Permalink

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