Solar eclipse-2017: the best photos

The earth revolves around the Sun, and Luna — around the Earth. At some point, the Moon, Sun and Earth are on the same line, so that the satellite partially overlaps the solar disk and casts a shadow on the Earth. People who find themselves in this shadow with a maximum diameter of only 270 kilometers, and see a total solar eclipse. Usually in a year there are from two to five solar eclipses, which are visible from different points of the Earth.

In the photo: The flight path of the ISS through the solar disk during the eclipse

But with a total eclipse, it's not really that simple. The moon is always at different distances from the Earth, it is then removed, then it approaches in its orbit (hence the ebb and flow). And if it is between the Sun and the Earth at the time of the greatest removal, it can not completely cover the Sun. In such situations, you can see how it moves along the surface of the light with a small black shadow. Such an eclipse is called annular.

By the way, from the Earth's orbit the eclipse looks like a round lunar shadow, which on quite a large speed passes through the globe. This time it went through the entire territory of the US — from one ocean coast to another. A partial eclipse was also seen in the Far East of Russia and in the most western European countries.

The eclipses invariably attract the attention of scientists, since they allow seeing the sun in a form in which it is impossible under normal conditions. For example, the French scientist Pierre Janssen during the total solar eclipse in India on August 18, 1868 first studied the chromosphere of the Sun and obtained the spectrum of a new chemical element named after the sun by helium.

But before the development of science, the solar eclipse, of course, frightened people and made me find mythological explanations. For example, people from the tribe of South America accused of eclipse the celestial jaguars attacking the moon. The Hindu text of the Mahabharata, written around 400 BC, spoke of the head of the demon Rahu, who absorbs the moon and the sun, and then releases them through his disembodied neck. The Aztecs believed that eclipses can turn the fruits of pregnant women into mice, and traditional Mexican cultures and certain cultures of South Asia called it an inborn defect in which the upper and lower lips of the sky can not close.

The previous eclipse in Russia was on March 20, 2015. The next complete solar eclipse, which can be observed on the territory of Russia, will be held on August 12, 2026. True, it will be visible only in the north. The eclipse will begin in the north-east of Taimyr, pass through the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, Greenland, then cross Iceland and enter the territory of Spain.

Photo: LiveScience.com