NASA has Mapped all Eclipse that will-occur for the Next 1,000 Years Video
It might be comforting to know that while Earth appear to be in turmoil right now - what with mass extinctions being predict for our future, and the very real potential of having more plastic in our oceans than fish within the next some decades - our home planet is, forever has been, and always will be, extraordinarily consistent.
When we’re looking at Earth, not from the outside, but in the context of its position in the Solar System, the Milky Way galaxy, and the Universe, our home is completely predictable, and NASA has been using this to forecast solar & lunar eclipses thousands of years into the future.
Example, as Brian Resnick reports over at Vox, NASA knows that on 27 January 2837, southern Mexico will experience a totality solar eclipse.
Hopefully the weather will be clear that day (NASA sure isn’t going to create those kinds of predictions, even if certain websites are claim to), so whoever - or whatever - is living in Mexico in 821 years’ time can get a fine view.
How does NASA know the precise day, hundreds of years in the future, and place on Earth that will experience an eclipse? As Resnick explains, the US space agency keeps a 5 millennium list of all the eclipses, both solar and lunar, that have occur or will occur since 1999 BC to the year 3000.
"During the 5,000-year stage from -1999 to +3000 (2000 BCE to 3000 CE), Earth will experience 11,898 eclipses of the Sun," says NASA. "The statistical distribution of eclipse types for this interval is as follows: 4,200 incomplete eclipses, 3,956 annular eclipses, 3,173 total eclipses and 569 hybrid eclipses."
The best thing about this 5,000-year calendar is that doesn’t presently tell NASA that southern Mexico will get a total solar eclipse on 27 January 2837 - it can tell them what time it's going to start, peak, and finish, downward to a fraction of a second.
How can NASA be so sure?
Usually speaking, the fact that Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon orbits Earth, and Earth orbits on its own axis isn’t going to alter any time soon - even if the Moon can be a bit inconsistent at times. This means there aren’t a whole lot of variables that scientists have to deal with when creation predictions into the future.
With this in mind, NASA researchers have based their calendar on amazing known as the Saros cycle, which predict that any given eclipse will repeat on an '8 years, 11 days, 8 hours' cycle.
While this timeframe is constant, the place over which the eclipse will occur on Earth will carry on to change, and that’s why NASA’s calendar is such a valuable resource for scientists and skywatchers-alike.
"Because the Saros period is not equal to a whole figure of days, its biggest drawback is that subsequent eclipses are visible from diverse parts of the globe," says NASA.
So head over to their 5,000-year calendar website & have a play around.
Resnick found the year that a totality eclipse would fall on his birthday - 2212, which is too bad if he actually wants to be approximately to see it - and you can get a jump on your rival eclipse hunters by getting the precise dates, times, and locations of all the upcoming total solar & lunar eclipses.
It’s almost certainly the nerviest thing you could motionless do, but who are we kidding? We’re all nerds
around-here.
When we’re looking at Earth, not from the outside, but in the context of its position in the Solar System, the Milky Way galaxy, and the Universe, our home is completely predictable, and NASA has been using this to forecast solar & lunar eclipses thousands of years into the future.
Example, as Brian Resnick reports over at Vox, NASA knows that on 27 January 2837, southern Mexico will experience a totality solar eclipse.
Hopefully the weather will be clear that day (NASA sure isn’t going to create those kinds of predictions, even if certain websites are claim to), so whoever - or whatever - is living in Mexico in 821 years’ time can get a fine view.
How does NASA know the precise day, hundreds of years in the future, and place on Earth that will experience an eclipse? As Resnick explains, the US space agency keeps a 5 millennium list of all the eclipses, both solar and lunar, that have occur or will occur since 1999 BC to the year 3000.
"During the 5,000-year stage from -1999 to +3000 (2000 BCE to 3000 CE), Earth will experience 11,898 eclipses of the Sun," says NASA. "The statistical distribution of eclipse types for this interval is as follows: 4,200 incomplete eclipses, 3,956 annular eclipses, 3,173 total eclipses and 569 hybrid eclipses."
The best thing about this 5,000-year calendar is that doesn’t presently tell NASA that southern Mexico will get a total solar eclipse on 27 January 2837 - it can tell them what time it's going to start, peak, and finish, downward to a fraction of a second.
Usually speaking, the fact that Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon orbits Earth, and Earth orbits on its own axis isn’t going to alter any time soon - even if the Moon can be a bit inconsistent at times. This means there aren’t a whole lot of variables that scientists have to deal with when creation predictions into the future.
With this in mind, NASA researchers have based their calendar on amazing known as the Saros cycle, which predict that any given eclipse will repeat on an '8 years, 11 days, 8 hours' cycle.
While this timeframe is constant, the place over which the eclipse will occur on Earth will carry on to change, and that’s why NASA’s calendar is such a valuable resource for scientists and skywatchers-alike.
"Because the Saros period is not equal to a whole figure of days, its biggest drawback is that subsequent eclipses are visible from diverse parts of the globe," says NASA.
So head over to their 5,000-year calendar website & have a play around.
Resnick found the year that a totality eclipse would fall on his birthday - 2212, which is too bad if he actually wants to be approximately to see it - and you can get a jump on your rival eclipse hunters by getting the precise dates, times, and locations of all the upcoming total solar & lunar eclipses.
It’s almost certainly the nerviest thing you could motionless do, but who are we kidding? We’re all nerds
around-here.
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